The IFC president and the director of sorority and fraternity life sent an email lifting the ban on social events while implementing new measures for students healthy and safety.
To claim, as Kevin Cheng and Aaron Friedman did, that I attacked “the personal and academic integrity of students in the Greek system by implying that students in Greek life cannot be trusted to manage their own time” combines hyperbole with reductive nonsense and has no relation to what I wrote.
Why are these organizations tolerated by universities? We know from studies that alcohol abuse is more common among those belonging to the Greek system than among other students and that membership in residential Greek organizations is associated with binge drinking and marijuana usage through midlife. As if that was not bad enough, a recent New York Times article on the University of Alabama’s sorority rush highlighted the superficiality and frivolity of this system and the significant cost in dollars that membership entails.
Some Cornell students are voicing a sense of disappointment as Cornell sororities and fraternities shift all events and activities to virtual. Despite the challenges, many students showed optimism in flexible process.