2008 Woodie Awards
Gotta fight for your right to party
IFC's freshman policy, one year later
By: Matt Jennings
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: News
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With Monon on the mind, the campus is gearing up for a weekend of football, DePauw spirit and, of course, parties, many of which take place in the fraternities. A little over one year after DePauw's Interfraternity Council banned freshmen from stepping foot on greek property outside of designated weekday hours before rush in the spring, the retention rate is down and freshmen, the University and IFC have mixed reactions.
The rationale behind it all
Junior IFC vice president of risk management Michael Gentry said that at the end of the 2006 spring semester, the fraternity chapters' presidents voted to keep the incoming freshman class in the dorms and away from the fraternities until after rush. At the end of 2007 spring semester, the presidents reviewed the issue and decided to reinstitute it for the 2007-2008 school year.
"I think that the presidents understand the benefit of not allowing freshmen onto greek property outside of the designated hours," Gentry said. "I think the presidents realized that having freshmen in a fraternity during their first semester of college is problematic, evidenced by the number of chapters on probation."
Gentry said that though the presidents may agree with the decision for safety reasons, a majority of fraternity memberships seem to disagree with the rule altogether.
"I don't think that the general membership likes that they cannot bring freshmen over. It's easier to rush people that way," Gentry said. "It is harder for upperclassmen to become friends with freshman students too, because they are not over [at the houses] all of the time. Now upperclassmen have to make that extra effort to get to know the freshmen."
The administration
In late September, DePauw's Office of Institutional Research released statistics, which indicated a considerable drop in the first- to second-year retention rate. Compared to the class of 2009, the retention rate for the class of 2010 decreased by approximately 4 percent, with 87.4 percent of the class remaining for a second semester. This was the lowest rate since the depauw.year1 program was established in 1999.
The rationale behind it all
Junior IFC vice president of risk management Michael Gentry said that at the end of the 2006 spring semester, the fraternity chapters' presidents voted to keep the incoming freshman class in the dorms and away from the fraternities until after rush. At the end of 2007 spring semester, the presidents reviewed the issue and decided to reinstitute it for the 2007-2008 school year.
"I think that the presidents understand the benefit of not allowing freshmen onto greek property outside of the designated hours," Gentry said. "I think the presidents realized that having freshmen in a fraternity during their first semester of college is problematic, evidenced by the number of chapters on probation."
Gentry said that though the presidents may agree with the decision for safety reasons, a majority of fraternity memberships seem to disagree with the rule altogether.
"I don't think that the general membership likes that they cannot bring freshmen over. It's easier to rush people that way," Gentry said. "It is harder for upperclassmen to become friends with freshman students too, because they are not over [at the houses] all of the time. Now upperclassmen have to make that extra effort to get to know the freshmen."
The administration
In late September, DePauw's Office of Institutional Research released statistics, which indicated a considerable drop in the first- to second-year retention rate. Compared to the class of 2009, the retention rate for the class of 2010 decreased by approximately 4 percent, with 87.4 percent of the class remaining for a second semester. This was the lowest rate since the depauw.year1 program was established in 1999.
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