Opinion: Greek life’s future should involve more transparency

Despite their reputations as guardians of tradition, Greek organizations are not as intractable as one might assume. In this sense, they represent something of a paradox.

According to UNC’s Southern Oral History Program, Kappa Kappa Gamma was the only sorority on campus in the 1960s whose alumni would allow Jewish women as members. But now, some fraternities are beginning to phase out the time-honored institution of pledging.

All of this is to say that Greek life, as much as it seems to enjoy its roots in the past, has changed and will undergo more change — change that, especially in light of recent media attention, seems likely to occur sooner rather than later.

Among those who share this view is Aaron Bachenheimer, director of Fraternity & Sorority Life and Community Involvement at UNC, who said he believes Greek life is at a tipping point, “especially around issues particularly related to health and safety, alcohol, sexual assault, hazing, as well as issues of inclusion and diversity.”

Bachenheimer’s list of concerns matches up elegantly with this board’s. What’s more contentious are proposed solutions, ones that could radically transform the role Greek life plays on college campuses and the form it takes. We’d like to prod the conversation along as best we can by volunteering our imagining of a more inclusive and transparent future for Greek life.

We hope for a practical acknowledgement that some of the same structures that make Greek life so attractive — lifelong friendships, a sense of shared history and exciting social events — also carry substantial potential for abuse insofar as they tend to encourage members to shield one another from the consequences of wrongdoing. Such was the case at UNC’s chapter of Delta Delta Delta, where women were encouraged not to bring up allegations of sexual assault out of fear for the chapter’s reputation.

Solutions, therefore, must focus on breaking down that norm in particular and consistently holding those guilty of abuse accountable.

This means applying sanctions, where they are determined to be needed, swiftly, seriously and transparently. In the case of UNC’s chapter of Chi Phi, a May 2014 referral to the Standards Review Board had not been fulfilled by the early weeks of this semester. This can hardly be called fair and speedy justice for the chapter and its members, nor is it reassuring for those who want to believe the Greek system can effectively police itself.

We also look forward to swift action to correct power imbalances, such as those inherent in rules that keep sororities from serving alcohol. Bachenheimer, who said he fully acknowledges the existence of such an imbalance, asked that we consider making fraternities more like sororities rather than just vice versa.

We’d question the feasibility of asking fraternities to give up their alcohol-serving privileges, but we don’t care, frankly, as long as this and other imbalances are quickly corrected.

More broadly speaking, we hope the future of Greek life is characterized by proactive approaches to the problems of the day before rather than after they become media sensations. Greek issues are student issues, but the nature of Greek organizations tends to keep non-Greek student populations from understanding or engaging with discussions in which they all have a stake.

To be sure, the costs of greater inclusivity and transparency could include rethinking the values that define Greek organizations and yielding some control over membership. This is no small sacrifice. But we believe that as long as Greek societies continue to exist, the sanctity of their secrecy must take a back seat to ensuring they do no harm to their campus communities.

This is not about being pro-Greek or anti-Greek. It is about ensuring that campus institutions — or institutions anywhere, for that matter — are not complicit in assault, racism, sexism or otherwise exclusionary behavior. All students and alumni, Greek or otherwise, have an interest in working toward this future.