The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/fraternities/page/2/)
After a surge of COVID-19 cases which the University linked to “informal off-campus gatherings”, Cornell is discouraging fraternities from hosting social events.
Some of Cornell’s most exclusive brotherhoods are its pre-professional fraternities, whose recruitment methods have undergone significant changes over Zoom.
Oh, Fraternities. From their stupendously shitty taste in music to their toxic environment of elitist exclusivity to their growing count of associated rape cases and deaths, what’s not to love? Sorry if that was harsh, the hook has gotta be abrasive to weed out who really wants to read the entire thinkpiece, it’ll be worth it when you get to the body paragraphs. You understand, right? It’s a surprise to absolutely no one that Greek life, at universities all across the United States, is ridden with a plethora of serious problems. So why, in spite of this universal truth, are these organizations allowed continued existence; An existence that inherently grants them power and authority?
Due to investigations of misconduct, the administration has banned four Interfraternity Council chapters from recruiting new members during this semester’s rush process.
Greek life is one of the oldest and most controversial systems at Cornell. The current structure of Greek life that we’re familiar with has been decades in the making, and in this week’s Solar Flashback, we wanted to take a look back at some of the most significant policy changes involving social Greek organizations. As Greek life reforms come into the spotlight once again, it’s important to understand its history in order to gain insights for future change.
The changes attempt to reform many of fraternities’ traditional spring recruitment practices, which the Interfraternity Council president called “laissez-faire.”
I wiped graham cracker crumbs from my lips and gulped down one last gooey mouthful of marshmallow and chocolate as I traipsed down the Slope. It didn’t taste very good. I continued to distance myself from the Arts Quad on my descent to West Campus — and yet, I still couldn’t shake the saccharine aftertaste that the s’more left behind. Supposedly, I had consumed the s’more in the name of service. Realistically, my only takeaways were sticky fingers glued together by melted marshmallows and a $6 charge on my Venmo account.
On Friday, the President of the Panhellenic Council proposed an unprecedented shift in Greek Life on campus: a freeze of all social mixers between member sororities and fraternities on campus until the Interfraternity Council and Executive Board upped safety measures for party-goers.
Cornell yearbook fraternity rosters from the 1980s feature altered names such as “Ku,” Klux” and “Klan.”
Due to a winter storm that struck the greater Tompkins area Saturday night, Cornell University’s Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council had to make changes to their recruitment timelines, including pushing recruitment timelines back a week.