Greek life must change after deaths, arrests.

My fraternity was a big part of my college experience.

It’s where I met my wife. Where I learned to chug lukewarm PBR. And where I befriended guys who remain friends to this day.

So, as people debate the value of Greek life on college campuses in America, I should be a passionate defender of this long-standing tradition.

But I’m not. I just can’t manage to muster up much passion for a system that continues to make messy, criminal and tragic headlines.

An alleged gang rape and fraternity suspension is the latest report out of the University of Central Florida. That came on the heels of the following headlines: “UCF fraternity is suspended amid claims of hazing, sexual misconduct,” “UCF fraternity brother accused of putting gun barrel to pledge’s head” and “Two UCF fraternities face hazing accusations.”

And those are just at one school within the past two years.

UCF is hardly alone. Florida State University recently banned “all Greek life” for four months after a 20-year-old pledge died and another fraternity member was arrested for selling cocaine.

Obviously something needs to change.

That is, in fact, what FSU President John Thrasher decided when he initiated the ban last fall.

While he pledged Sigma Phi Epsilon back in his own FSU days, he said that he had no choice but to take serious action after the hazing death of Pi Kappa Phi pledge Andrew Coffey.

“When you have a death, you have to stop,” Thrasher said Wednesday. “You have to ask: What are the values of this university?”

That’s what a grand jury wanted to know. Its report began by describing FSU as a “preeminent research institution.”

The next 14 pages, however, went on to describe fraternity members who hired strippers, drank until they passed out, made themselves vomit so they could drink some more and ultimately couldn’t explain how Coffey died of alcohol poisoning in a room full of people because many members “were unable to give lucid accounts.”

Nothing about that screams preeminent.

And that is part of why Thrasher says he doesn’t view Greek organizations as sacred cows.

Aside from university leaders who have the power to boot fraternities off campus, he said victims’ families have the power to sue them out of existence. He noted legislators in Tennessee even proposed legislation to ban them outright.

But Thrasher also knows it’s unfair to paint every fraternity in America or even Florida —

and certainly all sororities — with the same broad brush.

I agree. Lots of Greek groups operate without any issues. Some even shock with their altruism. Sigma Chi nationally has pledged $11 million for cancer research. A fraternity at Emerson College made headlines a few years ago for raising $16,000 to help a transgender brother pay for his sex-change operation. That ain’t exactly Animal House. Plus, bad behavior isn’t limited to fraternities. One of the most tragic, heinous hazing deaths in recent years was associated with a marching band — when drum major Robert Champion, 26, was beaten to death on the way home from a Florida A&M football game.

Heck, some of the wildest parties I remember from my college days in Chapel Hill weren’t thrown by fraternities; they were thrown by the rugby team.

If people want to be idiots, commit crimes or harm others, they will find a way to do it and a group to do it with.

So even though I don’t cling to my Delta Sigma Phi days and wouldn’t shed tears if most Greek groups went away, I’m just not sure a ban is practical, fair to innocent groups or maybe even constitutional for free-speech and -assembly reasons.

Still, with such nasty things happening with such regularity, things must change.

There’s a troubling aspect of privilege and entitlement that has always been part of the Greek system that seems to be increasingly bleeding into criminal activity.

You can’t explain away deaths, rapes and gunplay by saying: Boys will be boys.

At FSU, Thrasher and his administration instituted a number of changes. Before lifting the ban last month, they reduced pledging times, limited the number of alcohol parties that Greek groups can hold, forced the groups to hire thirdparty vendors to serve the booze, beefed up police presence and made the organizations attend risk-management training.

“My overall feeling is that we’re making progress,” he said. But Thrasher also stressed that none of the Greek groups on campus should take anything for granted. “We are very serious about zero tolerance,” he said. “We will take tough action on them if they force us to.”

As well they should. Every school should.