Ginna Allen, News Editor
Thanks to a push by student leaders, the GPA requirement for fraternity and sorority recruitment is now a minimum of 2.1. This change, which took effect just before spring break, raised fraternity minimum GPAs from a 1.85 and lowered sororities from 2.35. It follows numerous discussions among current members of Greek organizations, chapter presidents, and members of the Greek Council. The measure passed in a vote among Sewanee’s 18 Greek chapter presidents by 17 to one.
“We’ve encouraged the presidents all year because there have been a lot of changes in Greek life,” said Mary Courtney Finn, who as president of the Sorority Council was involved in discussions that led to the February vote. “We’ve encouraged them to keep an open mind and to be willing to compromise. But also within reason. We’re never going to ask any organization to make these drastic changes. But I think that Greek life is so unique here. We have a lot of potential, so I think that was definitely a proud moment for all of us for many reasons. I really do have a lot of gratitude in that moment for the president for being willing to try something out,” Finn said.
Historically, this topic is not a new issue. Finn told the Purple that the discrepancy between sororities and fraternities has been under discussion on campus for years. Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Chair of Women’s and Gender Studies, Dr. Melody Lehn said students raised the issue earlier this semester in her Feminist Theory, Methods, and Praxis class.
“I am deeply heartened that our students are willing to thoughtfully reflect upon and revise existing policies that don’t serve us well as an institution. Maintaining strong standards for all students keeps us competitive within, as well as reputationally. I am especially impressed that the arguments proposing this change stressed the importance of gender equality, which benefits us all.”
Before the change, Finn conducted extensive research on the data behind the GPA requirements to consider possible impacts on recruitment. She specifically looked at the fraternity side and calculated how many people are historically not able to go through recruitment based on a 1.85, and then how many more would be ineligible if the requirement were a 2.35. Her numbers came to be between one and two people.
“The difficult thing with recruitment is that even one person being affected is still a person being affected. And you want to be aware that it can be tough for some people. As a whole student body, there are over a thousand students involved in Greek life. And so in the grand scheme of things, one is not that many, but for that person, it does matter. So it is something to bring up and talk about,” Finn said.
Finn also looked at the past 3 years of recruitment cycles to see how many potential new members had been prevented from participating in Sorority rush due to the 2.35 requirement. In that research, Finn found that very few individuals had been prohibited from recruitment. While the numbers were small, Finn noted the importance of addressing all parts of the rush process, including those who may not have the chance to participate or receive a bid.
“That’s still people that aren’t eligible to go through it and understandably be frustrated with it, especially because the majority of these people were very close to the 2.35 requirement. And when you’re a first-year student, you see that fraternities are one thing but the sorority is another, and so naturally you have questions.”
The change did not come without pushback, Finn said. “I had a lot of conversations with Nicky to gauge what the other side was seeing. I was trying to figure out what are their concerns? What is their reasoning for holding back on this? Why are they so dead set? Because you would bring it up to nearly any fraternity member and they’d immediately shut it down.”
Finn worked in partnership with PKE president and SGA member CeCe Yarbrough, who was a leading voice among those in support of the change. When speaking with The Sewanee Purple, Yarbrough noted that this issue had been on her mind since last year, and she had initially gone to the recruitment presidents last spring, but the amendment period had already passed by that time. So, when the opportunity came around this year, she was ready to share her thoughts in a formal proposal she gave to the Greek Council in February. Yarbrough and Finn worked together to create this proposal that would include a fair, researched argument behind the change.
“I have had a couple of different meetings with [CeCe] where we truly went through every possible concern, every possible rebuttal, just trying to sort out what makes the most sense? How should we word it? How do we get people on board with this? What are the actual reasons? Because obviously there’s the blanket reason that it should be equal, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be, but that’s not always going to be the response that gets people to feel really strongly about it in one way or another. And [CeCe] did a really great job,” Finn said.
Another focus behind the change was to encourage academic excellence amongst all Greek members. With this comes the hope to connect Greek Life and academics rather than alienate a Greek Life member from choosing between their organization and their academic responsibilities. “When you ensure that the people who are joining Greek organizations are at a good point academically, where they’re not in jeopardy of having to leave the school or being put on academic probation, it allows them to have a much more positive Greek life experience,” Finn said.
When considering her motivations to speak up, Yarbrough pointed out the need for an equal set of standards for fraternity and sorority members on campus, as well as the impacts of this change beyond recruitment.
“There are some very obvious different standards, especially academically, for men and women on this campus, and I think it contributes to the bigger world issue. So I think about this, and it seems so small to so many people, like, ‘Okay, the 0.5 difference in the GPA of Greek life at this tiny college.’ But I think every tiny little place where you can make that change for a bigger world thing, I feel obligated to do that,” Yarbrough said.
Finn agreed, noting that the change benefits the Sewanee community. “I think [CeCe] realized, and a lot of us could, that on our campus, women are often held to a very high standard and are very involved. And that’s something that I love about Sewanee. So it seems like we end up defaulting to these higher expectations for women, and it’s almost like we don’t give the men on campus a chance to reach their full potential because we’re just giving them a lower expectation when there’s really no reason for that, because there’s not a difference in their skill level,” Finn said.
Finn also highlighted her goal as a student leader to encourage success amongst members of Greek Life and beyond. “My personal investment in the whole process has been if the purpose of our Greek Organizations is to support and raise up these individuals that join them, you want them to be the best version of themselves. We are doing them a disservice by letting them join an organization that then isn’t expecting excellence in the classroom.”
“My biggest thing is that as student leaders, an obligation that I feel very strongly about is that I need to make sure that everybody is receiving equal treatment for their success at Sewanee,” Yarbrough said, emphasizing how Sewanee is a place that cultivates leaders and civically engaged people, and with that comes a disconnect between the different GPA requirements and Sewanee’s commitment to equitable leadership. Thinking about Sewanee’s social culture, she also hopes that this change will introduce a conversation about the differences between men and women on campus.
“Considering that 64 percent of our campus is part of Greek Organizations, it is a key component of social success here, and I don’t think that someone’s gender should have an impact on if they’re allowed into those spaces…How can we say that we’re doing that equally for both people if we’re allowing men to not be as academically successful and still receive the same privileges,” Yarbrough said.
“It’s a very male-dominated institution, and that’s a culture thing, and that’s entirely because of what we allow to happen. This is a way to amend that culture in a really small way because you can’t change the whole culture up. There’s no amendment I can pass or someone I can go talk to about changing the culture of Sewanee, but this was a small way to try to get men and women on the same level….I am not going to say that the GPAs are going to rise significantly, but this is a spot for men to even just think about what kind of standards they’re being held up to… I would hope this kind of conversation and the support that we got from the fraternity men will cultivate some conversations about how we’re holding ourselves and how we’re viewing women on this campus,” Yarbrough said.