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Old 03-21-2000, 10:26 PM
dragon
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Post The Oregonian



Frat houses decide to go clean, sober
Image concerns and sorority pressure, among other things, have fraternities drying out


Monday, March 13, 2000

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By Romel Hernandez of The Oregonian staff


"The fraternity man claims to stand for noble principles -- scholarship, service, brotherhood. He is a gentleman, a pillar in the campus community, an exemplar of youthful ambition and virtue.

It is a characterization that stands in marked contrast to the popular perception of frat guys as beer-swilling partyers.

But if a trend at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University is any indication, the sacramental beer in the sticky-floored fraternity house basement -- alcohol anywhere in the house, for that matter -- is fast becoming an anachronism.

In the past few years, seven UO fraternities and four at OSU have gone dry -- no alcohol will be drunk in their houses.

Several forces are nudging fraternities away from their beer-soaked image: increasing public pressure, tougher school rules, legal liability, a desire to no longer live in filthy, loud conditions, and last, but by no means least, sorority women.

The fraternities hope the change helps to clean up their image and focuses attention on the positive things they do.

"Being in a fraternity can be the most damaging experience of one's college career or the most empowering experience," says UO senior Elliott Dale, a fraternity leader in the alcohol-free movement. "There's a tremendous amount of value in having strong fraternities, and I don't want to see them die because they weren't able to adapt or be what they're supposed to be."

Washington State University in Pullman is just one of many schools across the country hit by fraternity scandals linked to alcohol.

At WSU in recent years, there have been several riots and hazing problems, including one last month in which firefighters responding to an alarm at a fraternity rescued a pledge who had been tied to a chair and left alone. Just last week, WSU suspended two fraternities after an all-out campus brawl in which members attacked one another with sticks and bottles.

Some Oregon fraternity members pushing for alcohol-free living see the shift as reclaiming their roots. Fraternities did not begin as drinking clubs but as genteel societies, devoted to high ideals in the pursuit of good character. Members join for life, establishing a bond not only with their own chapter members, but also with fraternity brothers across the country.

"The purpose and the mission of the fraternity organizations were lost somewhere in the last 30 or 20 years," says Dale, who as a freshman helped to found the UO chapter of Delta Sigma Phi, the school's first fraternity to go alcohol-free in 1998.

"The members today, a lot of times, don't have the context to understand what fraternities are all about," Dale says.

The change doesn't mean that fraternity members won't imbibe if they choose to. It just means that they have to go somewhere else -- a bar, an off-campus party -- to do it. There are ways around the rules. For example, a fraternity could rent a hall to hold a party where alcohol is served, or members living outside the fraternity house could throw their own unofficial party.

Backers of the reform say banning alcohol in the houses means that members ultimately will drink less. Although alcohol abuse is a problem on practically all college campuses, national studies show that fraternity members are more likely to binge.

The thinking goes that if alcohol isn't readily at hand in the house, students are less likely to drink out of boredom.

"In the long run, I think it will slow down drinking and change the image of the chapters," says Shelley Sutherland, the UO's Greek adviser.

About 20 percent of the 5,300 fraternity chapters across the country are going alcohol-free, says Jon Williamson, executive vice president of the North American Interfraternity Conference. He says the number is increasing every year.

"They've looked at the pros and cons and have decided the pros (of going dry) outweigh the cons," Williamson says.

At UO, the houses that are dry or drying up are Delta Sigma Phi, Alpha Tau Omega, Sigma Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Delta Upsilon, Theta Chi and Sigma Nu. At OSU, they are Phi Gamma Delta, Delta Upsilon, Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi.

The alcohol-free chapters represent 11 of 38 chapters at the two schools, the biggest Greek campuses in the state.

Fraternity leaders say the change will boost lagging membership. One in 10 undergraduates at UO and OSU is in a fraternity or sorority, down from a decade ago. In many cases, they say, students keep a distance because of the boozy image.

A big part of the change also has to do with lifestyle. Several fraternity members say the combination of the rising cost of college and the competitiveness of the job market has made the contemporary student more serious about academics.

"I think even the students are getting tired of the secondary effects of alcohol -- the noise, the mess," says Clay Torset, Greek operations manager at OSU. "They can go to a tavern and socialize and then come home to a place that's clean and quiet."

Also, because of violence related to drunken driving, fighting and rioting, schools across the country have passed tougher alcohol regulations. It has been years since kegs were allowed in fraternity houses, and ID is required at parties where alcohol is served. The fraternities themselves are cracking down because of lawsuits. Houses that go dry also get a break on insurance premiums.

Finally, sororities nationwide must abide by a national rule starting in the fall -- some UO chapters have already started -- that prohibits members of a chapter from attending a fraternity function where alcohol is served. The sorority houses have always been dry.

"The basic gist is that it just forces you to make a choice between women and beer," Dale says.

The level of enthusiasm for the new alcohol policies varies from chapter to chapter. In a few cases, the members elected to ban alcohol, but some were ordered by their national organizations to switch. Few expect that all fraternities will join the movement.

But the changes appear to be paying off. Officials at both schools report that pledge recruitment has been strong in the dry houses. They also report that some of the fraternities' grade-point averages are improving.

"All it takes is for the ball to get rolling," says Frank Setzer, president of UO's Delta Upsilon, the most recent chapter to vote to go dry. "I think it is just going to keep spreading. We've just got to remember it's not 'Animal House' anymore."

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You can reach Romel Hernandez at 503-294-7669 or by e-mail at romelhernandez@news.oregonian
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