Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Jan. 19, 2000, edition 1 / Page 14
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January 19,2000 • the Seahawk Jackson Beverage Company needs part-time female models to serve as representatives a t festivals, sports events, and other social events. Must be at least 2 I to apply. For more info contact Bill Rhodes at 763-62 I 6. by COLLEEN JENKINS Tribune Media Services Executives at nine national fiatemity head quarters are refocusing their oiganizations’ val ues with one overarching resolution for the new millennium: no alcoholic beverages in any chap ter facilities. While alumni donors are supporting prom ises to establish alcohol-free housing, many ac tive greeks are left questioning the motives be hind the change and are quick to point out that alcohol-free housing doesn’t mean they’ll nec essarily abstain from drinking. “I don’t think there is a reason, other than in surance, for why the national headquarters have decided to go dry,” said David Rosenberg, a stu dent at Davidson College and a member of Phi Delta Thet^ the first national fraternity to set July 1 as its deadline for all chapters to be dry. National fraternity executives concede liabil ity insurance is a big factor behind the initiative because they face increasingly high premiums due to injuries and deaths related to their houses. Since 1970, there have been 36 fiatemity or so rority deaths from falls that often involved alco hol. Alcohol-free housing is expected to lower those insurance costs. “Most of my fiatemity brothers think (alco- hol-free housing) is a bad idea,” said Justin Combos, a junior at the University of Oregon and a member Theta Chi, one of the national fia- temities that has pledged to enforce the policy by 2003. “If we go dry, (the national headquarters) makes more money. The vast majority of people are okay with the premium we have now.” Combos said the initiative would force par ties with alcohol off campus, which could lead to more drinking and driving. Rosenbeig added that he believed the policy would encourage binge drinking. “Students will not have access to alcohol at the fiatemity, so they will drink more before they head to the fiinction or party,” Rosenberg said. The impending pledge also has fraternity members worried about ftiture mshes. While they understand that alcohol-free housing is not meant to put a damper on their social scene, fiatemity members still fear rivaling fiatemities will exag gerate its implications and use it to deter prospec tive members from the dry organizations. Ben Moore, a member of Sigma Nu at Appa lachian State University, said his chapter did not plan to follow the lead set by Sigma Nu’s na tional headquarters. ‘Tf we went dry, it would kill our rush,” Moore said. Pete Van Emburgh, a pledging member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Bucknell University, said he would have rushed with the fiatemity even if it were alcohol fiiee (it’s not and does not have plans to yet), but he was not sure about the rest of Some Greek houses to go permanently dry his pledge class. “If you’re a sophomore rushing, and one fa- temity is dry and there are 12 others on campus that aren’t, you’re probably going to go with one of those because that’s the accepted thing,” Van Embuigh said. “The mentality is, if it goes dry, then it’s not frin.” And that is exactly the mindset Ron Binder, director of greek affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill, said national fiatemities’ headquarters want to weed out. They tout results like those highlighted in a recent study from the University of Missouri at Colombia, which reported that alcohol-fiee hous ing led to higher grades, cleaner and safer facili ties, lower alcohol use and increased member ship. “In other words, it’s doing what everyone wants it to do,” said Binder “You’re switching out people whose definition is that fiatemities are one big party and gaining those who thought there was an over-emphasis on alcohol.” It’s not a new idea, since the national frater nity Farm House has enforced the rule since 1905. But when Phi Delta Theta’s national headquar ters first began the recent push in 1997, they tooit a lot of slack, said Bob Biggs, the fraternity’s ex ecutive vice president. Now, the tide is changing as 22 out of 24 na tional sororities have embraced the pledge, vow ing not to attend any functions of fraternities who are not dry by next fall. “The momentum has shifted to support,” Biggs said. “The issue is not if the fiatemities wi become alcohol fi^ee but when they will become alcohol ftw. The women are sending a strong message to the men: clean up your act.” Whether or not fraternities heed the message might depend on how stricdy national headquar ters enforce the alcohol-free rule, because Rosenberg said, “there are ways around every thing.” It is too soon to tell exactly how alcohol-fre« housing will change fraternity life, which is one reason why several fiatemities are waiting until 2003 to try it out. Binder said these fiatemities would gauge the policy’s results at the first dry nationals before finalizing their own coranul- ments. “A lot of people are taking a wait-and-see atti tude,” he said. “You’ve got to be a say-what-you- mean type of national (to make the pledge).” And fixjm what Combos can tell, fraternities who make the pledge still break the pledge. TTie one “dry house” on his school’s campus is only dry as far as their headquarters is concerned, he said. If that remains the case, he can continue downing a couple of brews at his fiatemity house whenever he pleases. “If my house went dry tomorrow, I know people would still drink in the house, but people would look the other way because they’re prob" ably doing the same thing,” Gombos said.
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