Originally Posted by
wilson
I was in a fraternity at Duke (graduated '04). I have really mixed feelings about it...I had a wonderful time as part of the group and I truly cherish my handful of ongoing close friendships from my fraternity. On the other hand, in retrospect I'm pretty embarrassed at my particular group's traditions and politics, and I regret some of the ways in which I as a Greek undergrad helped contribute to social division, self-segregation, and generally toxic behaviors. I recently voluntarily surrendered my membership in my fraternal organization, I'm not at all surprised that things are moving in this direction (as others have pointed out, it's been afoot at Duke and elsewhere for like a quarter century now), and I believe this will be on balance a positive movement for campus life among undergraduates.
I think this thread could rapidly spin out of control, but I will restrain my remarks. When I came to Duke, the fraternities offered by far the best West Campus living arrangements. The independent dorms barely had commons rooms and little in the way of structured social life. I have fond memories of most the brothers from that day and keep in touch with a number of them. We have a list-serve and have even had the occasional multi-class reunion.
The problem with fraternities and "selective living groups" at a school like Duke -- fairly small school, mostly on-campus housing -- is that each of these groups is exclusionary, in that one must be selected. Then what of the people who are "not selected?" Are they second-class citizens? And fraternities, of course, compete to be the best -- and tend to dislike or resent other houses. I believe there are better models available -- residential college systems, for example -- which I have seen work close-up. It's hard to do at Duke with the two campuses and the rather archaic Gothic quad arrangement on the "preferred" campus. But I understand the problems when one-half of students are in the exclusionary groups and the other half are not. It tends to promote hierarchies and is far less democratic.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013