Dissolving the Frats?

There has been talk of dissolving the Greek System at the local University. I am now engaged in a debate about it.
My position is that we shouldn't dissolve it, but there has been strong evidence such as hazing that supports the dissolving of the Greek System.
Any info/evidence that would support my standpoint?

[33girl]

If your university recieves ANY federal money ($1 or $1,000,000) this is ILLEGAL. There was a bill passed in 1998 that prevents this from happening (can't think of the bill # right now) You can read about it at www.greekpages.com or www.dke.com.

[cash78mere]

33girl-

I think you mean www.dke.org. I tried the link (dke.com) and it brought me to an electronics company!

[33girl]

OOOPS - thanks cash78mere!!! It's been a long day!!!!!

[AXPAlum]

Hey,

Don't forget about Title IX of the Higher Education Act of 1972! Remember about 5 years ago when Congressman Livingston wrote to those private colleges that banned greek organizations and tried to punsish students for being in them? He shoved Title IX right in their faces and said they are violated the students rights. Freedom of association, it is a wonderful thing isn't it?

AXPAlum

[James]

Freedom of Association is a powerful piece protection for Greek Letter Organizations. There is a possible twist though. I have talked to administrators who believe that the Act could be used as leverage to force groups to be co-ed. All it would take would be someone trying to join the opposite sex's single sex society and then attempting to use the Act as leverage. Any Constitutional laywers out there to comment?

[AXPAlum]

I'm not a constitutional lawyer and I doubt any of these administrators you spoke to are either if they said that to you. Private colleges have always been able to manuever through federal acts like this if they don't depend on the government for funding. But any public institution or university must comply with this and HR 6 (the '98 amendments to the Education Act). As for using it as leverage to make us co-ed, I cannot see how that could be possible. The act specifically protects fraternities and sororities, as well as other single-sex organizations.

If you want to read through the act yourself, it's here : http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/cor/tlix.htm

AXPAlum

[mwedzi]

AXRAlum, thanks for the website. I browsed through it to find the section you were talking about that specifically protects sororities and fraternities. You were right on it. I think it is this one:

(5) Public educational institutions with traditional and continuing admissions policy

in regard to admissions this section shall not apply to any public institution of undergraduate higher education which is an institution that traditionally and continually from its establishment has had a policy of admitting only students of one sex;

(6) Social fraternities or sororities; voluntary youth service organizations

this section shall not apply to membership practices -

(A) of a social fraternity or social sorority which is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of title 26, the active membership of which consists primarily of students in attendance at an institution of higher education, or

(B) of the Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, and voluntary youth service organizations which are so exempt, the membership of which has traditionally been limited to persons of one sex and principally to persons of less than nineteen years of age;

Whoa...thanks for all the links and info!
RUGreek: I guess hazing is a weak argument generall, but recently there was a headline newstory about one guy who committed suicide because of hazing as intiation, so thats how this topic came to be.

[RUgreek]

I used to post alot on greekcentral.com's greeklife forum and this topic came to light once or twice. Anyone that has done research on hazing, I think even stophazing.org would support this, has found that hazing is not a greek problem but a societal problem, period. Hazing occurs in athletic teams, highschools, the military, as well as other organizations. If the only strong argument for dissolving the greek system is hazing, that is a very weak one to me. The reason why hazing is being associated only with greeks is because it is what people want to hear and it's what the media gives them whenever the chance arises. How many news articles can you find about hazing in other areas? So does that mean it doesn't occur? Hazing is a major problem, but I'm sorry, greeks don't do it all that much. On another angle, how many of these other groups that haze contribute to the community through volunteer services, philanthropy, fundraising, etc.? I'm not a fan of statistics but I do recall the arrow pointing in our direction on that one. Overall, to dissolve greeks because some create bad attention is discriminatory. Even, for argument's sake, your school has just one "good" fraternity, what message will you be sending if you dissolve them for doing nothing wrong? Goodluck with your debate.

RUgreek

[This message has been edited by RUgreek (edited July 21, 2000).]