Alcohol Problem
Alcohol Problem
Cal Poly Greek life has an alcohol problem. The North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), representing 75 national fraternities, said it in a report published in 2011. An Emergency Room doctor at Sierra Vista Medical Center, a hospital located about a quarter mile from Cal Poly’s campus, also described his experience with intoxicated college students impacting the ER. His plea to San Luis Obispo City Council can be read here. Thirteen years later, in 2024, things haven’t changed since the drink-to-excess behavior in our neighborhood constantly surrounds us.
On October 15, 2013, Bloomberg published an article, “Cal Poly Brings Back Freshman Pledging After Lobbying.”
Following the alcohol-induced death of a freshman, Carson Starkey, during an initiation ritual at an illegal satellite fraternity house in a single-family-neighborhood, Cal Poly banned fraternities from recruiting newly arrived students in 2010.
After that, the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) quickly opposed the ban by lobbying Cal Poly administrators, funding a study against it, and organizing a three-year campaign led by student leaders. Ultimately, this resulted in an agreement called the Deferred Recruitment Compromise, with the university lifting the deferred recruiting restriction for its fraternities in June 2013.
Cal Poly Leadership Change
Leadership changes at Cal Poly also helped the fraternity cause. Jeffrey Armstrong, appointed in 2011 as Cal Poly President, and Keith Humphrey, Vice President for Student Affairs, were sympathetic to the fraternities, as both had personal fraternity experiences. As part of the Deferred Recruitment Compromise, fraternities were required to register their parties and participate in alcohol education.
Revenue
Fraternity membership significantly increased, with national fraternities and affiliated foundations generating substantial revenue from student dues. NIC President Peter Smithhisler emphasized the importance of recruitment, calling it the “lifeblood for every chapter.” After Cal Poly announced the ban, NIC executives visited Cal Poly, urging administrators to rescind deferred recruitment. The NIC funded an $8,000 evaluation of Cal Poly’s Greek system, which ultimately criticized the university’s recruitment process and highlighted the major role of alcohol and hazing in fraternity life.
Alcohol was “a, and perhaps THE, defining factor” of Cal Poly Greek life.
– North American Interfraternity Conference Report
No Change
Despite claims of improved alcohol awareness and safety measures by fraternities, reports, and incidents indicated otherwise. In 2011, the North American Interfraternity Conference published a report that said alcohol was central to Greek life at Cal Poly, and subsequent incidents, including hospitalizations and suspensions of fraternities, suggested that fraternity and sorority members had not changed their behavior since the freshman’s death. It’s 2024, and nothing has changed with the proliferation of illegal fraternity satellite houses operating as main Chapter houses in our R-1 and R-2 residential neighborhoods. We witness drunk college students walk by our house every weekend that Cal Poly is in session. Sometimes they use our yard as a restroom for vomit or urine.
An editorial by the student paper Mustang News, written by Sean McMinn on October 2, 2013, argued that the administration’s decision to allow immediate freshman recruitment was a mistake, as fraternities had not demonstrated improved behavior since Carson Starkey’s death. Again, I can attest that the behavior of fraternities has not changed, even now in 2024, but it seems that Cal Poly and the City do not acknowledge the problem. The parallels between the 2011 hospitalization of an Alpha Phi sorority recruit and Carson Starkey’s death were cited as evidence of ongoing risks associated with full-scale Greek recruitment during the fall quarter. His full article can be read here.
St Fratty’s Day started in our neighborhood, the Alta Vista neighborhood, at an illegal satellite house at 348 Hathway Avenue in 2009. The day was and is centered around alcohol and getting drunk.