THE INTER-Fraternity Council decision to ban non-Greek organizations from renting out IFC houses has caused a stir in the community. Many organizations who have previously rented the houses are furious over the perceived elitist attitude of the Greeks. Some have even gone as far as to call the IFC's decision racist. These charges are simply ignoring the issue.
It appears that there is a widespread sentiment that Greeks are obliged to rent out their houses. This works under the typical stereotype of the Greek system. Fraternities are simply places to party. They are constantly filled with shaggy frat guys chugging beer at all hours of the night. People that join fraternities do not have time for academic and other extracurricular work. They are too busy partying.
This is the problem. People do not often realize that people actually live in the fraternities. These people, like the rest of the University community, have work to do. Considering that the overall GPA of fraternity and sorority members is higher than non-Greeks, as reported in the IFC/ISC Spring 2002 recruitment manual, it may be that Greeks do more work than much of the University community. Most of the time, studying students sit in their rooms trying to comprehend Hamilton's 51st Federalist Paper or working out a calculus problem. Constant partying clearly is detrimental to studying.
Fraternities usually have a party once a week. Occasionally a house will have a second weekend party. This is a far cry from the stereotypical seven day a week animal house. How can it be conducive to a student's academic life if the house is constantly rented out? It is extremely difficult to concentrate with the sound of loud music and voices preventing one's thoughts from connecting in one's own home.
There often is significant damage done to the house after a party. I cannot remember an instance when something was not broken after one of these parties. Broken legs on pool tables, walls with paint scraped off, and excrement on the floor of the bathroom are all things I have witnessed in the aftermath of a party. These things do not happen nearly as often when the fraternity itself throws a party. Though those who rent out the house do some cleaning, the members of the fraternity usually spend a good deal of time cleaning up the rest of the mess. This eats into time set aside for other things, such as studying.
The police often hold members of the house liable for what goes on during the parties. Since the members of the house are not in control of the activities of a rented-out party, their liability puts them at danger.
The most publicized problem with renting out the fraternities has been the violence. When fraternities have parties, they are letting friends and people they know inside their residence. Strangers are entering their house during rented parties. These strangers, as past experience has shown, occasionally have violent tendencies. It is not acceptable for violence among strangers to occur at a student's place of residence. It creates an extremely unsafe environment that drives people away from living in the fraternity house.
Critics have attacked the IFC for making the decision rather than letting each individual fraternity decide for itself. The purpose of the IFC is to make decisions for the fraternities as a whole. Many see Greeks as one entity. One irresponsible member can cast a bad light on the whole system with a bad decision. It is the IFC's job to keep the Greeks in good standing with the University and the community.Critics also ignore the fact that the presidents of each house make up the IFC. The IFC is a legislature of the fraternities. The elected official of each house voted on the issue. It is not as if the IFC is a distant organization unconnected to the fraternities. The houses did make the decision.
Imagine coming home from on a weekend night after the library has closed. A take-home midterm is due Monday morning. Imagine finding that there is a five-minute wait to even reach the door. When it is finally possible to enter, there is a house filled to the brim with people dancing to deafening music. There goes the "A" on the midterm. The purpose of the decision was not to insult the organizations that had previously rented the houses out. It was simply looking after the interest of the fraternities.
(Joe McMurray is a member of St. Elmo Hall.)
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