Health of the Greek System at large

In the past few months, NEWCHAPTER has had the opportunity to visit dozens of Universities across the country. One thing we noticed was how different and unique each campus really is.  The same can be said for these Universities’ Greek letter organizations.

In many of our discussions with a Fraternity or Sorority Alumni Board of Directors, or their chapter advisers, we often reference the Greek community at the University of Illinois when answering questions.  Having completed four Student Living Centers there, with a 5th one currently under construction, it is the campus we are most familiar with. One could say that the University of Illinois is our frame of reference.

The reply we most commonly hear in response to this reference sounds something like “Well, that’s the U of I, one of the strongest Greek systems in the country…”, or “It’s not like that here”, and so on.

It’s true, there is a rich history of Greek Letter organizations at the University of Illinois. So in order to get a better understanding of what to look for, when determining the strength of a University’s Greek system, what better place to go than to the experts in Champagne, Illinois.

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with the Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of Illinois, Ashley Dye.  Here are some of the insights she shared with us regarding what to look for when determining the health of a University’s Greek system at large.

• Look at the total number of students actively involved in a fraternity or sorority, and as a percentage of the total student population.
• Take into account the overall number of Greek chapters on campus.
• Find out how many new chapters have started in the past 5 years. Were they successful?
• And how many chapters have closed over that same time period, and why.
• Inquire about the expansion policies of the University or governing councils.
• Evaluate the process a former chapter has to go through in order to re-charter on campus.
• Given the extreme importance of academics, assess whether or not the Greek student’s GPA’s are above the remaining campus undergraduate averages.
• Determine how involved the alumni are.
• Learn about the relationship between the campus and the fraternities and sororities
  • Is there a defined Relationship Statement or Agreement?
  • Is there a Fraternity & Sorority Affairs office or staff dedicated to working with and advising these organizations?
  • Are fraternity & sorority chapters afforded the same resources that other student organizations are?
  • What is the overall philosophy of the campus toward fraternities and sororities? Are they viewed as a burden or an asset?
• Evaluate what direction the Greek letter organizations are headed. Are current trends in membership, new chapters, academics, and alumni involvement going up, down, or staying steady?

This is a great list to assess the overall health of a particular University’s Greek life.  In future posts, we’ll look at what makes individual Greek chapters healthy. In the meantime we want to ask:

Are there any points we may have missed?

Are any points more important than others?

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