Open letter to President Tilghman

As a current brother and former social chair of the Zeta Psi (“Zete”) fraternity, I read the Working Group on Campus Social and Residential Life’s report with great interest. I found the working group’s observations and recommendations regarding fraternities and sororities to be unsettling, and I would like to use this opportunity to voice a few of my objections and concerns.

First, I understand the working group’s concerns regarding alcohol consumption. I admit that Greek members likely drink more, on average, than their non-Greek counterparts. That being said, I strongly believe that the working group’s assumptions of causality are erroneous. Just because members of Greek organizations might consume alcohol more often than their peers does not mean that this behavior is encouraged or “coerced” by the fraternities and sororities. Students who have the intention of drinking in college are more likely to self-select into Greek organizations, but their propensity to drink is not precipitated by their membership in fraternities and sororities. Thus, it would be silly to think that Greek organizations themselves are responsible for the drinking habits of their members.

Second, I was taken aback by the working group’s assertions about the racial and socioeconomic “exclusivity” of fraternities and sororities. Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee ’69 and I both sit on the board of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, to help “promote harmony, understanding and respect among people of different races.” So I feel slighted when the working group, which Vice President Durkee co-chairs, implies that the homogeneity of Greek organizations is deliberate and duly engineered. This could not be further from the truth. Incoming freshmen typically decide to rush after hearing about fraternities and sororities from Princeton students whom they know prior to arriving on campus (e.g., graduates from their alma maters). So while students admitted from (whiter and wealthier) feeder schools tend to arrive on campus with a working knowledge of the Greek life here, their peers from high schools that do not typically send students to Princeton generally know very little (if anything at all). Thus, the racial and socioeconomic demographics are self-perpetuating. As someone who attended a very diverse public high school, I too am displeased that Greek life at Princeton is not more heterogeneous. But until information about Princeton’s fraternities and sororities is widely disseminated to all incoming freshmen, which cannot be done without the blessing of the administration, I believe it is unfair to wholly blame us for the composition of our membership. And for the record, let it be known that every fraternity and sorority provides full or partial financial aid to those students who need it.

Third, the working group vilifies fraternities and sororities for their “pipeline relationship with some of the selective eating clubs.” But the working group cannot genuinely argue that this dynamic is unique to Greek organizations. The diSiac Dance Company has more members in Ivy Club than any individual fraternity or sorority, and the same is true with club rugby at Tiger Inn, the football team at Cottage Club, the club basketball team at Cap & Gown Club, and the Wilson School at Tower Club — the list goes on and on.

Fourth, what frustrates me most about the working group is that they have intentionally skirted around the opportunity to truly engage with and understand the Greek community. The working group’s “evidence” (i.e., observations) amounted to nothing more than undisclosed statistics and arbitrary and anonymous anecdotes, and it is naive to believe that their surveys were completed by a representative sample of fraternity and sorority members. Further clouding the integrity of their findings is the fact that, of its 13 members, there was only one Greek-affiliated student on the working group. How can you thoroughly examine Greek life at Princeton without having an honest and open discussion with fraternity and sorority members? Let’s lift the veil off of this debate and all sit down together to have a sincere discussion.

Finally, and most importantly, I am bothered by the paternalistic ideology exemplified by the working group’s recommendations. Princeton University has one of the lowest acceptance rates in the country and draws from one of the most talented applicant pools. You hand-selected my classmates and me for our notable achievements, strong intellect and robust character. Yet, at some level, you do not trust that we can make wise and healthy decisions — let alone rebound triumphantly if and when we make poor ones. Why is that?

While honoring Michelle Shearer ’95 as National Teacher of the Year, President Barack Obama quoted the poet, William Butler Yeats: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Participation in Greek life is strong and growing at Princeton: two new fraternities have emerged on campus since the beginning of last year and this past fall and a whopping 30 percent of freshmen women decided to rush a sorority. I urge you, President Tilghman, do not attempt to fill our pails. Allow us to light our own fires, and work with us to ensure that we do not inadvertently set something else ablaze.

With the utmost respect,