To the Editor:
I am responding to the article "Fewer groups register parties than in the past" (The Daily Pennsylvanian, 2/1/2005).
For those reviewing information related to registered parties, it is important to note that in addition to the fact that there are fewer chapters on campus now (29 current chapters as opposed to 32 in 1999), four existing chapters have been on probation for the past several years. Having these large chapters subject to social probation for such an extensive length of time impacted the number of registered parties (a loss of about 24 parties per year) tremendously. While the loss of the Pi Lam Thursday happy hours was noted, the article didn't mention the significant impact of the social probation of these four large fraternities and sororities.
The major point is this -- despite these unavoidable issues, the proportion of parties registered from 1999 to the present is consistent considering the number of chapters eligible to have registered events. In other words, to claim that Greeks just don't want to register parties is not accurate when you consider that any decline we may have experienced is not due to student resistance or to the higher cost of a registered event, but, in fact, is due to loss of eligible chapters!
Lastly, the article did not mention registered events at clubs/bars/restaurants, which have increased each year for the past five years. It is critical that we all work to end the perpetuation of the myth that the risk-reduction measures put in place through the student-developed alcohol policy are driving parties off campus. There is simply no concrete data to support this claim.
Stephanie Ives
The author is director of alcohol policy initiatives at Penn
