Another successful campus apartment opening, a football team on the upswing, increased graduate and master's enrollment: in many ways, the University at Buffalo's 2001 fall semester was a definitive step in approaching the reputation of the large research universities President William R. Greiner and other administrators hold up for comparison.
Unlike Michigan, Ohio or Pennsylvania State, however, UB's Greek-letter population makes up only about four percent of the undergraduate population, a share that, although the numbers have not yet been tallied, likely decreased last semester following the loss of prominent chapters and a little-attended rush during the week of Sept. 11.
For the Greek organizations and UB, it remains an uphill battle to build a system only 26 years old into one comparable to the numbers and reputation of those schools, given what many chapter leaders feel is marginal support.
Last spring, UB's Greek population totaled 671 members of fraternities, sororities and cultural groups - more than a 250-percent increase from spring 2000. Many fraternities and sororities had started the process of forming both new chapters of nationally recognized organizations and unaffiliated local chapters. One fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, officially chartered 47 new members.
The unfortunate timing of fall's member recruitment events, or "rush" week, however, "pretty much devastated any chances of serious recruiting," said Ed Pawliske, president of UB's Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. Pi Kappa Phi lost their charter a semester after they gained it following a disciplinary action by their national charter, and Phi Sigma Sigma, a sorority with 36 members, has been temporarily de-recognized by UB pending an investigation by their national organization into new member education and recruitment activities.
Pamela Stephens-Jackson stepped into a new full-time position last year as university liaison for Greek Affairs to help guide the Greeks through just such turbulence, along with building what she deemed "basically non-existent" public relations. Her priority is to create a managed growth in membership, something that depends upon the image chapters create and perpetuate.
"The hardest part is trying to keep them interested in the original goal of the Greek institutions, not only social but also academic and philanthropic work," said Stephens-Jackson. Part of this involved organizing the Greek chapters into what is often the largest single entity at charity events such as the Linda Yalem Memorial Run and the Buffalo News' Kids' Day.
Pawliske agrees with other frat leaders that a lack of understanding of Greek life exists among UB's undergraduates.
"None of the students really have any idea what the Greek system is really like," he said. "UB basically states for us, 'We're here,' and that's it."
"You hear a little about it when you're a freshman, from the dorm flyers and other kids, but it was hardly talked about, by students or anyone else," said Andrew Ryan, a former president of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. "There's nothing here that really screams out, 'We have a Greek life' other than one mural in the Union."
Ramin Dabiri, a Sigma Chi Omega brother and Inter-Fraternity Council president, devoted much of his time in office last year to a project that would have built two Greek column structures, possibly in front of the Student Union, for all to see. The hardships in organizing a unified Greek effort and overcoming red tape left the project in limbo, something familiar to other members of the Inter-Greek Council, an organization that includes the IFC, the Pan-Hellenic Council and the United Council of Cultural Fraternities and Sororities.
Patrick Choi, vice president of Phi Kappa Psi and IGC representative, feels the IGC and Greeks in general lack a unified voice. Little was accomplished at a luncheon meeting this semester with Greiner and Dennis Black, vice president for Student Affairs, said Choi
"We all end up going there and saying, 'Give us more, give us more,' and it doesn't do much for anybody," said Choi.
Stephens-Jackson said that since last year's attempt at building the columns, the IFC "has been a lot less active." On the other hand, this year the Pan-Hellenic Council is organizing a large-scale benefit dance marathon based on Penn State's annual "'Thon," which raised over $3 million for charity last year.
Stephens-Jackson hopes UB's own 'thon will help foster new Greek traditions, something that halted at UB when the university merged with the SUNY system in 1962, nine years after SUNY passed a resolution to eliminate all national fraternal organizations from its schools.
"For awhile, [UB] tried to create its own traditions as a replacement for the Greek ones, something which is very hard to do," said Stephens-Jackson. "What UB would create and what the students create on their own are completely different things."
The SUNY Board of Trustees voted to eliminate all nationally associated fraternal organizations in 1953, based on what then-President William S. Carlson deemed discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion, creed or national origin," which along with the "financial strain" of dues and outside accountability of such groups led the trustees to believe they conflicted with SUNY's mission to eliminate barriers to education.
When UB joined SUNY and became subject to a phasing-out plan, six fraternities sued SUNY and then-UB-Dean Richard Siggelkow to exempt UB's fraternity system from the SUNY mandate. Ultimately, the New York State Supreme Court defeated the lawsuit, and UB ended their recognition of nationally-affiliated Greek chapters in June 1967.
In 1975, UB's Student Association passed a resolution asking SUNY to reconsider its mandate. The following year, SUNY overturned its mandate.
In the years between, fraternities had changed in nature, and UB's students had many more student activities to choose from, keeping fraternities "lower in profile" from their previous incarnation at UB, according to Stephens-Jackson. Greek leaders say students themselves are different in nature.
"It may not work here now as it has at other schools, so we have to eventually find something that does," said Ryan. "Nowadays, students have to work to support themselves through school, and they think differently about frats."
"People are afraid to come up to frat people at booths [in the Student Union]," said Pawliske. "They look almost like we're gonna beat them up or something."
One thing almost every Greek member agrees UB is lacking may find a more receptive audience with the proposed Lee Road expansion project: on-campus housing for Greeks. According to one administrator, project planners are considering placing such housing on floors above many of the smaller store spaces.
"It just seems logical. ... If they're worried about loose cannons, the best solution is to have them here near campus safety," said Ryan.
At Phi Kappa Theta chapters in Ohio and Penn State, members enjoy widespread university recognition and long-standing events and traditions, according to Ryan, along with the benefits of an industrial kitchen and hired staff for houses that easily fit over 40 brothers. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen recently gave his old chapter at Washington State University a mansion worth more than $1 million.
Stephens-Jackson said that members of many national Greek organizations approached UB administrators nearly a decade ago to discuss building Greek housing, but disagreements over design control and management ended the talks.
Although the majority of senior Greek members live together in on- and off-campus apartments, only Phi Kappa Psi owns a recognized fraternity house, purchased for them by a local alumni group.
For now, UB's Greek organizations are focused on building a name for themselves given the resources they currently have.
"On paper, the system should be growing if UB wants to follow up on being a powerful Division I school," said Mike Vaughn, Phi Kappa Psi president. "At Penn State, the school has basically 56 frats with 100 guys ready to do whatever it takes. At UB, we've got a few frats and sororities with around 30 people each, and half show up to anything. ... It needs to get bigger."
Stephens-Jackson's main advice to UB's Greeks is to "think before you act."
"They need to keep wanting to do more, be seen doing good things, but one dumb move wearing those letters could have ramifications for everybody," she said.
