4 ms·

I think the way Greek life operate at Berkeley provides a study in contrasts. I distinctly remember attending a party at a Stanford frat during the "crackdown"

I think the way Greek life operate at Berkeley provides a study in contrasts. I distinctly remember attending a party at a Stanford frat during the "crackdown" timeframe. As I was walking up to the house, I noticed a small scrum of people gathered on the front lawn. It seemed that a cop was in a discussion with several of the brothers. He had his Maglite out and appeared to be writing them ticket. But as I got closer, I realized the brothers were grilling hot dogs and the cop was using his flashlight to illuminate the grill. A marked contrast from our house's interactions with Berkeley's police. All Berkeley frats/sororities have houses on private property, meaning they are subject to the City of Berkeley laws and regulations which are enforced by Berkeley police (as opposed to the UCPD which only operates on campus). As you can imagine, the City of Berkeley (often egged on by NIMBYs living next to the fraternity houses) were less than enthused about Greek life and tried to pass several laws/restrictions to effectively outlaw them. The university administration tried to assert some control by officially "recognizing" fraternities that complied with university policies. But at the end of the day, to the average student, it would be impossible to separate the sanctioned frats from the unsanctioned ones: they all held parties, conducted rush, held formals, etc. Having frats located on university property does have some serious advantages. One big one is forcing someone to leave entirely. Berkeley frats had to deal with people showing up from all over the Bay trying to sneak into our parties. They were never happy about not being let into the party, but there was nothing we could do to stop them from standing out on the sidewalk and causing issues. As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Berkeley has an extreme housing shortage. The university realized that having several thousands students willing to cram as many as people as possible into a single house was actually hugely beneficial. Ultimately, the administration stood with the fraternities against Berkeley city council because they realized that they had nowhere else to put all these students. So if I had to chose, which system is better? Having everything controlled by the university? Or ultimately being subject to the whims of cantankerous old people with too much time on their hands?

watwut 4y ago
The best system is the one that treats all students equally instead of giving special privileges to Greek organizations. Let them be just like all other orgs, with no special rules just for them. Half the problems will dissappear overnight.
- stale2002 4y ago
  > instead of giving special privileges to Greek organizations. Let them be just like all other orgs, with no special rules just for them. You have things a bit mistaken. Rules that apply to greek organizations are often much more strict and onerous. Many greek orgs would love to be treated under the same rules as the soccer club, or whatever. The soccer club doesn't have to deal with the administration breathing down their back every time they host a party or similar. Instead of that, at most of these elite schools we see a hostile administration, constantly looking for every opportunity to shutdown these orgs.
  - watwut 4y ago
    No, this is not true. The greeks are fairly often the only ones allowed to organize parties for non-members or promote then through whole campus or who can get guaranteed housing together. They don't really exists outside of setup where they are officially supported. But yes, negative sentiment toward them from students in general and administration that have to deal with them exists.

watwut 4y ago

The best system is the one that treats all students equally instead of giving special privileges to Greek organizations. Let them be just like all other orgs, with no special rules just for them. Half the problems will dissappear overnight.

stale2002 4y ago
> instead of giving special privileges to Greek organizations. Let them be just like all other orgs, with no special rules just for them. You have things a bit mistaken. Rules that apply to greek organizations are often much more strict and onerous. Many greek orgs would love to be treated under the same rules as the soccer club, or whatever. The soccer club doesn't have to deal with the administration breathing down their back every time they host a party or similar. Instead of that, at most of these elite schools we see a hostile administration, constantly looking for every opportunity to shutdown these orgs.
- watwut 4y ago
  No, this is not true. The greeks are fairly often the only ones allowed to organize parties for non-members or promote then through whole campus or who can get guaranteed housing together. They don't really exists outside of setup where they are officially supported. But yes, negative sentiment toward them from students in general and administration that have to deal with them exists.