It’s been more than two years since President Paul Conn dramatically revamped Lee University’s Greek club induction process to remove the heavy emphasis on physicality.While some Greeks have argued that inductions have ceased to be effective and challenging as a result, others in Lee’s Greek community say that the changes have actually helped clubs place more emphasis on their founding mission: growing spiritually and serving others.
Kristin Chumley, a member of Epsilon Lambda Phi, said that Greek clubs have definitely changed since the administration’s induction overhaul in October 2006.
“It’s a different breed of person who rushes clubs now,” the senior elementary education major said. “I don’t think members are as committed to the club as they were in the past … It’s few and far between that you find someone willing to sacrifice. There tended to be more of that person during the old induction.”
Chumley said she was in the second to last tap to endure the physical inductions prior to the change, noting that she was Epsilon’s induction chair when the overhaul took place.
Dean of Students Alan McClung said that he expected Greek guys to feel less dedicated as a result of the changes, because the physical inductions were so much more a part of their clubs.
Contrast is something older members of every Greek club talk about frequently, Chumley said, adding that turnover will soon chip away at those memories as members who remember the old induction graduate.
“We’re being weeded out … in every club,” she said. “You never talk about it with the new girls.”
Junior elementary education major and Epsilon member Jamie Reed said that she entered the club after the induction changes.
“At least with our club I don’t think there’s any disunity,” she said. “I think we’re still pretty close.”
Self-imposed changes
Reed said that she didn’t believe the induction changes had any effect on the club.
Jeremiah Argo, a junior pastoral ministries major in Tau Kappa Omega, said that TKO is moving away from the old induction system in a progressive manner.
“[We're] trying to get into a more brotherly sort of rushing system where we spend the whole semester actually hanging out with them and teaching them by example, rather than one weekend of inductions, shoving it all in your face,” he said.
Argo said that Greeks don’t often talk about inductions in general.
“We actually promise not to tell what happens for the simple fact that it could hurt someone else’s experience,” he said. “It could stop them from wanting to do it.”
TKO came to the conclusion that even the new induction system wasn’t working well, Argo said, noting that TKO thought it could get through to new members in a different way.
“We agree that the way inductions has been is very utilitarian and kind of sadistic, and so we’re trying to move away from that,” he said.
Chumley said that when inductions were reformatted in 2006 Epsilon “completely threw out” their previous process and started over, but she noted that there was little work to be done.
“[Dean of Students Alan] McClung will tell you Epsilon didn’t need to change at all because, come on, we’re girls,” she said.
McClung said that the induction process in most girls clubs was in very little need of change at the time, adding that it was more difficult for guys to make the transition.
“That’s just natural because of gender,” he said. “Guys tend to be more physical. They demand more.”
Chumley said that the changes encouraged the group to concentrate on what it stood for, stating that the new process is more mentally challenging, focusing mostly on team building and learning Biblical lessons.
“You want to put someone to their breaking point,” she said, stating that such a moment teaches new taps that they can’t do anything without God.
Chumley said that since the induction overhaul certain Greek clubs have received warnings about specific activities that too closely resembled old induction practices.
She said that no one is ever forced to do anything during an induction, “It’s what they choose to do.”
The first tap to experience the new inductions completely lost the “my induction was harder than yours attitude,” Chumley said.
Adam Marroquin, president of Pi Kappa Pi, said that the different attitude was likely isolated to Epsilon. While he stated that he understood that some Greeks may not feel as connected, he said the members of Pi felt unified.
“Every year we give back to the community,” the senior pastoral ministry major said. “We are social service organizations.”
Next spring Pi Kappa Pi plans to take its members on a cross cultural trip to help others in Cambodia, he said.
Marroquin said that all of Lee’s Greek clubs were based on Biblical principals and that the motive behind induction is to build people up.
“We’re not a national fraternity by any means,” he said. “Hazing is wrong. I agree with that … Lee University wouldn’t allow Greek clubs to be in existence if they thought they would be intentionally harming students.”
Marroquin acknowledged that Pi Kappa Pi “didn’t have the best reputation on campus” when he first joined three years ago but said that the club had dramatically changed since that time.
Induction Harm
Sophomore anthropology major Ryan Austin said he had always understood Greek clubs at Lee to be service-oriented and for the betterment of each individual, but a recent finding had called that attitude into question.
Austin said he received a copy of Pi Kappa Pi’s newsletter “The Not So Green Pages” from a student who found it in a hallway of the Humanities Center.
“They thought I would be interested and gave me a call,” he said. “From what I see in [the newsletter] there might be cause for concern.”
The four-page newsletter gave new members degrading nicknames, featured a degrading photo caption and discussed upcoming formal inductions:
“New guys..this will challenge you mentally, physically, and spiritually,” it read. “We never put anyone in the hospital durin[g] induction…so I guess we should take this opportunity and try…”
Marroquin said the statement was a joke that outsiders wouldn’t understand.
“We don’t do anything to anybody; we haven’t in a long time,” he said. “It’s never our intention to harm anybody, period … No Greek club harms anybody.”
Marroquin said the statement was meant to make fun of the old induction ways and incidents other clubs have had in the past.
One member of Pi Kappa Pi’s executive council was responsible for producing the newsletter, Marroquin said, though he wouldn’t deny that it was the secretary’s job.
“As president that’s not something that I worry about,” he said. “Anything else that’s in there, I don’t have a hand in it … I trust whoever’s writing it will do a good job.”
Marroquin said that he had been personally addressed about the issue by a member of the administration.
“I explained to them exactly what was going on,” he said. “That was it, period. Jokes like that shouldn’t be made because as you see they can be taken out of context.”
McClung said that when he saw a copy of the newsletter he took the hospital comment as a joke that reflects poorly on the whole club.
“Nobody should be joking like that,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if anybody sees it or not. It does not convey the mission of what their club represents, simple as that.”
McClung said he took the newsletter to the club’s head sponsor, Nate Tucker, and demanded action but left any discipline up to the the club itself.
The “Not So Green Pages” isn’t the first time that an inappropriate newsletter has been circulated in a Greek club at Lee, McClung said. He said that a different club dealt with a similar situation in much the same way around 15 years ago.
“You can do so much good and one thing can negate all the good you do,” he said.
“They know that if anyone goes to the hospital, we’re going to want to know why. There’s going to be a high level of accountability.”
Lee students have visited the hospital before during inductions, McClung said, but only because they couldn’t endure the physical requirements of the old induction process.
He said that the hospital visits was the impetus for the revisions.
“If they tap a couch potato, he’s not in shape, and you get him out there in the morning doing jumping jacks and stuff like that, it takes its toll,” he said.
McClung said Lee’s Greek clubs haven’t sent a student to the hospital in a long time.
“They don’t want to put anybody in the hospital because that’s the kind of attention they don’t want,” he said.
While Austin acknowledged that the physical safety of members was a concern, he said he thought the statement in the newsletter was simply a joke.
“Personally, I see this just as college students being college students,” he said. “We’re not the most thoughtful people.”
Austin said the language used in the newsletter seemed to harm individuals spiritually and emotionally.
“If the people who are leaders in this Greek club are using ‘sending someone to the ER’ euphemistically… what are they really going to do? What is the extent?” he asked. “It’s kind of worrisome to me.”
Greek clubs become a waste when they’re not used to build individuals up spiritually, he said.
Austin said he believes that Greek club leaders have put less emphasis on being role models in recent years and have instead focused on making friends by “joking around with people.”
Sowing good seed
Argo said that in his case, however, the brotherhood of TKO saved his life.
“If it wasn’t for TKO I would have committed suicide, literally committed suicide, at the end of my first semester at Lee,” he said.
TKO focuses on leading by example, he said, ensuring that each member is held accountable to the community covenant.
“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do any of that stuff,” Argo said. “I will fully admit that I have in the past, but I don’t, and my brothers keep me accountable.
Argo said that when he first joined TKO in spring 2007 he was shunned by another Greek club on campus because of TKO’s bad reputation at Lee. Members wouldn’t even talk to him until recently, he said.
“In the past certain clubs have had reputations….but that comes with envy and pride. Some of the clubs have been elitist.”
Greek clubs on campus have started a recovery effort though, he said, noting that the goal is to stop rumors, answer more questions, and be more honest and open.
Argo said that Greek clubs have become much more focused on their original missions in recent years.
“They’re focused a lot more on spiritual inner-edification than they were,” he said. “If we ever came down to only having one guy [rush] in a semester, we would ask him to wait until next semester. We refuse to put someone in by themselves. We refer to ourselves as the brotherhood… You can’t get through life alone.”
Reed said that her Greek club has become more concerned about helping the community.
“I think that something we need to work on as a service club is actually doing more service,” she said.
Argo said that he’s logged about 40 hours of service this semester alone, but he’s only recorded seven of those hours officially to fulfill Lee’s requirement. He said that logging hours didn’t matter anymore to him and that the main focus was helping as much as he could.
McClung said that he thought service projects by Greek clubs have increased in number over time, but that the projects get less publicity than most clubs.
“Service is really very much a part of their makeup,” he said. “I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t.”
McClung said that clubs have adopted a section of a highway, crocheted for the homeless, raised money for a victim of Chernobyl who couldn’t afford treatments, held a lingerie party for a battered women’s shelter, and worked with the Crossover ministry, just to name a few examples.
“They do so much in the community that no body knows about,” he said. “Right now I could not be more pleased with where all of the Greek clubs are at and it’s been that way the last few semesters.”
GPA concerns
McClung said he and Vice President for Student Life Dr. Walt Mauldin meet with the presidents, officers and sponsors of Greek clubs at the beginning of every fall.
“Dr. Mauldin and I just spell it out,” he said. “This is what you can do, this is what you can’t do. If you violate, we’re going to come for you. They know we’re serious.”
Club newsletters are on the agenda to talk about at the next meeting, he said, as well as member GPAs.
“We’ll go over induction again,” he said. “We’ll encourage them to follow their constitutions and stay consistent with that. There’s been a little coloring outside the lines.”
He said that while girls clubs have not budged when it comes to the minimum GPA of new members, guys clubs have repeatedly asked for exceptions.
“In the past we kind of winked if it was close enough,” he said. “If the kid was one tenth of a point away, I thought, how can you deny that?”
McClung said that he now tells club members to follow the constitution, no matter how close the GPA may be to the minimum requirement.
“I think they’ve let things slide because it was…for the better of the club,” he said, adding that sticking to the constitution “protects them and protects me.”
McClung said he holds Greek students to a higher level of accountability than other students on campus.
Despite the shift away from danger and toward Christ-focused serving, some students still don’t subscribe to the notion of the Greek club.
“I have nothing against Greek clubs. It’s just not my cup of tea,” Austin said. “People can have friends wherever. I have friends; I’m not in a Greek club.”
Austin said that the real question was whether or not the administration should be concerned about the path Greek clubs are beginning to take on Lee’s campus.
Considering McClung’s position, however, that shouldn’t be a problem.
Marroquin said that Greek clubs will continue to be a major spiritual element in the lives of Greeks at Lee.
“As president I still have a chaplain’s heart,” he said. “I still have a heart for my guys.”
Marroquin compared Pi to a church where the guys meet to talk about the struggles in their lives.
“They’re mature as far as college goes,” he said. “They’re a lot of great guys that have good heads on their shoulders. Every club has its bad apples. There’s not quite as many as there used to be.”
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