University of Virginia Library

Fraternities, However

The fruits of rush will be plucked from the
first-year dorms Sunday as the long lines of
fraternity men wend their way through the
corridors, passing out bids to those who
passed through the mystic ball-boxes that
morning. The fortunate few, they are the ones
who have been exalted as fitting father's of
the fraternity tradition at the University.

There was a time when fraternities might
have been able to help fulfill what we believe
to be an urgent need at the University: an
experience in small group living. For some,
this experience may still be attempted, but in
a system that has perpetuated excesses and a
prejudiced social vie

Any first-year man who has stayed the
course in rush ought to know by now what he
is getting into. Many undoubtedly will feel
that the social security and bon hommie of
the fraternity life is worth the debits. If they
accept their bids on that basis, there can be no
quarreling with them.

As the New York Times observed a couple
of weeks ago, fraternities are on the decline at
major universities, while still gathering strength
at newer schools where students feel that
fraternity affiliation makes them part of the
collegiate mainstream. That decline has
started here, and coeducation and the
increasing maturity of the student who
attend will only accelerate the trend in the
future. Only far-reaching reform of the
present system will be able to halt that decline
or slow it down.