RPI Allow Rush and Recruitment!

Class of 1999

Suspending rush activities is an action that will have unintended consequences.

Class of '87

You are destroying the future of the school! Current students are tomorrow's alums.... think about that!

RPI Sigma Phi Epsilon Class of 1979

The comments that I have read show how the fraternity system has affected all of us who were in it. It also affected those who came after us. My son, who knows that he has difficulty making friends, left for college knowing he wanted to rush. When I asked why, he told me that the only friends of mine he had ever known that weren't because of my kids or neighborhood were my brothers. When a co-worker who wasn't Greek asked the people rushing his son why he should let his son join, they said "because we will be the ones standing next to him when he gets married and we'll be the last ones to leave your funeral." I don't know of any other experience in college that has life-long impact.

Greek experience has contributed to the "whole person" who enter the working world better prepared to interaction on many levels. The current administration is wrong. Alumni involved in chapters must not be denied keeping their traditions alive.

Get rid of Shirley.

Whatever issues the campus may be having with the Greek system, this measure is an unwarranted nuclear response, and it is utter bullshit. The Office of the President seems to have the goal of alienating every possible sector of the alumni.

Jackson Out

Dont take an essential part of college life away

‘09

I strongly encourage Rensselaer to allow Fall rush for Greek Life. Alpha Phi was and is such a positive force for the RPI community, as are many of the Greek organizations on campus. Please reconsider not allowing Fall rush. Thank you, Jennifer (Low) Adelhardt, Alpha Phi, RPI Class of 2005

Greek life is a benefit to the school, students and community at RPI.

I would highly recommend that some people reach out to the Detroit Lions and encourage their head coach and RPI alumnus, Matt Patricia, to sign this petition. He is one of RPI's highest-profile alumni, and he was a member of Sigma Chi while at RPI. It is incredibly unusual for a someone who played college football at the Division III level to become an NFL coach, especially one who majored in aeronautical engineering. Undoubtedly, his membership in his fraternity helped him develop the interpersonal skills and social connections to get hired by Patriots coach Bill Belichick and eventually become the Patriots' defensive coordinator and now Lions' head coach.

Why would you threaten such an important aspect of the college experience for about 1/3 of the attendees because a few have misbehaved? Very short sighted.

Tom Kerr writes, "After 30 years, I am still connected to my brothers. It is rare for non-Greeks to remain connected to their classmates." I definitely agree with the above. Prior to college and going into my first two years at RPI, I was a very introverted loner with social problems and no close friends. I never considered joining a fraternity. I had an epiphany during my junior year, and I decided I needed to develop and improve my social skills and make relationships and friendships with people. Since I graduated from RPI in 1987, I realized that my lack of social and interpersonal skills development has severely retarded my career development, earnings, relationships, friendships, and overall success and happiness in life. For example, I have never married, despite having a strong desire to do so for over 30 years, and I have yet to achieve a successful career track record despite subsequently earning three master's degrees from other top-tier universities and living most of my adult life in growing and prospering states of the western USA (Colorado, Arizona, and now Washington). If I had the opportunity to go back to being 18 when I started college, I am not sure if I would attend RPI but wherever I attended a university, I would seek to join the best fraternity that would accept me as a member. It has been shown that fraternity members achieve higher levels of success and earn more money over their working careers than non-fraternity members. They are highly over-represented among corporate executives and elected officials for example. People I know who have been fraternity members continue to stay in touch with their school, For example, I know a man in in his '80s who graduated from a major university in the mid 1950's as a fraternity member, and he still continues to return to alumni functions at his fraternity house every year. Since RPI's student demographics is highly "skewed" towards one gender over the other (more male than female), if yo

Most of the comments here greatly undersell the broader and significant value of Greek life. RPI knows that Greek life provides tremendous value but it does not fit administration's plan due to its personal, not business, preferences. It is unfortunate that RPI's administration and trustees have an agenda that is clearly anti-Greek and which has been dehumanizing RPI, not just Greeks, but across the entire student body for many years. It's not too late to scrap that agenda for a morally sound plan that reinvigorates RPI's academic competitive standing, ability to market itself, and strengthen its financial operations. But the time is now.

Allow the alumni to participate in constructive dialog to make all of RPI safer and more responsible - not just the Greek system.

RPI MS 1983