Freshmen to be banned from fraternities, sororities in fall 2012

The University announced Aug. 23 that it will ban freshmen from participating in fraternities and sororities and upperclassmen from recruiting freshmen beginning in the fall of 2012. The delay in implementing the ban, President Tilghman said in a letter to returning students, was to allow time for a committee of students, faculty, and staff to recommend how the ban should be enforced and penalties for violations.

 

A working group appointed by Tilghman examined the Greek organizations as part of a broader look at campus social and residential life. Among the group’s recommendations in a May report were a ban on freshman affiliation with fraternities and sororities, with penalties “severe enough to encourage widespread compliance which probably means a minimum penalty of suspension.”

 

Robert K. Durkee ’69, the University vice president and secretary who was a co-chair of the working group, told PAW on Aug. 23 that while the new student/faculty/staff committee would be charged with taking a fresh look at the issue, “what we want to come out is a set of policies and procedures that maximize the likelihood that this policy will be effective.”

 

Tilghman also said that the University would continue its policy of not recognizing the Greek organizations, though students will not be prohibited from joining fraternities and sororities after freshman year.

 

She said she recognized that her decision “will be disappointing to some who have advocated an expanded role for Greek life at Princeton,” and said she respected those views. The University estimated that the four sororities and about a dozen fraternities on campus attract about 15 percent of undergraduates.

 

For more details on the University’s announcement on Greek organizations, see the Sept. 14 issue of PAW.