Following years of negative stereotypes and high liability, three national fraternities with Duke chapters have spent the last year trying to reduce the presence of alcohol in fraternity housing. But the effort to go dry has had mixed success with several obstacles standing in the way.
The national organizations of three Duke fraternities-Delta Sigma Phi, Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Nu-are trying to shift away from having an alcohol-dominated social scene.
"I think this shows a real strong move away from conventional stereotypes. These are groups that are setting out to be role models," said senior Christopher Dieterich, president of the Interfraternity Council. "Fraternities in this day and age are sometimes characterized as drinking clubs," he added. "The value of brotherhood is what a fraternity sells. It's not an opportunity to have older people buy you beer."
Delta Sig and Phi Delt have attempted to follow particularly strict rules, with no alcohol allowed in their sections and only third party alcohol service allowed at off-campus events.
Sigma Nu is held to standards of varying severity depending on their individual memberships' overall grade point average.
Admitting that she may not be the best person to evaluate the fraternities' progress, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Sue Wasiolek said she has not noticed any change in their behavior. "I think one of the greatest difficulties is, from my sense, that the leadership is not fully committed to this effort. It's very definitely a nationally driven effort," she said. "It's a difficult change to make and to expect major improvement in one year is probably unreasonable."
David Glassman, a spokesperson for Sigma Nu's national headquarters, said the motivation of the national leadership has been to re-emphasize its traditional values of "love, honor and truth," but also to help universities create more academic environments.
Enforcing alcohol-free housing is difficult, Glassman said, but the national organization tries to work with university administrators, alumni and even brothers themselves to police chapters.
"Once we find out about a violation, results vary," he said. "Generally we try to be educational in our sanctions, offering workshops. Sometimes we will have a period of restricted activity or specify some obligation for chapters to meet."
Phi Delt president Greg Daut said his fraternity has done well in its efforts to keep alcohol out of section. "I was really pleasantly surprised. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would have been," the sophomore said.
No fraternity funds have been used for alcohol, and alcohol has largely been absent from section, Daut said. He added, however that "no one's going to go into a senior's room and say, 'No, you can't have a beer in the fridge.'"
In addition, section tends to be cleaner, Daut said, adding that the reaction from rushees and pledges has been positive. "You're really in [the fraternity] for the guys, and the alcohol is something fun to do with the brothers. Moving the alcohol out hasn't taken away from the people you're living with," he said.
Junior Dustin Kirby, president of Duke's Delta Sig chapter, could not be reached for comment, and senior Maxwell Mishkin, president of the Sigma Nu chapter, declined to comment.
Tom Balzer, Phi Delt's national coordinator of alcohol-free housing, agreed that the project has been mostly successful.
"I guess I would have to be stupid to say it's been eliminated 110 percent across our chapters," Balzer said. "We know there will be times when someone who is used to having alcohol in the house will try to keep bringing it in."
Assistant Dean of Student Development Todd Adams said that fraternities that try to go dry on a wet campus face a steep challenge.
But considering the obstacles, Adams said the fraternities have made headway and are in the middle of a long process. "I think [going dry] is possible, but very, very difficult. It's not probable, but it's possible," he said.
Adams added that the fraternities have succeeded in utilizing more off-campus sites for events, ensuring that alcohol is served on an individual basis and not distributed by a large group.
"It's important to understand that the choice they made is to join a group where the national leadership has these goals, and they need to follow these goals as well," Adams said.
In addition to the three fraternities currently trying to reduce alcohol, Theta Chi plans to go dry by 2003, and Duke will establish its first substance-free house on Main West Campus next year.
Dieterich said that such efforts are largely nationally driven and have little campus support.
"I think it's going to be a trend for a while, and then it will level off," he said. "I don't think it's something the entire frat system should be pushed towards. Alcohol is a part of life, and learning to deal with it is part of the college experience."
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