Trinity College No Longer Requiring Fraternities To Become Coed

Dan Regester10 years ago

Joanne Berger-Sweeney, president of Trinity College, is calling off the requirement to make both fraternities and sororities coeducational. Berger-Sweeney, who became the school’s president just last year, said the experiment that started three years ago was not likely to achieve the original goal of promoting gender equity.

From the Associated Press:

“Furthermore, I do not believe that requiring coed membership is the best way to address gender discrimination or to promote inclusiveness,” she said. “In fact, community-wide dialogue concerning this issue has been divisive and counterproductive.”

Berger-Sweeney said she has asked the board of trustees to endorse the elimination of the coed mandate for all selective social organizations on the campus of 2,200 students.

She said requiring coed membership at Greek organizations would have a disproportionate adverse effect on sorority members as compared to fraternity members. At least half the local chapters would likely lose their national charters if they are no longer single sex, she said, and they include the larger of only two sororities at Trinity. Also, she said, efforts to encourage opposite-gender membership at Greek organizations have been found not to be successful.

“Thus, instead of advancing gender parity, the outcome would have been a step backward,” she said.

You’re telling me ladies weren’t lining up out the door to live in the radioactive war zone that is a fraternity house, or that guys didn’t want to inhabit a place where dozens of girls cycles line up in unison? Who would have saw that coming?

Seriously though, it’s refreshing to see logic actually prevail for once. .

[via Associated Press]

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