[PhilTau]

Please don't judge the entire UT-Austin student body from the statements of the person who joined GreekChat a few days ago. “I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. * * *"

The fact is, for better or for worse, UT-Austin (undergraduate) is not the same school that it was when anyone could attend who had the money to go there. (Don't jump on me about this, at one time this was very true.) Also, having done a substantial portion of my undergraduate work there (though not my Greek affiliation), I am not trying to slam UT-Austin.

Many of the perceived problems encountered by the UT-Austin Greek system stem from the state's "Top 10% Plan" implemented in 1997, which was an attempt to transition away from affirmative action. Though this plan has been tweaked a bit just for UT-Austin, it had the effect of denying admission to many students from upper middle class high schools (i.e., the type who join fraternities) who were not in the top 10 percent. So, many of these upper middle class UT-Austin non-admits now go out of state to places like Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, etc. - or to private Texas universities.

The cold hard fact is that - despite what they think - those who attend UT-Austin are not special or entitled. The average undergraduate at every university in the UT System is receiving an undergraduate education comparable to that they would get at UT-Austin. There are a few exceptional undergraduate programs at UT-Austin, but the quality level at UT-Austin does not begin to separate out until graduate and post graduate programs are taken into consideration.

It is interesting that none of the other 10+ universities in the University of Texas System or the Texas A&M System have the type of complaints that are repeatedly leveled at the UT-Austin Greek organizations. It is depressing, but the long-term (decades out) outlook for UT-Austin Greek organizations appears bleak unless the active members of those groups come to terms with the seismic, socioeconomic shift that occurred in the student body almost two decades ago.