re: #113 Feline Fearless Leader

It’s a good question.

But also probably a very complicated one stemming from a lot of variables. Colleges moving away from “en loco parentus” (sp) status. Better research and reporting finding more cases that were previously not reported. A societal shift towards viewing alcohol consumption as more dangerous and meriting more control. Fraternities moving away from having “house mothers” or other sources of mature oversight. Etc.

The 60’s and 70s were very damaging to fraternities in terms of membership and possibly led to a lowering of standards as well. It’s hard to tell without a lot more research. And then you face the issue that fraternities are not monolithic. Colleges have different fraternal environments, and then the individual chapters develop different characteristics and internal environments as well. And these vary by time as well.

Yeah there’s a lot of variables at play here. And you’re right about fraternities being different at different colleges and I’d add that different frats are of course different too.