When it comes to fraternities, the time has come for history's pendulum to swing back toward the beginning.
Today, unfortunately, too many of them have become synonymous with alcohol abuse. As a University of Utah professor said in this paper's Sunday Extra on fraternities, "These are underage drinking clubs."The original purpose of a fraternity was to provide an organization in which men with similar interests and beliefs could feel a spirit of brotherliness and camaraderie. When they were founded at some of the nation's first colleges, they took on the form of literary societies.
But in recent times too many fraternities seem to have only one major purpose: to party. The character building, service and leadership, which should be the hallmark of a fraternity, is being overshadowed by noise, recklessness, lewd behavior and drunkenness.
Locally, the questionable behavior reached a point in July where neighbors on fraternity and sorority row near the U. campus took petitions to City Hall. Some suggested an alcohol ban or a relocation of the Greek houses. No such problem exists at the six sorority houses at the U., which under national guidelines ban alcohol.
Outlawing fraternities is not the answer. Bringing them under control, is. Students can have positive social experiences without drinking. They can certainly do it without the binge drinking that has led to some well-publicized deaths and injuries in recent years.
At Utah State University, for example, a crackdown on drinking implemented in 1995 has had positive results. Alcohol can be consumed only by students of drinking age in their private rooms. Alcohol isn't allowed in common areas and is not served at parties. As a result, the schools has drastically reduced the number of its problems, and the atmosphere is much better than it was before 1995.
Some local and international fraternities have taken the wise approach, using corrective action on their own initiative. The Phi Delta Theta fraternity at the U., for example, banned alcohol from its chapter house two years ago. That put it three years ahead of the schedule set by the fraternity's international headquarters, which has mandated that its 180 chapters cease the use of alcohol on chapter property by July 1, 2000.
Those chapters that follow the above example will find that returning to fraternity's roots will result in a worthwhile harvest -- both academically and socially.