The Keyword Bar VI

 

Yeah, I’ve been lax about updating lately. I have some things in queue, but I also have research going on, so things are a little hectic. Naturally I’m turning to my favorite cop-out of fielding responses to some of the search entries that have led people to the entries in this blog.

1. “alpha gamma cornell” (9/5/09)

This could be in reference to a fraternity or defunct sorority that the individual failed to incluse the whole name of, or it could be a reference to the research report “Hazed and Confused” by Adam Zwecker [1]. In Zwecker’s report of hazing within the Greek system of Cornell, he uses the psuedonym “Alpha Gamma (Phi)” in reference to a house that he was pledging that committed a series of hazing violations in flagrant disregard of system and campus policies. Rumor mill tends to associate the psuedonym with two or three different houses, and the actual house was reported to have been reorganized after the report to remove such dangerous activities.  I’ve heard the report used more than once as a reason why Cornell students avoid becoming part of the Greek system, which is unfortunate but I can definitely see the reasoning behind their decision.

2. “tke blackballed from lehigh” (9/4/09)

This one is interesting not because of who it deals with, but the term “blackballing”.  According to the fountain of information that is Wikipedia [2], blackballing is a rejection technique used in elections to decline membership in fraternities and gentlemen’s clubs. Typically, in Greek orgainzations, some method similar to blackballing or dinging is used to decline membership to potentially undesirable candidates. The name hails from the black balls used to signify opposition in elections in the fraternal orders of days long past.

Since the IFC at Cornell has made use in the recent past of an electronic system to keep in track of rushees visiting houses during Rush Week, and that the site includes the capability to record comments on these individuals submitted by houses, a person could be blackballed not just from a house, but from most/all Cornell fraternities if the comments are strongly negative. I imagine that would take an outstanding showing of stupidity.

3. “ithaca cornell share frat scene” (9/3/09)

I’m going to take this as a a question regarding whether Ithaca College and Cornell have uniform membership in greek houses. The answer is no for IFC and PanHel. Ithaca College banned Greek Life in 1980, and while there may be some underground groups, they operate separately from Cornell chapters. However, MGLC has found a way around this by creating “citywide chapters” which draw members from multiple colleges in the same geographic area. I’m aware of at least one MGLC sorority that has roughly half of its members from Cornell and half from Ithaca College. The legitimacy of these organizations with regards to Cornell’s greek affairs alone is debatable, but since most MGLC organizations are quite small, it probably doesn’t come up very often.

4. “three side dormitory cornell”  (8/30/09)

Donlon, but technically not correct, since it actually has six exterior sides. It’s just that the three curved sides are much more prominent.

 

Photo Courtesy of Cornell Facilities

Mary Donlon Hall was completed in 1961 as an all women’s dormitory, the last of the all women’s to be built on north campus before it went co-ed [3]. Mary Donlon Alger (class of 1915) was a prominent federal judge who served on the Board of Trustees for 29 years [4].

5.  ”maximum building height town of ithaca”

Really depends on the zoing, but most residential zoning only allow a maximum height of 36 feet before a zoning variance is required. The two current projects beofre the board fall below that though; a 106-unit townhouse development by Holochuck Homes off of Route 96, and a 13-unit housing development called Cleveland Estates that will be south of Ithaca College off of Danby Road. The townhouse units might see some trouble because of traffic concerns and opposition to what the West Hill community feels would be an increase in crime if the housing is “affordable” (believe it or not, this is a leigitimate concern. The 128-unit Overlook at West Hill development has been plagued with what neighborhood residents feel are unreasonably high crime rates [5]). The town is looking into a moratorium on West Hill, which would effectively kill the proposal.

According to the West Hill Civic Association, this is the list of proposed and potnentially developable properties that are under study:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Carrowmoor, 400 units, commercial space

2. Conifer (Linderman Builders), 100 more units (this is in addition to the 180 or so units already in place)

3. Holochuck Development, 106 units near hospital

4. Cornell Parcels, 33 acres off Trumansburg road

–Assisted care interested, 50 units of senior housing, (probably similar to Alterra)

–nothing formal before town

5. Land that can be developed, nothing set yet, Medical Center parcel

Tompkins County

6. Property off Bundy Rd. (67 acres)

7. Perry Farm (60 acres)

 

8.Kaderli Trade Inc. (100 acres)

 

9. Eco Village 3rd Neighborhood

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

[1]http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/smithers/docs/hazed_and_confused.pdf

[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackballing

[3]http://www.fs.cornell.edu/fs/facinfo/fs_facilinfo.cfm?facil_cd=3026

[4]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Donlon_Alger

[5]http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090808/NEWS01/908080343

News Tidbits 8/21/09: Dumb Frat Tricks

The house involved is Sigma Nu, off Willard Way near West Campus. Apparently, firefighters found a small pot-growing operation while investigating a busted water pipe. I would not be surprised if sanctions from their national or from the IFC are put in place against Sigma Nu as a result of this incident, as it is rather embarrassing for the Greek community (personally, I think it makes Sig Nu look like a bunch of dim bulbs).

ITHACA — A busted water pipe may lead to a drug bust after the discovery of a small marijuana-growing operation inside a Cornell University fraternity house.

The Sigma Nu house manager called firefighters about the broken water pipe on the second floor, Ithaca fire officials said. Firefighters contacted the Ithaca Police when they found the plants.

 Ithaca firefighters found a half-dozen marijuana plants Tuesday afternoon while investigating a broken water pipe at the Sigma Nu fraternity house on Willard Way, Ithaca Police officials said. Officers seized the plants and though they’ve identified a person of interest, they aren’t releasing his name. 

 Water was running through the ceiling, they explained, and in the process of assessing the damage, firefighters found the plants in a tin-foil lined closet, surrounded on all sides and angles by several high-intensity lights. 

Whoever was growing the plants will likely be charged with unlawful growing of cannabis, a misdemeanor, police said. Fire officials said the numerous electrical cords used to power the lights created a fire hazard.

The leaking pipe was part of the sprinkler system and had to be shut down for repairs, Ithaca Building Department officials said. Additional life and safety issues such as a defective smoke and fire detection system and missing exit signs were found, so they posted the house on Tuesday and told everyone to leave until the problems could be fixed, they added.

Bobby Quintal, a member of the fraternity’s executive committee and last year’s president, said the chapter housed members in local hotels and other campus fraternities donated space while contractors fixed the problems.

Friday evening, Ithaca Building Department officials said that the house would likely be safe and ready to be reoccupied later that night.

Quintal said he isn’t living at the house and has no knowledge of the marijuana found there, but that marijuana possession violates Sigma Nu fraternity rules. When rules are violated, the national chapter investigates and might sanction the local chapter, the fraternity member or both, depending on the outcome of their investigation.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20090822/NEWS01/308220004/Busted-water-pipe-in-Cornell-frat-house-leads-to-marijuana-find&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

//

News Tidbits 8/1/09: Edelman Realty Puts Sorority House on the Market

http://aedelman.com/search.php?mls=129820&startat=20&price1=&price2=&area=&elemsch=&school_district=&new=1&luxury=

Realtor Description:
Own a piece of Cornell History. Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority is an arts & crafts style stone & stucco building on The Knoll. Built circa 1915 with up-to-date sprinkler, fire alarm & other safety systems. Compliant w/all inspection by the City and Fire Department. Living room, chapter room, paneled dining rm, commercial kitchen. 15 rooms for up to 25 occupants.There is an also a one bedroom two-story caretaker’s cottage with a separate driveway. Approximately 18 parking spaces+driveway to cottage.

The house’s list price is $795,000. Technically, the property has two units, the second being the small building in the second photo (both of these photos are from the listing).

Personally, I think my photo is more flattering.

Devil’s in the Details: Fraternity GPAs

 

Since this is one of the more clicked-upon data sets on this blog, I figured I would include the latest update: Fraternity House GPAs.

 

So, let’s see what we can pick out concretely from the data:

1. In the fall, Pi Kappa Phi had the highest average GPA, and Sigma Alpha Mu took the academic crown this past spring. 

2. Number of IFC members: 2220. Number of organizations in IFC: 42. Number of people per house: about 53 on average (52.8). The largest IFC house is Sigma Alpha Epsilon with 91 members, and the smallest is Sigma Chi Delta with 12 members. Perhaps unsurpringly, Sigma Alpha Epsilon also saw the largest increase from fall to spring, adding 27 members, and Lambda Chi Alpha (26) and Theta Delta Chi (25) also posted large membership gains (I had been hearing about Theta Delta Chi’s big success since February).

3. The recently reinstated Theta Xi and Kappa Alpha Society continue to eke out a small but notable presence beside larger houses. I hope they continue to thrive.

4. Statistically, the MGLC members have lower GPAs. The average MGLC GPA is about 2.993, and only one organization, Pi Delta Psi, is in the top half of the general fraternal body academic list. Historically black fraternities fare much worse, averaging about 2.73. This data is only readily apparent when pulled from the rest of the values.

Here’s some thoughts:

A. Considering the IFC’s big push for higher GPAs within houses (epsecially during pledging), one imagines that the drop in GPA during the spring will not be looked upon kindly when members reconvene in the fall.

B. The MGLC’s academics are lacking. An average of only 2.99? Only would be acceptable if they were all engineering students.

C. Assuming about 6850 male undergrads (assuming a school that’s half male and has 13,700 students in total), fraternity membership rate approximately stands at 33.99%. However, since two of the house are co-ed, we’ll assume that they’re half-and-half and take off accordingly (-33), reducing our percentage to 33.50%.

Rumor Mill: Alpha Xi Delta’s New House?

Being in another part of the country sort of limits my ability to keep this blog as active as it usually is. That being said, occasionally some tip or rumor comes along, and if it piques my curiosity, I’ll sooner or later get around to addressing it.

In this case, it would appear that popular rumor is ciruclating that Alpha Xi Delta sorority would be moving into Alpha Omicron Pi sorority’s old house. To make a long story short, AOPi closed this past year for a number of reasons, leaving their recently renovated (and rather luxurious, if I dare say) house on Ridgewood Road open. The house itself has a long storied history of being involved in the Greek system, with no less than four different Greek organizations calling at home at some point or another in its nearly one-hundred year history (see other entries).

The rumor has its plausible points. For one, Alpha Xi Delta doesn’t own their house at 115 The Knoll. That house is still owned by Delta Phi Epsilon sorority, which closed about six years ago [1]. Rumor mill seems to suggest that Alpha Xi Delta’s moving to Ridgewood may not be permanent, as AOPi stated that once the last sisters graduate (2011?), the sorority is hoping to reactivate itself, persumably in the house it owns.

I guess my question is, if the rumor turns out to true, then what’s being done with 115 The Knoll? Is Delta Phi Epsilon reactivating, or is the house intended for another purpose? I s’pose only time will tell on this one.

 [1]http://www.rso.cornell.edu/DPhiE/DRhistory.html

Trouble At “The Castle on the Rock”?

EDIT – So, they’re not going dry or closing, but they are reorganizing. Their Recruitment Chair was kind enough to offer an explanation on the validity of the rumors in the comments section.

Normally, I shy away from rumors, but this one has been persisting for some time, and so I’m going to address it now so that hopefully fact can be pulled from the fiction.

Naturally, this deals with the Greek system that has been the topic of many an entry. This is the story that rumor mill has supplied me, with little variation, from four seperate sources:

Beta Theta Pi will be either closing or going dry at Cornell University. Rumor mill claims that their alumni visited them on a Tuesday to find many of the brothers drunk, and they weren’t too happy. Apparently they were given the ultimatum to either go dry or disband. At this point, two sources said they’re going dry and half the brothers deactivated, and the other two sources said the fraternity is closing completely.

This vague passage from their website doesn’t help matters: [1]

“2009 marks a new chapter in the history of our great house. Reorganized, reenergized, and refocused, we are committed to developing worthy individuals to be the best that they can be.”

I think it’s a shame if their’s truth to the closing. Beta has been at Cornell uninterrupted since 1879 (it changed it name over after the original fraternity, Alpha Sigma Chi, merged with Beta Theta Pi [1]).

Not too surprisingly, the brothers I know in that house are staying fairly quiet about the whole situation, apart from saying that they have been having some problems lately that are being addressed. I s’pose is there was any truth to the rumors, I’d be keeping a low profile too.

[1]http://www.betadelta.org/history.html

The Case of Two Different Fraternities of the Same Name

So, I’ll open up this topic by saying that while some of the work is my own, a lot of the research was done by a friend of mine  named A.C., so I’ll start by giving him credit for going through some of the research and sharing it with me so that it could be published onto this blog.

First of all, the case is really old. This dates back to over one hundred years ago, in the 1890s. The fraternity in question is the Alpha Zeta fraternity on Thurston Avenue. According to their website, the Cornell Chapter was established in 1901.

Then we have the following article from a Daily Sun blurb in 1890:

That’s discrepency number one. Number two is that the current Alpha Zeta at Cornell is a co-ed aggie house. There’s nothing about being limited to western hemisphere non-European speakers of Spanish and Portugese (essentially, Latin America).

The following is a list of fraternities on Cornell Campus published in the Sun in May 1892:

 

 

Apparently, this ethnic Alpha Zeta lived at Cascadilla Place. Also, a few side comments – Huestis Street is now College Avenue, women lived in Sage College and as a result all the sororities were based there, and most of the houses were in the Collegetown-State Street corridor because that was between the campus and the boarding houses in the city where most male students lived.

Now, here’s an excerpt from the e-mail I received from A.C.

***

“Hello B.,

Here’s some information on the other Alpha Zeta.

From the Cornellian, it was active from January 1st 1890 to at least 1893.
It likely ended in 1894 when their youngest members graduated and they did
not have any new initiates.”

***

Therefore, we can make a logical conclusion. In 1890, an Alpha Zeta was founded at Cornell for non-European spanish and portugese speakers, perhaps a predecessor to the modern Latino fraternities of Lambda Upsilon Lambda and Lambda Theta Phi. However, if it closed in the mid 1890s, then there were no more Alpha Zetas in existence, and the name was free to be use. A few years later, the Cornell Chapter of the agricultural Alpha Zeta was opened, and we end up where we are today.

So, with regards to a incident happening where they were both on campus at the same time, that would not have been permitted. However, if there are local fraternities that lay claim to the name before a national tries to move in, then the national would probably have to negotiate a name change for the local.

Warren Real Estate Tries to Sell a Frat House

This was oddly funny to me. The house in question is 210 Thurston Avenue, covered in an entry last July.

http://www.warrenhomes.com/index.cfm?action=detailed_listing&mls=128574&menu=0

Photo Property of Warren Real Estate

“Walk to Cornell University from this 22 bedroom group house. The house is legal for up to 33 people. This s a unique opportunity to own a wonderful investment property. There are 6 full bathrooms (2 master suites), a commercial style kitchen, and parking for up to 15 cars. Over 7,000 square feet of living space on first & second floors. The full basement has a paved concrete foundation and significant additional living space featuring a rec. room and a dining area.”

Now here’s the history they skipped over. This house was built around 1900. The first fraternity to inhabit its halls was Delta Sigma Phi, which closed in WWII and never reopened. Alpha Omicron Pi made use of this house for a short while, and Sigma Alpha Mu moved in for 1947/1948. Sigma alpha Mu maintained the property until they oved to Sisson Placa in 2004. After that, the house became known as Phi Delta Theta’s annex (which, for being the dry house on campus, the real estate website’s photo of a large beer pong table in their annex does nothing for P.R.).

 

Like, really guys? Next time, throw a sheet over the table, it won’t be so blatantly obvious. Like the beer cans wedged between the second floor balconies.

Even better, it would appear that not only is this house for sale, but Theta Xi’s moving in [2]. From a Craigslist excerpt:

“Theta Xi Fraternity is moving into the old Phi Delta Theta annex at 210 Thurston Ave. for the 09/10 school year. We will have around 10 brothers in the house and need around 10 boarders. The cost will be 100,000 for 20 people for a 10-month lease, which is 500 a person. “

For the curious, this 7,044 square ft. house has an asking price of $950,000. Maybe Theta Xi has some rich alumni they could appeal to.

Looks like the times are a changin’.

[1]http://www.sammybeta.com/history.php

[2]http://ithaca.craigslist.org/roo/1017046808.html

Fraternities You’ll (Probably) Never Visit

So, Cornell is a campus that has had firm roots in Greek Life (one of the reasons why it is a frequent topic of discussion in this blog). Occasionally, you’ll look at an older campus map or even the current edition and notice some Greek houses you’ve never even heard of.

During the summer, I made an effort to write an overview all the IFC chapters (which I think was a successful endeavor). However, I also mentioned Omega Tau Sigma, mainly because I liked their house.

As I cited previously, Omega Tau Sigma is a professional fraternity for veterniary students, with the house essentially functioning as a co-op.

A second example of this would be Gamma Alpha of Cornell. This was one of the two random Greek houses in Collegetown, with Gamma Alpha located at 116 Oak Avenue. Gamma Alpha is a professional fraternity for biological science graduate students [1]. I’m afraid I don’t have a picture of this one on me, but the house dates from the late 1800s.

The other Greek organization listed in Collegetown is Alpha Psi. Located at 410 Elmwood Avenue, I’ve had a damned hard time trying to locate any information about this organization, but it would appear that they are another professional veterinary fraternity that was founded at Cornell in 1907 [2].

Then, of course, we have fraternities that have long since left Cornell. I decided to explore part of this by using the 1928 Cornell Map, since my previous “where are they now” dates from about 1970, so I’m approximately covering the span between the two . Here’s the link to the 1928 map if you care to follow along:  http://reading.cornell.edu/reading_project_06/gatsby/cpa1.htm

Sigma Kappa Sorority (150 Triphammer) - discussed in an earlier entry, but long story short, closed in the mid 1950s, operated as Chi Gamma for a short while and eventually became the Triphammer Coop.

Eleusis (313 Wait) – Also covered in a previous entry. Local fraternity that would become part of Theta Kappa Nu in 1934/35, and merged with Lambda Chi Alpha in 1939.

Theta Kappa Phi (201 Heights Court) – The initials were tongue-in-cheek for “The Catholic Fraternity”. Founded at Lehigh in 1919, the Cornell chapter was established sometime in the 1920s. The Cornell chapter had closed by the time the national merged with Phi Kappa (another Catholic fraternity) in 1959 to become Phi Theta Kappa, which still operates on college campuses today [3].

Scorpion (105 Westbourne Lane) – Established in 1914 at Cornell [4], moved to Westbourne Lane in 1927. After the original Tau Kappa Epsilon closed due to the depression in 1936, Scorpion became the replacement Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter in 1940.

Delta Zeta (200 Highland Avenue) – This sorority still exists today with 158 chapters [5]. They were established at Cornell in 1908, and held an annual convention here about a decade later [6]. I cannot find anything about them being a Panhel chapter in a 1938 Sun article, so I’d say it’s a likely assumption they closed during the Great Depression.

Rho Psi (212 Fall Creek Drive) – Established in 1916 as a Chinese fraternity. Closed in 1931. Article suggests Cornell’s Alpha chapter might have been the only one with a house. No chapter exists anywhere today. [7]

Delta Sigma Phi (210 Thurston Avenue) – The Theta chapter of Cornell was installed in 1907 [8]. The chapter went inactive during World War II. Their national still thrives today (notably, during its time at Cornell, the national fraternity wrote a Christian-only clause, thus formally excluding Jewish students. The policy would not be repealed until the 1950s).

Omicron Alpha Tau (934 Stewart Avenue) – According to Marianne Sanua, author of “Going Greek: Jewish College Fraternities in the United States”, Omega Alpha Tau was founded in 1912 at Cornell and was known as “the most Jewish” of fraternities, strictly maintaining a Kosher kitchen. The fraternity closed amid financial troubles in 1934. (Sanua, pg. 79)

Phi Delta Sigma (The Knoll) – A local fraternity that became a chapter of Phi Kappa Tau in 1930. Their Corporation Board is still called Phi Delta Sigma.

Sigma Phi Sigma (103 McGraw Place) - A local fraternity founded in 1910 that merged with Scorpion TKE in 1941 [4].

Sigma Upsilon (636 Stewart Avenue) – The most I can find suggests it was a literary honors fraternity [9]. However, according to Cornellians from that time period (1927, 1931, 1933, 1934), it was an independent fraternity founded in 1915, and closed permanently around 1933.

Phi Alpha (1953-1960), Phi Epsilon Pi (1911-1963?) and Kappa Nu (1951-1963). Jewish fraternities that closed as a result of mergers. (Sanua 320).

Theta Alpha (618 Stewart Avenue) – Existed at Cornell from 1910 to the 1930s. A fraternity which had four chapters, including Alpha at Syracuse and Beta at Cornell (according to Baird’s Manual of 1920, pg. 374, and the 1927 Cornellian).  No chapter exists anywhere today.

Zodiac (515 Stewart) – A local fraternity established in 1904. According to ATO’s website, after an unsuccessful run with another national, the fraternity merged with Alpha Tau Omega in 1936 [10].

Phi Sigma Delta (102 Edgemoor Lane) – When Delta Sigma Phi began to “blackball” Jewish rushees, the disenchanted decided to get even by starting a rival fraternity for only Jewish men (note that their initials are Delta Sigma Phi’s only backwards). Cornell’s chapter was founded in 1912. The organization lasted until the mid-1950s, and in some sense evolved into Young Israel, now the Center for Jewish Living [11].

Beta Psi (505 Dryden Road) – Established in 1920. Apparently was a social fraternity, though no students in CAS. Closed by 1933. Had four other chapters. This fraternity no longer exists.

Phi Delta Mu (301 Eddy Street) – Founded in 1925 as the Zeta chapter.  Alpha chapter of this Jewish social fraternity was at the City College of New York. There were eight other chapters before this one closed around 1934. It would appear this fraternity no longer exists today.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_Alpha

[2]http://www.vet.cornell.edu/public/registrar/Handbook/new%20Student%20Life%2061%20update.indd.pdf  (page 6-14)

[3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Kappa_Theta

[4]http://www.lgbtrc.cornell.edu/dos/greek/chapter_details.cfm?id=3272

[5]http://www.deltazeta.org/Content/NavigationMenu/AboutDeltaZeta/History/default.htm

[6]http://www.sigmadeltatau.com/history.html

[7]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rho_Psi

[8]http://www.deltasig.org/about/history/timeline

[9]http://library.davidson.edu/archives/ency/honfrat.asp#su

[10]https://www.atocornell.org/public1.asp

[11]http://www.cornellcjl.com/about/history.aspx

[12]http://www.drexel.edu/studentlife/fsl/forms/history.pdf

The Issues of Sigma Pi and Panhel

 

So, I really find this issue to be the rough equivalent of a powderkeg in the Greek System at the present time.

I find it odd that the Ivygate blog [3] would attempt to cover it, though. Judging from the number of “insightful” (“inciteful” might be more fitting) comments, it’s just as much of a powderkeg as I expected it to be.

It is well known that they were booted from the IFC last year for an incident stemming from a Thanksgiving Feast gone horribly wrong that resulted in two freshman requiring life-sustaining medical treatment for alcohol poisoning [1]. Dumb, dumb mistake by Sigma Pi. It cost them their pledge class for 2008 and forced them to undergo an evaluation from their national and their own alumni organization. Looking at the OFSA annual reports, Sigma Pi had 87 members in the spring of 2007 and 64 that fall. They were at that point the largest house in the system.

So, being completely nosy, I talked with the only Sigma Pi brother I know about how the reorganization process is going and the mood was one of “don’t ask about it, it’s been bad enough”. Their national did a review of the house, as did their alumni, removing those that they felt didn’t contribute to the betterment of the house.

Let’s do some quick math. There were 64 in the fall. No pledge class. One can say that close or slightly more than one third of the house in the fall were seniors. So, that would be about 21 or 22. We’ll go with 22, since I don’t have any numbers to officially break it down. That leaves 44 who would still be here this fall.

But, they have 29. Seems the reviews conducted by the local and national were worth the effort in that respect.

So, on the 4th, they were up for review, and the IFC voted to make them associate members (not a full member, but they still have voting privileges). However, their rush will have to be dry. I wish them the best of luck with that.

The debate seems to stem from the feeling that they were let back too soon, and they haven’t had enough time to reform. I can definitely see where that comes from, and I do wonder perhaps if the intentions of those who voted for a dry rush for the Sig Pis wasn’t so much out of showing diligence to safety measures as it was those houses were afraid that Sig Pi would rise up and take away potential pledges. However, I had a project meeting that evening, so the substitute rep for my house went in my place. It’s hard to open a meeting I never went to up for discussion.

***

Meanwhile, the Panhellenic Association (the governing council of sororities), which in this blog I have been a critic of, has reported its lowest registration turnout in recent history, sparking a series of pro-sorority articles in the Sun (though, I s’pose that wasn’t as interesting as the back-and-forth caused by a former sorority girl who wrote an article intensely critical of the sorority culture).

This my reaction: “Oh, really? No sh*t. Can’t say I’m surprised.”

Maybe it’s a cultural thing. Maybe it’s just a simple statistical anomaly. Whatever the case, with AOPi closed, this spells trouble for the other sorority houses, especially the one that’ll fall into AOPi’s place as the least respected house. Which most of us have a pretty good who that’ll be, but to spare myself form the resultant bitching from the sisters who might run across this blog, we’ll leave them unmentioned.  

But this won’t just affect that house. If numbers are low, fewer girls will be interested in each house in general. And their numbers will suffer as well.

So, lucky for me, I happen to have friends in both of the co-ed fraternities- Sigma Chi Delta and Alpha Zeta. One of them made this joke to me: “We always have trouble getting guys, but there’s always a lot of girls who come to the house. During rush week, we could open the door at any given time, and there’s always a girl there who says she’s interested in our house.” I do believe off-hand that both of these houses have more females than male members.

In another example, consider the co-ops. Most are co-ed (sans Wari—Wait Ave. just went coed). Glancing through the list of members on their sites, though, most would appear to have more female members than male members.

My thought is that Panhel is just not doing something right somewhere. Maybe it is a cultural thing; sorority girls are stereotyped as being shallow, bubbly/bitchy, and easy; not exactly good P.R. Perhaps they just simply don’t draw women like they used to. But I guess they’d better step up the effort, or we’ll be seeing more chapters close or shrink in the near future.

[1] http://cornellsun.com/node/26714
[2] http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2008/12/04/ifc-votes-re-recognize-sigma-pi-fraternity-house-will-be-required-ha
[3]http://www.ivygateblog.com/2008/12/sigma-pi-bros-promise-fewer-near-deaths-are-allowed-to-officially-return-to-campus/