Once upon a time...

Greek life at my alma mater was if not all the rage very much alive & well. Perhaps it could be attributed to a strong sense of unity, a deep belief in fraternity values & an adamant personal commitment to those said values (i.e. integrity, personal responsibility). Perhaps life was a bit more carefree back then & in certain aspects it was. Perhaps we sincerely understood the importance of being part of the Greek system...Who can say exactly why Greek life was so strong & so revered once upon a time? Anyways, back in the day we could say with confidence that we were truly proud to be Greek & rightly so.

This isn't to say that Greek life as it stands now is MIA; it's still alive & well. But how the times have changed, especially when it comes to the number of fraternities which are now on campus.

Since 2003, who knows how many fraternities have exited the Greek system at Ball State (Lambda Chi Alpha, Delta Chi, Beta Theta Pi, Theta Xi, and now Zeta Beta Tau). As we speak, Delta Tau Delta is getting a membership review so things aren't looking too swell over there. If anything, the number of fraternities dropping off the map over the past few years has been a glaring issue of concern...an alarming one at that.

For the fraternities which have busted tail to make grades, to keep things on the up & up financially, to prove that they sincerely belong on campus : I commend everyone for their efforts, since you paid your dues to do a lot more than stay afloat in the Greek system. One of the few things which riles me up is when fraternties make news headlines for all the wrong reasons or aren't living up to the standards which their respective creeds ask of them; they're not only a blight & an eyesore on the Greek community but give the rest of my fellow Greeks a bad name they'd rather do without.

Seriously, if one house chooses to take all their negative status as a joke, it reflects poorly not only for their own chapter but also on all the other active chapters who feel that they should shape up or get sent packing. If it's an issue of grades, folks need to step up & do what it takes to get back to where they need to be on account of the all-men's average (not just by what their nationals say); to stay set in one's ways gradewise is a retrogressive step no fraternity should ever wind up taking lest they lose their charter like ZBT did. If it's connected to behavioral problems, SigEp's Alumni Advisory Council (AAC) is the ultimate model in how to weed the frat-boy culture which may be rampant in any of its active chapters; true, Delta Tau Delta's main HQ is taking action in its own right back @ Muncie & in its own way as well. Can we say the same of frats like Sigma Chi, Theta Chi or SAE when it comes down to finding out on how to dispense with problem members/improve the house's GPA for the better (among other things)?

Of course; that's the thing. We all have an active part to play in the Greek system & it needs to be played to the fullest of our potential. Otherwise, our presence on campus would be in vain, especially when we stop to think about the chapters which have fallen by the wayside in recent years. This isn't to say that D-Chi didn't measure up gradewise; it was for financial reasons that they got sent packing. Same with Lambda Chi & the Betas. ZBT is a different story: they didn't make grades. The worst we could do at this juncture is write each of these chapters off as casualties of the lowest order because it could just as well be one of our own houses getting looked at under the university's objective microscope.

And in a Greek system with fraternities dwindling to a mere trickle, the worst we could do is say, "It can't happen to me."