11/10/97 PICKING A FRAT: ALPHA TO OMEGA

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PICKING A FRAT: ALPHA TO OMEGA

When Dudley Woodard was vice-president for student affairs at the University of Arizona in 1988, a drunk driver from a campus fraternity killed a Tucson resident. The tragedy quickly turned personal: Woodard's son, a frat brother of the driver, was named in a lawsuit against the chapter even though he was not involved in the accident. The victim's lawyer even called Woodard, demanding $15,000 from his homeowner's policy to settle the case.
Woodard's son was later dismissed from the suit, but his story underscores the importance of pledging a fraternity or sorority that handles drinking responsibly. Unfortunately, 84% of students who live in Greek houses are binge drinkers, says a 1996 Harvard University study. And lawsuits targeting such houses are on the rise, says Boston attorney Joel Epstein. What's more, no campus is immune to the problem--including the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a freshman pledge drank himself to death in September.
BUYING TIME. By following a few basic safety checks during fraternity and sorority rush, a student can weed out the houses that don't take safety seriously enough. Students might delay pledging--or at least living in the house--until the sophomore year. By doing this, they can buy time to make informed choices and learn to make it on their own.
Experts like Henry Wechsler, the Harvard professor who conducted the 1996 study, suggest checking university security reports to see which houses have gotten into trouble. Schools vary in how much authority they have over fraternities and sororities. Oversight is more likely when a chapter resides on school-owned property. At the University of Missouri at Columbia, for example, officials pay surprise visits to Greek houses to make sure they are complying with policies on alcohol use. The Web site of the University of Texas at Austin (www.utexas.edu) posts all current disciplinary sanctions against Greek houses.
Since most activities sponsored by fraternities and sororities slip under the radar of the dean of students, it's important to go right to the source: chapter members. If there's pressure to drink alcohol during rush functions, expect the same during pledgeship. One way to avoid a problem is to join a ''dry'' house, where alcohol is prohibited on the premises. Three national fraternities announced in the past year that their houses would go dry by 2000--Sigma Nu, Phi Delta Theta, and Phi Gamma Delta, where the MIT incident occurred.
Beyond the alcohol issue, any students thinking of living in a Greek house should make sure it's a smart place for their academic career. Start with the pledge period. To find out whether or not pledges have to spend a lot of time on housecleaning chores, for example, ask about the average grade-point average for the past few pledge classes. The dean of students at most universities keeps those numbers. Potential pledges can also obtain them directly from a Greek chapter. According to some studies, pledgeship GPAs are half a point below the average for Greeks who are already active members, says George Kuh, a professor of higher education at Indiana University.
Another good litmus test is to drop by the house around 11 p.m. on a random weeknight to check out what everyone's up to. Does it appear to be a place conducive to study or sleep? About 50 students live in the average Greek house. If few of them are juniors and seniors, that's cause for concern. It usually means upperclass members have learned they can concentrate on their studies better off-campus.
''WORD-OF-MOUTH.'' The exterior and interior of the house will say plenty about its character. Find out how recently renovations have been made and how the frat house is cleaned and maintained. When it comes to meeting fire codes and other safety issues, on-campus houses tend to have the edge.
Finally, Greek seekers should talk to some students who don't belong to the chapter in question. ''Word of mouth is thick on campus,'' explains Jonathan Brant, executive vice-president of the Indianapolis-based National Interfraternity Conference. A house with a bad reputation is not where most parents want their kids to spend the bulk of their academic life.
Brad Wolverton

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