*** brother587 *** 06/14/1999 10:47 EDT ***

I guess every hundred years or so this country sees a prohibition movement. 
Didn't the last one even make it into the US Constitution before the congressmen
sobered up and realized it didn't belong there?  

I always enjoyed studying hard then playing hard.  And realistically, good
parties, not the WPI student body, were the reason we got the male/female ratio
to reverse for us every weekend.  

In my opinion, bring back kegs too while we're at it.  I was at the national
convention in Dallas when that was voted on, and I was disappointed that
brainstorm of the national officers passed.  

Cans don't keep you from drinking yourself to death, drinking somewhere else
doesn't keep you from drinking yourself to death.  Only you, your friends, or a
well timed visit to the good ol' porcelain alter can keep you from drinking
yourself to death.

Dave Marshall '91
dav_marshall@hotmail.com


*** brother421 *** 06/14/1999 18:29 EDT ***

Actually, the thought of bringing back kegs, though tempting, will be just a
dream soon, because the state law is about to say that you need an alcohol
license to buy one. SO much for that.

As for drinking yourself to death, I've never heard of anyone dying by drinking
too much beer. Maybe indriectly ie. drunk driving, doing stupid things etc., but
never directly because the person consumed too much beer, girls included. 

Drinking somewhere else, whether it be off campus at an apartment or at a bar,
only promtoes and contributes to drunk driving, one of the leading causes of
deaths. 

I propose that if we can't fight this thing head on, then maybe we can
compromise. So that beer and wine will be allowed but no hard alcohol. If you
look at the facts, the MIT incident among others were caused by drinking too
much hard stuff, not beer. 

If this wasn't brought up by one of Theta Chi's own chapters I would be led to
believe that this DRY HOUSING is just a ploy to weaken and eventually
exterminate fraternities. However, this proposal did come from another chapter
which leads me to believe that this chapter has already implemented this motion.
Maybe it works for some chapters, but it WILL NOT work for all. Although the $25
per brother is tempting it is not enough to persuade me to think that rush
numbers and house psych will stay the same, or even increase, beacuse the house
is dry. 

We have to ask ourselves, what would happen to EBA weekend, or the Christmas
formal, or Parent's Day, if the house was dry. I feel that when I'm an alumnus
I'd like to go back to my house and have a couple drinks with my fellow alumni
and newer brothers without having the hardship of finding a ride or driving
home. 

In short, this motion is selfish and selfcentered, if Nationals wanted us to be
dry them let them bring up this motion. I am appalled that another chapter would
try to impose this on others, and the very thought that it passed with the
majority of votes from chapters leaves me in awe.

There must be something done to sidetrack or disrail this motion before it is
too late, or else, I fear, that Theta Chi Epsilon Chapter will be no more.


*** brother177 *** 06/16/1999 18:05 EDT ***

Epsilon "going dry" is a questionable concept at best and pure stupidity at
worst. However, I don't believe that this initiative will kill Epsilon Chapter
(it appears WPI is going that way after all) but it may alter Epsilon beyond
recognition to the alumni and that would be unfortunate.

If I remember my history correctly in the 70's and early 80's Epsilon was not a
very strong house. The number of actives had dropped to the point where the
house rented out rooms. The trend was reversed by a core group of serious
brothers who understood the concept of brotherhood, knew how to have a good time
and recruited like-minded pledges. The result was a very dynamic, growing
chapter that eventually outgrew the house and at one point had at least 3
apartments. I think the idea of risking our chapter for the purpposes of
Political Correctness is mis-guided. Epsilon is a "safe haven" for our active
brothers as they learn about all aspects of real life. To list just a few:
friendship, brotherhood, responsibility, commitment, discretion, sex... and
alcohol.

We're building the leaders of tomorrow. We should be equipping them to handle
themselves in any situation.

Now I'll climb off my soap box.


*** User234 *** 08/11/1999 13:59 EDT ***

These arguments all seem to be on the same side and mine will be no exception.
I agree with all of the postings thus far and, in particular, to the point of
this issue being a foolhardy attempt at extinguishing the Greek System all
together.  Personally, I think it is a ludicrous, misguided notion that is the
epitome of the hypocritical statement "Do as I say, not as I do".  Fraternities
are NOT the cause of underage drinking and, therefore, should not be the 
scapegoat for the we-need-someone-to-blame bandwagon.  I am sure I am not alone,
knowing the guys who were actives with me, when I say that I was drinking when
I was a freshman in high school...it's not as if the execs put guns to the 
undergrad's heads and force ANYBODY to drink.  I hope brothers don't mind me
using names but we had guys like Joe Graham, Mike Todd, Steve Brunelle, and 
Scott Swinehart, who rarely, if ever (Swiney) touched alcohol...until there
later years, well after the pledge process had concluded.

I guess what I am saying is that I thoroughly enjoyed my years in the house, and
part of the reason was because of the great social life the house offered.  It 
was a welcome diversion to studies and the perfect atmosphere for making great
friends whom you can look forward to seeing again and again at alumni events.
And at said alumni events, all the guests of honor are WELL over the 
constitutional drinking age...so, are we punishing all us law-abiding citizens
in the midst of this idiotic suggestion of eliminating alcohol altogether??

And don't even get started on the female-to-male ratio...WPI is bad enough,
imagine NOT having an asset such as a fraternity where the other Worcester-area
co-eds flock to socialize on week-ends??  If there was no alcohol, there would 
be no party...what, are they gonna practice the geek parties introduced in the
infamous Beastie Boys video?? You know "We can invite all our friends and have
soda and pie!!"...I think girls would rather go to church on week-ends than go
to a lame party...even chicks know they can at least get WINE at Church...
besides, why would anybody come when they can throw their own parties in
apartments and whatnot...

I'm out,
Beauch


*** User529 *** 08/12/1999 09:18 EDT ***

I am glad to see alumni understanding of the challenges facing the brotherhood
for the next few years.  To my surprise, alcohol-free (no not free alcohol)
housing requests are growing at a rapid rate.  Many people are chosing not to
drink.  But they at least have that choice.  The National Fraternity has taken
away our right to chose.  As I understand it, it will be a violation for a 21
year old brother to have a single beer in his fridge.  Is this acceptable?

The National Fraternity has already passed the "alcohol-free housing" ruling and
to think we can reverse this action would be extremely naive.  What this ruling
does is remove a great deal of liability for the Fraternity.  I do not think the
Fraternity would go back on this decision for fear of public opinion alone let
alone the liabilities issues. It would appear that the Fraternity promoted
drinking.

It appears that everyone from Epsilon chapter agrees that banning drinking in
the house will merely drive brothers out of the house to drink, which in turn
creates new problems, primarily drinking and driving.  While these are all
genuine concerns, I still feel the primary concern here should be Rush.  

Theta Chi always recruits guys that are pretty well rounded in academics (well,
maybe not the brightest guys), sports, and social life.  Our Rush events show
the Rushies what kind of guys we are which is cool and all, but the one thing
every 18 year old guy has on his mind when he goes away to college is beer and
women.  I would have to say the initial draw to the fraternity life would be the
social aspect.  The more rewarding aspect of brotherhood is not understood until
pledging begins.  We have always thrown some great parties and word on the hill
spreads quick.  Next thing you know you have a bunch of cool guys hanging out
because they heard we know how to throw a party.  From there we can tell if
these guys are just here to party or to be brothers.  If you take away that
initial draw, it becomes a lot more difficult to find those guys that will make
great brothers.

With Rush numbers across the board down, low numbers at the house now, and an
alcohol-free housing enforcement on the way, I worry about being able to pay the
bills.  I think this issue needs to be addressed now to prepare for what the
house will do when it "goes dry"  This will have a serious impact on the culture
of the house and will definitely break moral.  This past year the brothers tried
a few changes to move drinking out of the house, but the results were not too
impressive.  We have enough time to gear up for this change so I think it is
important to use that time to develop some sort of strategy for the next five
years.  This must be addressed now.

-mic


*** User549 *** 08/12/1999 09:54 EDT ***

I agree with the last posting completely.  With the current state of politics
and the suit crazy society we live in, the demise of alcohol in the greek system
is inevitable.  I agree that it would be impossible to reverse nationals
decision.  I had some great alcohol induced experiences in school, but I also
had a lot of great non-alcohol induced experiences.  If the house prepares for
drying out, I don't see why it will not survive. 

The house was not founded on drinking and partying, it was founded on
brotherhood.  This is where the focus needs to be.  I'm sure that many of the
same concerns discussed here were voiced when the rush program went dry.  Fear
that without the lure of alcohol, rushies would not come to the house.  The
house not only survived dry rush, it thrived.  

I do not believe that having good parties has been the motivating factor in
bringing rushies to the house.  Our rush program has always strived to weed out
those who are just looking to party.  We have always been successful at
recruiting solid people to perpetuate the ideals of Theta Chi. I have seen some
figures that indicate that participation in the greek system has been declining
over the past several years, despite the presence of alcohol.  The greek system
is in a difficult phase of its life.  Fraternities have a very negative persona.
 It is not going to be a lack of alcohol that kills them, it will be image.  
Move your focus off of the alcohol.  Focus instead on the attributes that make
our house different from the rest.  The attributes that brought all of us here. 
To name a few - a great house, no hazing, a rich tradition, a strong supportive
alumni base, lasting friendship and support, respect within our national
fraternity, and respect among the other fraternities on campus.  Stop griping
about the future of alcohol and start planning on how you will prepare the house
to thrive in the future.  Plan on how to change the image of fraternity life
away from what it is now.  The time to start is now.


*** User533 *** 08/12/1999 10:02 EDT ***

This is a democracy, so if a majority of the chapters voted at national 
to approve this, then we should all live with it.

How did Epsilon vote?

If we and other chapters are not happy with the results of the vote, then 
the right thing to do would be to start another petition and have another vote
to  negate the last one.

Maybe the circumstances around the last vote were not fair for some reason.  

Does anyone know the details around the vote?

Maybe it was a forced vote, i.e. if the chapters did not approve it, then
national would cancel the insurance, or deliver some sort of repercussions....


*** User530 *** 02/22/2008 14:42 EST ***

I know that I am late to post on this issue.  However, the comment on how
Epsilon voted and the Democracy aspect of this matter is rather questionable
since it has been stated a number of times after the event that the AFH law was
some sort of clause within another; that it was in a sense veiled so that people
would unknowingly vote in its favor.  There are people constantly working on
getting rid of AFH altogether or at least bettering the waiver process for the
chapters, making the system more fair.