SDSU SHOULD FOCUS ON WIDER SUBSTANCE ABUSE ISSUE
I could be a poster child for what fraternities do well.
Two critical points need to be made regarding last month’s article in The San Diego Union-Tribune on troubles within the Greek system at San Diego State University.
First, the focus needs to be on the real problem, which is substance abuse, primarily of alcohol. This issue is societal in scope, not limited to SDSU or fraternities. Yes, students interested in the party scene will naturally be attracted to Greek life, but they won’t necessarily commit themselves to the overall fraternity or sorority culture once they discover what’s really involved.
Which brings us to the second point, in which Greek organizations, as the article states, are devoted to promoting friendship, scholarship, leadership, community service and philanthropy, “and for the most part, the system works.”
That second part applies to me. I’m an SDSU alumnus, class of 1983, and a member of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity. I showed up on campus for the fall 1979 semester as a shy, sheltered 19-year-old ignorant of my own immaturity after one year of community college. I pledged myself to a fraternity with the vague but intriguing motto of “engineered leadership.” Over the course of my four years as a “Delta Sig,” I put the slogan to the test by taking on some minor leadership roles, each of which helped me become the more mature and confident young man I was upon graduation.
The experience paid dividends in a 30year-plus journalism career in which I led fellow staff members in several positions, and in my last job, where I was granted considerable autonomy by my employer, who trusted my work ethic and judgment. My fraternity background prepared me to handle the various situations I faced every bit as much as my academic studies.
Other Delta Sigs from my era became a successful electronics entrepreneur, a leading transportation planner, a government compliance executive at a major defense contractor, military officers, engineers and health care workers. And, yes, a few more became journalists.
Erik Johannesen, identified in the article as a Delta Sigma Phi alumni adviser and antique dealer, is far more. He has dedicated his life to developing young men into leaders via the Greek system.
The social life also proved beneficial. Decades later, I gather with these men at Aztecs basketball contests and Padres baseball games. At one fraternity event, I met the lovely young woman who became my wife, a sorority member who is successful in her own career.
The over-consumption of alcohol and its repercussions for fraternities and sororities should not be downplayed, but our focus must have a wider view to be effective. We can’t market whipped-cream vodka to youth and pretend there won’t be consequences.
If alcohol- and drug-fueled troubles are occurring at fraternities and sororities, you can be sure they are also taking place in dormitories and off-campus housing, not just at SDSU, but at campuses nationwide.
SDSU psychology professor Jean Twenge found in a 2017 study that the younger generation drinks and smokes less, a positive trend. Twenge also discovered that those in the smartphone generation grew up far more often isolated in their bedrooms than their predecessors, with their screens as companions. Many more in what she calls “iGen” suffer from depression or a fragile emotional state. Then they’re packed off to college, often in another city or state, where they’re confronted with other people, varying ideals and different attitudes toward adult beverages and drugs.
That combination means that when trouble does strike, the outcome might be worse, such as in the death of SDSU freshman Dylan Hernandez last year.
Universities, with their fraternities and sororities, inherit these societal changes but are not their cause. Rather than attacking or attempting to banish the system itself, one that historically works, higher education officials should engage students as individuals and ensure that Greek organizations actually are what they claim and aspire to be.
That way, fraternities and sororities can become part of the solution to a much wider problem, and concentrate on drawing out shy, sheltered teens and molding them into confident, productive young adults.
Do things always work out that way? Of course not, but they do sometimes. All these years later, I’m living proof.
Riffel