Walking down Wolcott Street and 100 South may be a little different this year.
Already this summer, things have seemed to calm down, and this calming may be due to the greeks, instead of in spite of them.
After many meetings and arguments with its surrounding neighbors, the greek system may have tamed its wild self.
The infamous Greek Row has been a big part of the U campus throughout its years. Now, after years of complaints from neighbors, the creation of a 24-hour complaint hotline and numerous concessions made by both the greeks and their neighbors (including an agreement to limit noise after 11 p.m. on weeknights and weekends), some are questioning whether the greek system can look forward to a year of fun or another year trying to defend itself.
“My feeling is still that the entire greek system is overdue to evaporate,” said nearby neighbor, Robert Bliss. When asked if he thought relations would improve this year between greeks and neighbors, he simply said, “No.”
But Brian Mayeda, the U’s Inter fraternal Council vice president, thinks differently. Mayeda is in charge of risk management and neighborhood relations in the greek system.
“I think that nationally, fraternities have calmed down. The greek system does do good things, like philanthropies, but the media tends to like bad news and focuses more on the negative aspects,” he said.
Mayeda pointed out that Spring Semester 2003 was the first semester in four years that there were no citations in the greek system.
Mayeda is also in charge of the 24-hour greek-phone, which neighbors are able to call whenever they have a concern or complaint.
“They call the greek-phone before they go to the police, and I go to the house personally and discuss it with them,” Mayeda said.
Stacey Carroll, who is the recruitment chairwoman for the Panhellenic Council, plans to make this year the best that they can, especially when it comes to neighbor relations.
“We want to inform potential members on what goes on in the greek system and what they can expect. And we want to recruit those who can uphold those expectations as well,” she said during last week’s greek recruitment week.
As for the neighbor/greek relations this year, Carroll said that it has “vastly improved,” compared to years past.
Jessica Corwin, a U junior, lived in the Pi Beta Phi house Spring Semester and did not notice any problems with the neighbors.
“The cops would come and patrol the parking lot, but there weren’t any problems with our house in particular. Mostly, it was just the fraternities. The sororities were good,” she said.
“We hold regular meetings with our neighbors to see how we can all improve things,” Carroll said. “And hopefully, as a community, we can improve. The greek system has gotten such negative publicity in the past, and it has had a negative effect on us as a whole. All we can do is push forward. We hope that, as students, we can be mature about the situation, and that the neighbors will also be mature and realistic…”
To keep its numbers on the rise, the greek council is trying some new things this year, many of which may have a direct impact on neighbor/greek relations.
“We hope to have sponsorship by Nordstrom and possibly LoveSac,” Carroll said.
“A lot of the houses are focusing more on formal Rush and particularly, on informal Rush,” Mayeda said. “We encourage people to come check out formal Rush, but we are also able to pick people who we think would represent the greek system well through informal Rush.”
“We hope that, as leaders, we can pass on what we know to incoming members to educate them about what is going on to prevent problems in the future,” Carroll said.
Added Mayeda, “It’s been a long process. We’ve made many leaps and bounds. We understand our mistakes and are willing to compromise. We’d like to thank the neighbors, who have been very cooperative with us and glad that they do voice their opinion.We hope it helps them, as well as us.”