Greek organizations are built on reputation. Not only that but the people in charge of building that organization are college students, ready to take on the world and also sometimes ready to questionable decisions. Drinking cultures at universities has lead to strict rules governing the Greek student body because unlike design teams or other student organizations, it is much easier to classify a Greek house by one member's actions. Here lies a struggle between the visions of a national organization versus the vision of its members.This struggle has lead to Greek organizations implementing strict policies on anything that could cause a scandal, hence alcohol policies.These strict policies serve their purpose, in that, any member of a Greek organization should know how many ways they could get in trouble for drinking, no matter their age or location.
As a member of Panhellenic Council, a sorority recognizes that if they have a certain amount of members at any event, for my campus it is five, it becomes that house's event. Whether at a Greek house party or at a private residence. Fraternities do not have this rule because they take responsibility for their house only. However, because a sorority is dry, this policy effects ever member, no matter if they are in their house or at a party. This policy turns a gathering with friends into a whole new can of worms. It causes being a part of a sorority to mean being completely responsible for any of your member's actions. One of you does something stupid, if there are enough girls there, everyone suffers. In an ideal world, this would mean that everyone has each others back but if you are in a sorority you know that you can't control every situation you are in.
Fraternities have their own struggles, just in a different form. Open sources of alcohol have been marked as forbidden. Fraternities can not serve punch or any free source of alcohol, whether at a brotherhood event or at a social with multiple fraternities. Does free flowing alcohol have its dangers? Yes. But I would argue that if a person wants to be reckless, they will be reckless. Fraternities do have more control over this because it can take place in their own house but the draw of free alcohol in large quantities is irresistible for some. There will be times where there will be free-flowing alcohol at a house and now you have members more worried about hiding it than keeping people safe.
This brings me to my main point. These alcohol policies were made with the intent to keep people safe. However, in the course of trying to keep people safe, alcohol policies make alcohol more taboo. More mysterious. As if, you can only handle it if you are twenty-one or older. So, college students do the exact opposite of what the policy intended. They desire the taboo and the mysterious. It could be because they just want to be cool but , most of all, I think it is because college students just want to be treated like adults.
"Researchers discovered that although college students were more likely to participate in binge drinking or driving under the influence than their non-college peers, fewer college students were being made aware of the risks involved," says Education News
Greek alcohol policies are hiding college students from alcohol when they should be working towards educating students and then letting them make their own decisions. Not educating in the traditional, you drink, you die kinda way. But instead, the effects alcohol has, how to know if a beverage is stronger or weaker, how sugar effects you when combined with alcohol, and how to know how much is too much. Policies should foster organizations like GAMMA and make sure that they aren't just teaching students how to maintain their buzz. The less taboo we make alcohol, the less power it has in college communities and if a student drinks, they can feel like they are allowed to get help. If we continue to ban hard liquor at colleges or forbid drinking in Greek organizations, we are just encouraging students to become sneakier. And when people become sneakier, they don't get help when they need it.
