Chapman Institutes Mandatory Greek Life

by Chief Investigative Reporter Helen Keller

Tuesday, the Office of Student Affairs announced that beginning in the Fall of 2009, all incoming students at the University will be required to join a Greek Organization by the end of their first year. With some of the highest rates of Greek membership already for a school its size and membership on the rise again this semester, many students and faculty feel this latest development was a virtual certainty and the new policy a mere formality. “There wasn’t much of a choice before anyway,” Chapman Senior Michael Hamburg said, “Unless you’re on a sports team you have to go Greek to go to parties and meet members of the opposite sex. I didn’t know it was even still an option not to.”

Students will be monitored by the Office of the Chancellor to ensure they maintain good fraternal standing by paying their dues, attending meetings, and participating in exchanges. Those that fail to do so for two consecutive semesters will have a social hold placed on their account at the Registrar’s office. “Aside from sense of social belonging that accompanies membership a Greek Organization,” said Public Relations Expert Adam Wamburg, “there’s really no compelling social reason to stay at this school. We have academic standards for staying here, after all, so why not social ones too?”

The announcement was greeted with cautious hope by a large portion of a generally listless student body when it received word of the change on another ho-hum Tuesday night. “Maybe this policy will bring another new fraternity or two,” Chapman sophomore Suzy Barnes told our reporter at a quarter to midnight that evening. “All the ‘good’ frat parties get broken up by the cops by 11 anyway, so maybe a lame frat or two will come here so my friends and I can go over after midnight and drink all the alcohol they bought to impress people.”

Despite the popularity of the plan, the Campus Planning Department assured The Daily Chapman that there were no imminent plans for any sort of Greek Row, cautioning that such a creation would create all-night parties, student camaraderie, and a convenient campus social center.