Greek growth
Animal House image
a thing of the past
By Michael Doke
Of the imerjld
"Toga party, toga party. Somebody get the beer and
don't waste time studying."
"Animal House," the now-classic motion picture,
paints a comic view of the greek system in the 1960s with
its rushes, parties and lack of academic responsibility.
In the 1960s, the greek system was in its adolescence.
In the 1980s, though, the greek system has had to
grow up.
"You can't stereotype us as being an arch
conservative group anymore," says Alan Scearce, Univer
sity interfraternity council president. "The average stu
dent classifies us as being different, as elitist or snobs. We
are easy to single out because we are a group."
Where the student in "Animal House" may be con
cerned with this weekend's party, the greek today is more
concerned with involvement and personal growth,
Scearce says.
Marti Chaney, greek advisor at the University since
spring, agrees the greek system is a different insitution
than it has been in the past.
"The greek today is a serious student," Chaney says.
"There is still a playful trend across the country. But with
the tight employment market, the greek is after practical
experience to back up his or her degree."
And the greeks face the same realities as universities.
Declining enrollment in college classrooms have ad
mission offices scrambling for students. And to pad
memberships, greeks also must scramble, Chaney says.
And like the University, the greek system is a business
and must remain solvent, she says.
But the current rise in greek involvement is possible
because of a decline during the 1970s. The rise in student
activism meant a decline in fraternities and sororities,
Scearce says.
"Chapters forgot their philosophy," he says. "They
were critcized as being organized groups, they became
inactive and they left the campus'".
In 1970, the University had 19 fraternities on campus.
But by 1974, they numbered only nine, according to
Scearce.
And sororities have lost five chapters since 1970,
Chaney says.
Up the road at Oregon State University, which main
tains a strong greek system, eight fraternities left campus
between 1967 and 1979 according to OSU's fraternity ad
visor Bill Brennan.
The greek system is again becoming strong on cam
pus, Scearce says. Though college enrollments have
declined, fraternities at the University are consistently
boosting memberships. In 1979, the total fraternal system
had 806 members. This year they have 1052. \
A new fraternity chapter, Lamba Chi Alpha, and the 21
men who pledged as associates, indicates that the system
is growing, Scearce says. There are now 15 fraternities at
the University.
A total of 216 men have pledged a fraternity this year
compared to 183 last year, he says.
Better organization and a new rush system — mainly a
resident rush where the rushee lives in a house free for a
week — helped increase membership, Scearce says.
Sororities hit a peak membership year in 1980, and
had more pledges this year than they did last year at the
University, Chaney says. Four more students pledged
sororities this year than in 1982. No new sororities have
reopened.
Greeks represent 15 percent of all undergraduates at
the University, she says.
At OSU, both fraternities and sororities are down in
pledges this year, though 20 percent of undergraduates
are affiliated with the greek system say Brennan and
sorority advisor Nancy Vanderpool.
Nationally, there were 139,838 fraternity members in
1971, according to the National Interfraternity Council. In
1981, 250,000 men belonged to a fraternity.
A 1980 OSU study by Morris LeMay, OSU's director of
the counseling and testing center, found that 55 percent
of the women who joined sororities as freshmen
graduated within seven years. Only 40 percent of non
sorority women who entered the same fall graduated
within the same time.
For male freshmen studied over six years, 54 percent
of fraternity men graduated compared to 44 percent of
the non-fraternal men the study showed.
A University study done three years ago by then Dean
of Students Robert Bowlin shows that the greek system
aids in keeping students in school. The study compares
living situations of students who leave school and showed
greeks had the least dissatisfied tenants.
"Developing friendships seems to be a definite part
of the pattern of persistence (continued work) in the pur
suit of the degree," the LeMay study says.
Houses in the greek system are basically student-run
business, Scearce says. It takes approximately $150,000
each year to operate a greek house. This money is sup
plied, budgeted and spent by students.
To stay in business, membership rosters must be full,
Chaney says. Members do become disaffiliated from their
chapter if they fail to meet costs or decide not to live in
the house when it is not full.
"Living in a house has its obligations, like leasing an
apartment," she says.
Chaney says people change over time and if at any
time a greek wants to leave the system, "there's the
door".
"A house cannot function if it's not full," University
Panhellenic President Suzanne Stalick says. "Pledges
know this commitment and must live up to it. The greek
system just is not for everyone."
Marge Ramey, acting director of housing, says the
greeks are right where they should be at the University.
On a liberal campus, any group can fit in and do what
they want, she says.
Improvements in image and finance are necessary,
Ramey says. "And any University official would hope for
strong and mature leadership from the greeks."
Another aspect of greeks that "Animal House"
parodied is hazing, the once-common practice of harass
ing prospective fraternity members.
But hazing pledges has become less of an issue in the
greek system. Pledges now sign an agreement with
greeks stating knowledge of hazing and understand that
they do not have to be involved in any harmful activities
to become a greek, Scearce says.
Hazing was outlawed in Oregon this summer, spur
red by an incident that happened nearly three years ago
when a pledge, Mark Rosier of Eugene, was struck by a
car during hazing activities.
According to the $1.9 million suit filed against the
Kappa Sigma fraternity in January, Rosier and eight other
pledges were left at Shotgun Creek Park on Marcola Road
in February 1981 at midnight and forced to find their own
way back to Eugene.
Another change is the all-campus parties that were
common four years ago but which have vanished because
of Oregon Liquor Control Commission law. There is a
guest list at the door to stop party crashers and alernative
drinks are served, he says.
"The purpose ot a party is to have a good time,"
Scearce says. "The all-campus parties used to be oig
money makers, but we are not taverns. And if someone
drinks too much, we try to watch out for him.
" There is a high concern for individual well-being.
We're conscious of our own dangers but we are responsi
ble for ourselves," Scearce says.
Also missing from the greek system is the attitude that
it is just a social institution, says ASUO President Mary
Hotchkiss.
"It's no longer an 'us-them' feeling with the greeks,"
Hotchkiss says. "There is a diversity in the system I didn't
know existed. There is a great potential of activism that
can be tapped.
"You can't generalize about the group."
"The benefits are great being a greek, that's why
we're still here," Stalick says. "There's a tremendous op
portunity for leadership. You can meet people and get in
volved. You feel more like you belong."
'Dracula' production haunts the Halloween audience
Just when you thought it was safe to trick
or-treat — Dracula is back.
Directors Grant McKernie and Thomas
Nadar have resurrected the Count in all his
evil splendor. Of course, their timing is
perfect; Halloween just wouldn't be the
same without the Prince of Darkness.
However, the University Theatre's pro
duction of Hamilton Deane and John
Balderston's "Dracula" could send chills
through an audience in mid-July.
Although Count Dracula does not appear
on stage until late in the first act, his
presence can be felt from the moment the
curtain rises. The elaborate Victorian set,
designed by Jerry Williams and constructed
under the direction of Jerry Reinhardt, cap
tures the romantic, yet sinister, personality
of the Count. Ornamental portals and walls
seem to be larger than life, almost over
powering, while every corner holds terrify
ing shadows. Although a fire burns softly in
the fireplace, it cannot warm the room.
As the first act opens, the sun is setting.
Castle Carfax can be seen through the
library's imposing french doors. Magical
lighting feats make the sunset glow, casting
eerie rays into the room.
Haunting strains of music add to the
mood, lohnathan Mansfield's original
piano score is wonderfully spine-tingling.
When Dracula finally enters, pale and
grim, his presence fills the stage. Dennis
Smith plays the Count with powerful
finesse, never allowing his character to fall
into the Dracula stereotype. He moves with
seductive grace, at once sinister and entic
ing, subtle and forceful. From his pearly
white fangs to the tip of his black satin
cape. Smith's Dracula reeks of the essence
of evil.
Likewise, Dracula's nemesis. Professor
Van Helsing, is played with a pure strength
by Cynthia Blaise. Although the part was
originally written for a man, Blaise carries
off the switch with style. Her warm, ge
nuine portrayal of the determined and
forceful Van Helsing makes the role
believable; she never falls into the trap of
portraying her character with a masculine
edge. As Van Helsing, Blaise convinces us
that Dracula is more than a myth. To her, he
really exists Her German accent adds to the
performance, completing the image of the
stranger who arrives in the nick of time to
save Lucy's soul. There was one small
distraction in the portrayal of Van Helsing,
however. According to the script. Van Hels
ing and Dr. Seward, Lucy's father, are old
and dear friends. Yet Blaise's Van Helsing
appears to be much younger than the port
ly, greying doctor — perhaps even young
enough to be his daughter. Still, Blaise's
performance towers over this oversight.
Without a doubt, Blaise and Smith com
mand attention with their intense and cap
tivating performances. Perhaps this is due
in part to the nature of their characters in
the script as opponents in the struggle bet
ween good and evil. While this is splendid
in and of itself, their skills, no doubt built
on experience, at times tend to overshadow
other characters.
Renfield, Seward's crazed, fly-eating pa
tient, was played by Douglas Hout in the
Oct. 28 show. (The part is double-cast, and
Hout and Michael Callahan will alternate
performances.) Hout plays the madman
with just a little too much formality. More
often than not, he comes across as a
trickster instead of a weak, idle lunatic.
Sally Goodwin is lovely as Dracula's most
precious victim Lucy. When cowering and
alarmed, Goodwin plays Lucy with quaint
innocence and penitence. Yet when sup
posedly overcome by her "unclean" spirit,
Goodwin's Lucy is not quite the wicked
wench her lines suggest. These moments in
the play are rare, however, and overall
Goodwin's performance is commendable.
Likewise, Dennis Dolan and Brian McCar
thy as Dr. Seward and Jonathan Harker,
Lucy's fiance, give likeable, fairly consistent
performances. There is nice interaction bet
ween the two as Lucy's father and lover.
Yet the dynamic forces of the production
seem to arise from the confrontations bet
ween Smith and Blaise. The war of their
wills adds dimension to the old tale,
creating delightful stage conflicts. In the
end, the audience cheers as Seward and
Harker, led by the undaunted Van Helsing,
drive the stake through Dracula's sinister
heart.
And, in the end, we are left with Van Hels
ing's all-too-real reminder that such things
really do exist, that Dracula and his forces
are part of our rational world of proofs and
positives.
Remember that tonight.
Brenda Thornton