First off, let's separate fraternities from sports teams and rotc. They tend to be all lumped together as frats when stupid, dangerous, and even criminal things happen.
Example: In the late 70s, rotc members at st johns took some "pledges" out to an uninhabited island in the east river by rowboat I believe. They hazed them, and had pledges bring their pledge paddles. They had them shield their chests with the paddles as rotc members jabbed at them with rifles with bayonets on them. One pledge panicked, dropped his paddle and got stabbed through his heart. On a remote island with no cell phones, the kid died. Sju did not come down on the US Army, which to this day are located on campus, and instead came down hard on fraternities.
The movie Animal House was so popular, students who weren't in fraternities started doing dumb crap. At an SJU ski trip upstate, a handful of non- frat students wrecked this hotel, at one point ripping a pay phone off the wall and throwing it through a closed hallway window in dead of winter. I think Student Union had to foot the bill on several thousands in damage. Frats got blamed.
Overwhelmingly the stupid crap that makes the newspapers did not happen with any regularity at st johns. Alcohol is always a problem for all students , and frats are no exception. But when a kid is out with frat brothers and gets injured or worse in an accident, frats get blamed.
Before dorms at st johns, without fraternities or sororities, nothing good would have happened in terms of student social life, organizations, or charitable stuff. Student union and student government were run for decades by frats and sororities. Concerts at alumni hall, beer blasts, the MDA dance marathon all would not have happened.
Were there some asshole frats, or assholes in frats - yes, but not disproportional to the student body. In many regards though, most frats were self policing, always people with common sense overseeing things.
Still, it's easy to understand why many schools ban frats and sororities, because for above reasons they are a liability.
You'd be surprised at how many prominent sju grads were in frats and sororities, most of whom maintained close relationships throughout their lives.
Example: In the late 70s, rotc members at st johns took some "pledges" out to an uninhabited island in the east river by rowboat I believe. They hazed them, and had pledges bring their pledge paddles. They had them shield their chests with the paddles as rotc members jabbed at them with rifles with bayonets on them. One pledge panicked, dropped his paddle and got stabbed through his heart. On a remote island with no cell phones, the kid died. Sju did not come down on the US Army, which to this day are located on campus, and instead came down hard on fraternities.
The movie Animal House was so popular, students who weren't in fraternities started doing dumb crap. At an SJU ski trip upstate, a handful of non- frat students wrecked this hotel, at one point ripping a pay phone off the wall and throwing it through a closed hallway window in dead of winter. I think Student Union had to foot the bill on several thousands in damage. Frats got blamed.
Overwhelmingly the stupid crap that makes the newspapers did not happen with any regularity at st johns. Alcohol is always a problem for all students , and frats are no exception. But when a kid is out with frat brothers and gets injured or worse in an accident, frats get blamed.
Before dorms at st johns, without fraternities or sororities, nothing good would have happened in terms of student social life, organizations, or charitable stuff. Student union and student government were run for decades by frats and sororities. Concerts at alumni hall, beer blasts, the MDA dance marathon all would not have happened.
Were there some asshole frats, or assholes in frats - yes, but not disproportional to the student body. In many regards though, most frats were self policing, always people with common sense overseeing things.
Still, it's easy to understand why many schools ban frats and sororities, because for above reasons they are a liability.
You'd be surprised at how many prominent sju grads were in frats and sororities, most of whom maintained close relationships throughout their lives.
