Email Article

Printable Page

Greeks 'Drying Out' Frat Houses

By Charlene Carter
Black College Wire

Edgar Lane

When the beer cans are empty and the keg runs dry, the party is officially over. Alcohol has long been associated with parties hosted and promoted by the nation's fraternities. But as more and more alcohol-related deaths have brought lawsuits to these Greek organizations, many are becoming more cautious and considering turning their frat houses dry.

Recent pressure has inspired national fraternities and sororities to call for local chapter fraternity houses to ditch the alcohol. According to Matt Supple, assistant director of campus programs for Greek life at the University of Maryland, the national movement is in part an effort to move away from an “Animal House” image.

In 1995, the National Interfraternity Conference passed a resolution to support undergraduate alcohol-free fraternity houses, Supple said. Two years later, he said, the conference passed a new resolution strongly encouraging dry houses.

At the University of Maryland - College Park, the initiative to go dry stems from an desire to avoid such lawsuits. Five of the university's 23 registered fraternities have switched to alcohol-free housing in the past five years. But the trend may be too little, too late. Last winter, Daniel Reardon, a pledge for Phi Sigma Kappa, died of alcohol poisoning subsequent to alleged hazing. His family responded by filing a $15 million suit against the fraternity and two members.

Reardon, 19, died Feb. 14, a week after he lapsed into an alcohol-induced coma in the fraternity house. The lawsuit claims that he drank large amounts of malt liquor and Jim Beam whiskey at the command of pledge instructor Brian John McLaughlin.

The university no longer recognizes the fraternity or any group of students or organizations affiliated with it and says it won't for at least five years. After the five-year period, the fraternity leaders can ask for a review, but reinstatement is not guaranteed. Officials at the College Park campus recognize the benefits of going dry, such as insurance and liability relief for chapters and less damage to chapter houses, but are leaving the decision to do so up to individual chapters. Instead, they are focusing on educating the members of the Greek system on alcohol responsibility in an attempt to curb binge drinking and alcohol-related fraternity deaths. Kris Hart, member of the Interfraternity Council at George Washington University, respects the move that some fraternities have made to become alcohol-free. However, he said he doesn't believe that going dry is the ultimate answer to the alcohol-related problems facing fraternities.

"I don't think it's completely possible, nor do I think it's the answer to the problem. I think dry houses are not the answer. People who are going to drink are going to drink. Fraternities are going to have parties," Hart said.

Hart also serves as president of George Washington University’s chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa, and says that they are not currently considering becoming a dry house, nor do they seek to consider it.

"The Grand Chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa has said 14 alleged hazing, drinking violations have been brought against the fraternity," Hart said. According to Hart, a university mandate for the fraternity houses to go dry would seem harsh even after the allegations. "We own our own house, we should be allowed to have parties," he said. "The whole idea is accountability for each individual person, for how much they drink, and the responsibility on the part of the brothers to protect their house," Hart said. "But if anyone told me that I could not drink alcohol in my house, or my brothers, who are 21, couldn't drink alcohol in my house, I would tell them to get lost. It's just not a consideration."

According to officials at The Had Enough project http://www.cspinet.org/booze/hadenough/home/index.html, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, policies should be developed with input from students, faculty, administrators and community members to address such issues as reducing the availability and accessibility of alcohol, educating students about alcohol-related risks, reducing inducements for students to drink and reducing risks within the Greek system.

The Had Enough project is a media and advocacy campaign focused on supporting student involvement to reduce binge drinking on college campuses.

Student activism on campus alcohol issues is sparked by a desire to avoid alcohol-related lawsuits and by weariness of the "second-hand" effects of heavy drinking on the quality of student life - from interrupted study and sleep to destruction of property, assault and unwanted sexual advances, according to The Had Enough project. Hart says the situation on George Washington's campus is interesting now. The university recognizes 11 fraternities and eight sororities. Only two of the fraternities have houses on campus and both are "technically dry," he said.

According to Hart, in the near future the university will complete its construction of three townhouse rows, slated as possible fraternity and sorority houses. The townhouses will contain eight units that the university will rent out as Greek Row. "They are in the process of deciding which fraternities and sororities will be in the houses. Those houses will not be dry. They'll be 21 and up just like any other. If you are 21, then that's okay anyway," Hart said.

Charlene Carter is a student at Howard University who writes for The District Chronicles. She can be rached at