Fraternity Redux

Next-door neighbors of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house at the University of Miami were dumbfounded recently at the sight of the fraternity's flagpole. There, billowing in the breeze, was a frilly assortment of coeds' panties and bras. Such pranks, common to college life of the '50s and early '60s, had pretty much died out in recent years with the advent of student protests, a more serious campus mood and the near demise of fraternities. But now, fraternities--and their high jinks--are back in full force on campus.

At Amherst College, at least 60% of the student body now belong to the school's 13 fraternities. The University of California at Berkeley is considering applications from ten new fraternities, which will send the total number up to 38, about as many as 20 years ago. At the University of Maryland, the number of students pledging fraternities is up 50% since 1970. After a sharp decline at Syracuse University, where 14 houses shut down during the past decade, three new fraternities have applied for charters.

The fraternities of the '70s have taken on some new dimensions. Though parties and interhouse sporting events are still popular, there is a growing interest in community projects. Last fall Miami's Alpha Epsilon Phi and its sister sorority, Delta Zeta, held a "showerthon"--during which students took showers for 360 straight hours in an especially rigged bathtub on the street--and raised more than $1,500 for the American Cancer Society. At the University of Kansas, the Interfraternity Council has assumed sponsorship of the semiannual campus blood drive.

In the past few years, many fraternities have earned much good will for such community services. But their new image has recently been tarnished by the revival of hazing. At a pre-initiation hazing last fall at the Zeta Beta Tau chapter at New Jersey's Monmouth College, William Flowers, 19, was suffocated when a 5-ft.-deep mock grave in which he was lying collapsed. At Georgetown University, a fraternity pledge was hospitalized, according to campus rumor, after he was forced to chug-a-lug glass after glass of "purple Jesus," a potent mix of vodka, rum, grape, orange and lemon juices.

These incidents have not deterred the growing numbers of pledges, who are attracted by some practical benefits. Generally, living in fraternity houses is less expensive than off-campus apartments and, on some campuses, even cheaper than dormitories. At Syracuse University, for example, room and board at the fraternities runs about $400 less than in the dorms. Moreover, the food is better.

Fraternity life provides psychological benefits as well. Louis Menyhert, president of Psi Upsilon at New York University, points out that "N.Y.U. these days is an antiseptic place where people come for classes and go home." At a small, closely-knit fraternity house, he believes, there is a better opportunity to build friendships.

The fraternity brotherhood--once built on a foundation of religious and ethnic exclusion--is opening up a bit. Most fraternities proclaim policies of nondiscrimination, but on many campuses there are Wasp houses, Jewish houses and black houses--and everyone knows which is which.

In some cases, students are pressured by their parents to join fraternities. Explains James Brodie, an assistant dean at Miami: "Parents want their children to have a traditional education, and parents can relate to the college fraternity experience." Indeed, Berkeley Freshman Greg Ryan unabashedly admits that he decided to join Sigma Chi this fall "because my father was in it."

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