Let's Not Backtrack
It will he hard now for those determined souls who still don't
like deferred living to get a pliable audience. One of thC~worst
defects of the system, thus far, has been its lack of “objective”
publicity. Saturday’s alumni report goes a long way toward
satisfying that need.
What did the report say: freshman grades have definitely im
proved since the plan went into effect; student morale Is high;
the greek-indepeodent “cleavage” has been minimized. The con
clusion: these improvements outweigh the discomforts suffered
by some greek-letter organizations as a result of deferred living.
Yes, it will be very hard for the disconsolates to carp, l'or
if any group could turn out a report which was not “suspect,"
it seems to us that the alums would be the choice.
But the fact remains that greeks in general are apparently
suffering. Some say the solution to the problem is to «throw
out deferred rushing for men. Perhaps that would help some
what to alleviate fraternity financial difficulties; but perhaps
it would louse up the deferred living program itself.
One bf the biggest advantages of deferred living is the homo
geneity it gives to the freshman men. Those on campus live to
gether. They get a much broader picture of University life where,
formerly, they could, and often did, pledge and move into houses
without ever knowing much about “the other half,”
Well, there isn't any "other halt" it you want to get right
down to it. The conceptions (in this case the misconceptions)
that greeks have about independents, and vise versa, stem
from ignorance. Deferred living, we believe, goes a long way
towards beating down the foolish ideas young college people
are sometimes wont to have have about people outside their
immediate surroundings.
Granted, immediate rushing for freshman men wouldn't change
the fact that they still lived in the dorms. But it would do a lot
to destroy v.hat unity, what homogeneity, does apparently exist
fall term in the frosh dorms (despite the “gentleman’s agree
ments" which allow fraternities to rush during fall in violation of
the very hands-off code which they set up).
There is a problem, a tough one, concerning deferred rushing
to the extent that it isn’t deferred at all—just undercover until
legal rushing begins. But the answer is most certainly not to
give in again, to pull the props out from under a well-function
ing plan just because the fraternities don't trust each other.
'Do As I Soy
/
“Do this over — How do you expect me to give you an ‘A’ on a
paper that isn’t neat?”
Ormon Daily
--4.
RALD
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Alum Committee Calls
'‘Living In' Successful
By Len Calvert
Emerald Auistant N»w« Editor
The University of Oregon's "liv
ing in" program, going into its
third year, has been a success in
all but two of its stated objec
tives, a report from the alumni
committee to study the deferred
living program has declared.
The objectives of the program,
declared unsuccessful by the com
mittee, were the strengthening of
the fraternity system and the so
cial development of the individual
as part of the over-all orientation
of the freshmen.
The committee, consisting of six
Oregon alumni appointed by
Charles Holloway, jr., president of
the Oregon Alumni association,
has been working since early
January on the report presented
at the fifth-annual conference of
alumni leaders Saturday.
In other areas of the "living in”
program, the report had no serious
I criticisms to make The report
j stated that figures show “beyond
doubt that grades generally and
freshmen grades in particular have
improved since the plan went into
effect.”
The committee also found that
student morale is high, with "the
old cleavage between affiliated and
non-affiliated students seemingly
minimized." The report concluded
that the benefit to the University
as a whole gained from stronger
school spirit and class unity
seemed "to outweigh the resulting
loss of some of the advantages en
joyed by some of the fraternities
and sororities before the plan."
The deferred living program as
set up by the administration has
four main objectives included in a
broad framework designed tti
broaden and strengthen the stu
dent's University experience, ac
cording to a letter received by the
committee from University Presi
dent H. K. Newburn. The objec
tives are an improved orientation
to University life for new students
resulting in a reduction of the
wastage of human time and talent,
an improved counseling program
making it possible to supervise
more intelligently the student's
academic progress during his first
year, a greater maturity and sta
bility in fraternity and sorority
membership, thus strengthening
these organizations, and the im
provement of general relationships
between the student body as ai
whole and the general educational
objectives of the University.
In declaring the unsuccessful
ness of the program in strengthen
ing the Greek letter houses, the
report stated that "the financial
outlook for fraternities and so
rorities for the next four or five
years is bad." In early February,
the office of student affairs re
ported 394 vacancies in men's
houses and 284 vacancies in wom
en’s housing to the committee.
In results shown by a question
naire sent by the committee to the
houses, of the 12 fraternities which
replied, only one house has enough
men coming back next year to
"break even.” The results, as
shown in the report, also reported
that eight of the houses operated
at a los3 ranging from $200 to $1,
452, while four houses showed
profits ranging from $418' to $1,
200. All houses reporting showed
vacancies and none had enough
men living in to "break even” in
expenses
For the women’s houses, the re
port says, “the picture is not much
brighter.” Fifteen sororities an
swered the committee question
naire indicating that all but three
houses “are running on an average
of eight below 'break even’ ca
pacity.”
Figures from the office of stu
| dent affairs, as shown in the rc
1 port, indicate that only four wom
en's houses “have occupancy at or
above the average ‘break even'
point of 33 members,” However,
there is a greater percentage of
fraternity men on campus than
ever before, student affairs figures
show.
The report concluded that the
situation "will probably not show
significant improvement for at
I least three years when enrollment
is expected to increase."
In discussing the other weak
ness of the deferred living pro
1 gram, the report referred to "the
grave inadequacy of social train
ing for both men and women with
possible exception of Hendricks
hall.” The report was especially
critical of the situation in Carson
: hall.
Admitting that the counseling
progiam as a whole was meeting i
with success in the freshmen men's
; dormitories and Hendricks hall,
the report stressed that “counsel
ing in Carson hall, while showing
steady improvement, is severely
handicapped by lack of facilities.*"
The report also said that counsel
| ing of freshmen women under th<
present program "does not appear
to have substantially improved 1
upon the counseling the freshmen
women received in the past under
the sorority system."
Hawk told the group that a re
cent survey taken by the presi
dent of the Oregon College of ed
ucation showed that only two pei
cent of high school seniors care
about joining a fraternity or soror
ity when they are choosing a col
lege. Hawk admitted however, that
the more urbanized an area be
comes, the more "house conscious"
are the high school seniors.
Recommendations
The committee ended the report \
with a series of 14 recommenda
tions. They are:
1. The University should without
delay, and at the highest adminis
trative level, undertake a thorough
study of the situation' in Carson
hall with a view toward providing
two full-time house mothers plus
enough additional counselors at the
graduate level of profiency to pro
vide counseling service commen
surate with the stated objectives
of the deferred living plan. One
immediate change recommended
was the conversion of the lobby
into a living room as the present
living room is “too remote and un
inviting.’’
2. The University should immed
iately assume responsibility of ‘
broadening the counseling program
so as to approach the social de
velopment of the freshmen with
the same degree of attention that
is presently being given to their
scholastic ability.
3. A more extensive training
program .should be instituted for
both men and women so that ex
perienced personnel will be avail
able for the opening of school in
the fall.
4. The abondonment of the Vet
clan's dormitory as soon as pos
sible.
5. The University physical edu
cation plant should "be made avail
able for evening recreation in view
of the fact of limited facilities in
the dorms and the Student Union.
Information
6. Parents should be completely
informed of the counseling pro
gram and the "living in program,”
what it means to the student and
what the counselor can do for the
student.
7. The fraternity and sorority
groups should re-examine their
pledging and r ushing policies with
a view toward resolving the up
parent difficulties created by
pledging people who can not move
into the house and initiating people
who have never lived in the house.
8. The fraternities should take
steps to strengthen their positions
within the existing framework of
conditions. Suggestions are in
creased rushing of eligible non
fre.-hmrn, examination of fiscal
policies, critical study of food
management, realistic collection of
house bills and bring town mem
bers into the house.
Stand By
9. Alumni should strengthen
their relationship with their in
dividual fraternities, as has been
done in the case of sororities, anti
should form almuni advisory
groups on a standby basis which
should be available for advice and
assistance in financial matters.
10. Sororities should also do
more rushing among eligible non
freshmen.
11. A-lmuni should unite behind
the University in its efforts to pro
vide better housing and bitter
counseling. Alumni opposition to
the plan gives “aid and comfort
to those seeking to establish com
peting colleges in Portland and at
the colleges of education. Seriously
reduced enrollment might well be
the final blow that would break
fraternities and sororities."
12. The University should con
tinue to allow no new fraterni
ties and sororities on campus until
the present organizations are on a
sound financial footing.
.13. This report should be made
public to the press, alumni and
national offices of fraternities abd
sororities having chapters in Or e
gon.
14. The president should appoint
another committee to provide a
continuing study of the program.
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