[TL;DR at the bottom]
Through my brief tenure at Lafayette College, there has been a lot of attention towards the case of Greek Life at the school. Between the adoption of the IAGGL (a committee created to establish the benefits and drawbacks to Greek Life organizations), the suspension of the Zeta Psi fraternity, and the granted colony status of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, it is clear that the topic of greek life is of large interest to the current student, alumni, and administrative body. In my experience as a student of this school, there has been a consensus from students and many alumni, that the administration of the school has looked negatively on Greek Letter organizations. However, with the recent adoption of the new Greek application process, the school is attempting to change that general attitude.
The question that many have asked (including myself), is how does a school with nineteen fraternities dwindle down to, at one point, three fraternities in a span of 30-40 years. Many claim this to be the result of a trend from the administration’s views on greek life that are believed to be negative. However, in my research so far, there was an extensive essay written by the late Albert W. Gendebien in 1998 about the history of Greek Life at Lafayette College. The essay analyzes the inception of these institutions all the way to their decline through the late 90’s. He analyzes several pieces of evidence from housing data to administrative policies on fraternity standards. The evidence finds that the decline in Greek organizations at Lafayette is not as black and white as a “negative opinion” on greek life from the administration.
The essay, in sum, argues that up until the late 20th century, lazzes-faire attitudes towards these societies proved positive in a symbiotic relationship with the college. However, around the time of the mid-late 20th century, for reasons listed in the essay, these societies strayed from their intended purpose and required for intensive involvement from the school through guidelines and instruction. He calls for a revival in the value of the societies mission statements. His concluding statement asks the question, “Can the Greek System as it existed before the 1960’s –self reliant in an atmosphere of institutional hands-off– flourish under the glow of all this benevolent paternalism?”.
In my documentary, I hope to answer many different questions that surround the current topic of Greek Life at Lafayette. Questions like the current opinions of Greek Life at Laf from students, alumni, and administration, the direction people believe the institution to be going in, and answer Gendebien’s final question in his essay. I hope to obtain these answers through display of interviews from alumni, students, and faculty/administration in my project. I also aim to delve deeper in research pertaining to the greek history of Lafayette College, that I believe can be found in the college archives. In these archives, I hope to uncover further details as to how fraternities and sororities behaved on campus in the past. I am in the works of contacting different alumni affiliated with current and formerly recognized greek letter organizations. Having had conversations about greek life with alumni I am convinced that this is a topic of interest to them, and I believe there are alumni that would wish to voice there opinion through this platform.
I truly desire to approach this project with a neutral approach. I am not a member of any fraternity on campus, however, a vast majority of my friends are involved in Greek Life. Some of you may know that some of my closest friends were those in the Zeta Psi fraternity that was suspended. Although this may seem like a conflict of interest, I do not wish to focus on the suspension any more than the other aspects of this case.
My Concerns:
- How difficult will it be to get interviews with different administrative heads?
- Who do you guys think I should interview specifically besides the obvious ones.
- If the only opportunity to interview some people is over the summer, how should I approach document it without a decent camera? Best camera I have at my ready disposal is my iPhone 6+.
- What other prep should I do before going into the school year?
- Do you guys think this a doable project for the capstone? Does it seem like too big or small a project?
TL;DR:
I want to shoot a documentary on the history, public opinion, and direction of Greek Life at Lafayette College. I want to interview students, alumni, and faculty/administration. Research so far has been of greek related articles from The Lafayette Newspaper, as well as an essay on this topic written in 1998 by a former Lafayette archivist Albert W. Gendebien. I plan to conduct further research through the College Archives in hopes to uncover more details as to how Greek Letter organizations conducted themselves. Not officially in a fraternity myself, however all of my friends are, so I hope to approach this topic neutrally.