Morning Read: North Country college fraternities face banishment, arrests
It’s been a lousy month for fraternities at North Country colleges. On May 6th, SUNY Plattsburgh announced that it was disbanding the Theta Kappa Beta fraternity on its campus for “violation of campus regulations.”
This from the official announcement:
Through campus judicial procedures, the fraternity was found responsible for hosting an activity at which individuals under the age of 21 were in possession of alcohol. This is one of a number of infractions over the past decade, including a willful falsification of information in discussions with police over a 2007 incident, a failure to meet conditions of probation in the fall of 2010 and a refusal to pay an insurance bill in 2010.
This morning, meanwhile, the Watertown Daily Times is reporting that six SUNY Potsdam students — including three members of a different recently banned fraternity — have been arrested as part of a drug sweep.
Those charged with fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance are Stephen B. McDonough, 20, Van Nuys, Calif.; Jesse W. Moore, 22, of 46 S. Main St., Hammond; Terrance A. Brown, 21, of 23 Pierrepont Ave., Potsdam; and Matthew R. Loibl, 20, Massapequa Park.
Mr. [Jesse] Moore, Mr. [Terrance] Brown and Mr. [Matthew] Loibl were all members of the Delta chapter of Psi Phi fraternity, which was permanently disbanded last month by SUNY Potsdam, college officials said.
The college had withdrawn all recognition of and affiliation with the fraternity and declared that its social and recruitment activities must cease. The decision was based on multiple violations of college policy, state law and fraternity standards and expectations.
Two of the other men arrested were also fraternity members, though their house hasn’t been banned.
So I don’t have any connection to the college fraternity culture, positive or negative. Are these institutions still valuable?
Do they contribute something to campus life in the region? If so, how are these particular organizations going so badly off the rails?
Tags: education
that WAS the culture as psi phi, going back at least as far as when I was at Clarkson (late 90’s). I don’t think that qualifies as ‘going off the rails’…that train hasn’t been on track for some time, if at all.
Heavy partying is a part of frat life, and we shouldn’t try to fool ourselves otherwise. I guess the question is: does community service mitigate the negative impact of a raging party?
Remember – life in potsdam is a lot tamer than it used to be. Does anyone there remember the spring beer blasts? I only heard the legends, but closing off portions of town and having beer trucks come up to supply the greek houses sounds a lot more intense than busting a few guys for selling drugs.
Do you know how much ‘charitable’ money was raised last year by every SUNY Potsdam sorority and fraternity put together? Approximately $8,000.
One high school kid can raise that much in one summer. One Greek house can easily cost that much in police enforcement, damage to the buildings they rent, and assessment value to neighbors. There is no net positive in SUNY Potsdam’s greek system, they are a drain on campus and community.
The saddest thing is that SUNY Potsdam doesn’t really have a greek system, especially if you compare it to other universities. There is no sense of house pride. Greek houses at Syracuse and other places try and keep up an image, both with the houses they live in and the way they present themselves. This simply doesn’t happen here. The Fraternity system at Potsdam for years has most closely resembled an organization of street gangs (drug dealing, members murdered for drugs, and violent hazing all documented by the newspaper)
College fraternities are a very important part of a college’s social scene. When a university begins to shut down fraternities, it is not a sign that the fraternity is suddenly breaking rules, but a sign that someone on the university administration is aiming to get rid of greek life. A lot of administrators see greek life as a thing of the past, and throw out greek life in the name of progressivism. Fraternities tend not to be very diverse communities. However, in getting rid of greek life at a university, you also throw away a lot of alumni dollars, which is way most colleges across the country put up with greek life. In all honesty, do you really think these houses were thrown off campus for supplying alcohol to people under the age of 21? No, they broke a rule and were caught, and SUNY Plattsburgh and Potsdam administrators jumped on the opportunity to get rid of a few houses. If these institutions are truly open to greek life, they will replace the organization with another different organization.
Does this post complement the previous post (Keeping us young…) or is it a counterpoint to it?
I never attended college and that may color my perception. I see nothing redeeming or useful in the whole frat house idea much less the drug/alcohol abuse. “It’s all good fun” until someone dies or goes to prison.
Shouldn’t these kids be taking their education a bit more seriously? I know, old fashioned ideas are simply outdated.
I did most of my drinking before I was 21 and in the Navy.
Back in those days when stationed in Newport, I sometimes came to NYC where I could legally drink.
It’s not a college thing. It’s a young person thing. Most grow out of it. Some don’t.
Now I drink less than a six pack per year and prefer some wine or hard liquor once or twice a week.
I can’t let potsdam resident’s comment stand unchallenged. Who was murdered in a drug-related incident in potsdam?
@verplanck: http://www.myabc50.com/news/local/story/Grand-Jury-considering-Potsdam-murder-case/dW_Pi1CHl0CNnXZaYz6i5w.cspx?p=Comments
I was never a greek (I was able to make friends on my own) but I can see where greek life has advantages. I agree with anons post above about enforcement. The cops are bored up here and we’re getting more (ICE). Seriously, underage drinking at a frat party? When did that start happening??? BTW – I think the last drug dealer killed was an actual potsdam resident and had no connection to the college let alone greek life.
Verplank, I do remember those beer blasts. Boy were they fun! The police were there watching over things. If they were not in town there were buses for transportation etc. Once the drinking age changed much of that activity went underground. That may be part of the problem.
Is there more drug use among the Greek population than the student population at large?
Startles me to realize I joined a fraternity more than 50 years ago so my viewpoint is out of date but I learned more there than anywhere else in college– basically we ran a self-governed small business…sure we had parties but I doubt we did more of that than other campus elements
Yes, kids will party anyway, and engage in bad behavior. But the universities don’t have to sanction the bad behavior. That’s the issue with frats — the binge-drinking, the drug-taking and drug-dealing, the statutory rapes and forcible rapes, the injuries and deaths from drunken misadventures, the hazing, the injuries and deaths from hazing — all these things that have happened numerous times, in this area and around the country, at fraternities, have happened on university campuses, in organizations sanctioned by the universities. The bad far outweighs the good and the only reason universities have, to their shame, put up with fraternities is money from alumni. If boys want to be stupid boys off campus, in their own houses, then that’s their prerogative. But the universities should have disentangled themselves from the fratheads long ago.
I don’t think there is any huge societal impact from fraternities. The one I was in did some good things but that work could go on without fraternities. Bottom line, they are designed to make college more fun. It worked for me. We never had any real problems so I would do it again if I had a second chance. The college town I live in now has many Greek organizations and they have their share of problems but we have problems outside the Greek houses as well.
One thing is certain in this college town. There are often parties at Greek houses where there is NO drinking. If someone could show me a run of the mill college party that has no drinking I would be surprised. If you had one I doubt anyone would show up! Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of “wet” parties in the Greek houses as well but they do have their share of “dry” events as well.
Fraternities and Sororities are an extremely important and valuable part of the college experience. The sanctioning and banishment of these organizations by some of the colleges is shameful and unwarranted.
Fraternities have lost their reason for existence. Of course this is an old guy speaking here (relatively); I graduated from college in 1982. Anyway I was in a fraternity. There was drinking and there was also pot, however the key thing was traditions and brotherhood. We were actually proud of our GPA being higher than the school average etc.
But today they have one reason for existence, to get drunk to get stoned and hopefully have sex. You don’t need a fraternity to do that; why should any university subsidize bad actions. Normal college drinking becomes violence and sometimes rape when it is done in large groups of men who feel protected and privileged. In cases where fraternities have totally left the campus, there has been only positive impacts.
They should all go. SLU’s are all gone and the campus is none the worse for it.
SLU has other organizations that could be considered “Greek”, they just don’t wear letters.
Let’s not forget the Bush’s belonged to Skull & Bones.
And let’s not forget all the big boy clubs like the Elks, the Masons, etc.
A fraternal organization like the Shriners or Masons is one thing Pete. A bunch of drug dealing, rapist rich kids with no supervision and access to a lot of booze and drugs? That’s not quite the same as raising money for burn victims or those crazy Rotarians with their monthly hot turkey dinners.
BTW- John Kerry was also S+B as was Wm F Buckley, Wm Howard Taft, abd a lot of other people- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Skull_and_Bones_members
‘…And let’s not forget all the big boy clubs like the Elks, the Masons, etc.
and the police, firemen, political parties….
When I went off to college, my older brother told me, “I don’t care what you do, just don’t join a f–ing fraternity.”
Among the best advice I ever got.
52 yrs ago I joined an upstate NY college fraternity. Coming from a high school class of 48, where quarrying, dairy farming, logging and seasonal vacationers were were our big business, I couldn’t help but have my world and my values broadened with “brothers” from Holland, Iran, Manhattan, Grosse Pointe, Hawaii, Harlem, coal country and cow country. We refused to “blackball” Jews and Blacks in defiance of the national fraternity, and were immune from being excommunicated because we had the highest GPA in the fraternity system. I am thankful for my fraternity experience and the diversity of it’s members. My campus has since banished Greek life, without the slightest whimper from our house’s alumni. Times have changed, and I was lucky.
Hey, speaking of Frat Boys, how bout that Arnold Schwarzenegger? Maybe we should get Orin Hatch to change the Constitution so Arnold can run for president. Or at least the head of the IMF.
And what is with Maria? Is she the new Hillary that all the conservatives are going to hate?