Pi Kappa Phi chapter at NC State suspended after "embarrassing, scary" book found

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by *winter*

I don't want to turn this into a race war, but what if this book was found in an urban neighborhood, written by poor and/or minority kids? Would they be boys being boys then? College kids get a pass for a lot of things.

If this book was found in an urban neighborhood, you would have never heard about it. It would likely be thrown away instead of the media being alerted.

[amIblue?]

The existing programming, while well-intended, is not effective. It's something that the men and women sit through, barely paying attention, to check off a box and go on with their lives. In other words, it's very similar to the corporate diversity/harassment/privacy bullshit that I and others in the corporate world sit through to justify HR jobs and to cover an employer's ass in the case of the shit hitting the fan. I agree that we have to change the way we are doing things in order to be effective with today's collegian.

If you don't agree that there's a cultural issue, I'm going to share what I overheard some very lovely (and I sincerely mean it) women saying this week: "I wish our chapter meetings were like the fraternity chapter meetings. All they have to do is sit around and tell stories. The person with this wildest or grossest story wins." Do I think that's all a fraternity chapter meeting involves? No. I have to believe that business gets done. But I do believe it's indicative of a problematic culture that that's what the men are putting out there to represent themselves instead of the good stuff.

I think we have to get input from these young men and women about designing what will reach them rather than subjecting them to programming developed by old people.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

I think we have to get input from these young men and women about designing what will reach them rather than subjecting them to programming developed by old people.

This! I agree with all you said, but especially this!

And I think we need to look for ways for these young men and women to take on more responsibility for holding each other accountable rather than letting that fall mainly to the older people at HQ and in positions of national leadership.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Ok, I'm not looking for a big debate about what recruitment needs to be at larger schools or whether deferred recruitment would work, or any of those other arguments we usually have (I'm looking at you, NPCers ), but I wanted to post this article that made me think a bit... what if we tried to stop the problems before they even begin?

Is Fraternity/Sorority an Outdated Idea?
http://blog.phiredup.com/?p=3267

Some things she is on point with - like Greek life ISN'T for everyone, at every school - but some things she completely misses the mark, like we should treat rush like a job interview. That's the same mindset that says "rush is the same as marketing a product. " No. It's not.

I also hate how people seem to believe that (especially at big schools) rush is being run this way because the groups prefer it. I bet if you asked any Ole Miss sorority member, she'd say she'd rather have time to sit and talk with women and get to know them, rather than having bump groups, skits and the same conversation 100 times. The fact is that the sheer amount of rushees doesn't allow for this unless the sorority members don't go to class for 2 months. What's the remedy there? Limiting the amount of women who can rush? If you think we get yelled at for discrimination now, that would amp it up to stratospheric levels.

[33girl]

To add to amiblue's post: we need to develop programming in house, with people who actually have Greek experience, instead of going to outside corporations who take the same presentation and do a cut & paste and replace "company" with "fraternity. "

When did we stop networking within our own ranks for programming, graphics, site design etc and decide someone who knows nothing about our bonds or real mission would be a better candidate?

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Some things she is on point with - like Greek life ISN'T for everyone, at every school - but some things she completely misses the mark, like we should treat rush like a job interview. That's the same mindset that says "rush is the same as marketing a product. " No. It's not.

I also hate how people seem to believe that (especially at big schools) rush is being run this way because the groups prefer it. I bet if you asked any Ole Miss sorority member, she'd say she'd rather have time to sit and talk with women and get to know them, rather than having bump groups, skits and the same conversation 100 times. The fact is that the sheer amount of rushees doesn't allow for this unless the sorority members don't go to class for 2 months. What's the remedy there? Limiting the amount of women who can rush? If you think we get yelled at for discrimination now, that would amp it up to stratospheric levels.

I don't think she believes recruitment should be like an interview; only that you can only learn so much about a person from brief conversations in a stressful environment with tens and hundreds of other people around. What's the solution? Who knows?!

Originally Posted by 33girl

To add to amiblue's post: we need to develop programming in house, with people who actually have Greek experience, instead of going to outside corporations who take the same presentation and do a cut & paste and replace "company" with "fraternity. "

When did we stop networking within our own ranks for programming, graphics, site design etc and decide someone who knows nothing about our bonds or real mission would be a better candidate?

This x 100! I don't understand why our orgs are more and more looking to the outside instead of within. But perhaps part of the reason is lack of widespread alumnae support and involvement, which is also why they should spend more time emphasizing the lifelong membership aspect of joining a Greek org. I'm not saying all GLOs are lacking in this area, but many are.

[33girl]

The old boy or old girl network needs to open up and look to people who may have not been stellar members or from stellar chapters, but who have professional connections that could prove valuable. Just because Anni Alum barely scraped through school and took early alum status, and doesn't donate or participate in an alum chapter, doesn't mean she wouldn't be willing to provide (example) ritual catsuits at a reduced cost, seeing as she owns a textile factory.

I think we are taking steps and realizing there are all kinds of alum support and involvement, but we need to go a lot faster.

[MysticCat]

Update: NC State and Pi Kappa Phi announce the immediate closure of the chapter, members must be out of the house by this weekend, and NC State announces a "thorough review" of the school's Greek system. More from the Raleigh News & Observer here.

From the story:

“We know what they say their values are, but we see evidence with a number of fraternities not living up to those values,” NCSU Chancellor Randy Woodson said. . . .

Woodson said Greek communities must address the culture on college campuses across the country.

“It’s a national challenge,” he said.