Thursday evening, The DePauw Debate Society held an event at Peeler Auditorium to discuss the affirmative and negative side of the statement "At DePauw the greek life system has caused more harm than good." We here on the Editorial Board are here to throw in our two cents. (Full disclosure: All five members of this Editorial Board are or have been affiliated with greek organizations on campus.)
Why the greek system is good:
The greek system, undeniably, brings a large sum of money in from donors and alumni. Fraternities and sororities allow students to have one more strong connections to the school that they love, and thus when they get jobs and look back on their days at DePauw, they feel that much more attached to the place that educated them. The system at DePauw is unique. We are a small school with a large greek system, which allows the administration to have a firm handle on greek activities. In turn, this encourages the system to be inclusive. Fraternity parties are not invitation-only, like they are at many large schools. This, in theory, allows for more cross-over between greek students and non-greek students, in addition to the fact that DePauw doesn't have a greek row. The houses are scattered across campus, forcing students from different parts of campus to consistently cross paths.
Another argument against the system is fraternity parties. People say that greek organizations promote binge drinking, we say DePauw condones binge drinking. Pointing a finger at greek life for is like pointing a finger at McDonalds for obesity. It ignores other issues.
There are problems with the greek system, yes. It is easy to blame such a large system for the issues at hand, however many of the problems in question would be present anyways, as they are a product of college culture.
Why the greek system is bad:
The problem with the greek system is that it condones behavior that would otherwise be deemed inappropriate or even dangerous. Binge drinking is the first issue that comes to mind. One could argue that this sort of excessive drinking is allowed if not encouraged at greek parties. While parties would probably exist anyways, at least party hosts wouldn't have to pay dues in order to drink beer. In addition, hazing, a ritual common in fraternities, would also not be an issue if these houses weren't present on campus.
Many argue that the greek community provides leadership opportunities that would not be available otherwise. However, one could argue that if fraternity and sorority members were not spending so much time on greek events, they would have more opportunities to be leaders in organizations that perhaps have more meaningful causes - the environment, student government, code teal, or even in one of the three media departments.
It is possible that the issues at DePauw are only perpetuated by such a large greek system.
For the five of us the pros outweighed the cons. We ask that anyone consider both sides carefully before forming his or her opinion.