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Show Editorial Progress? For the first time since their conception over 150 years ago the Greeks from coast to coast are taking a close look at their purposes and their system and are finally realizing that their survival is dependent on change. Bitter attacks from student newspapers, deaths attributed attri-buted to senseless hazing procedures, and rising fraternity and sorority fees have finally caught up with these "exclusive" "exclu-sive" minorities. The university has changed, the student has changed, and the professors have changed; but the Greeks have maintained their steady uncompromising attitude which is now failing to impress the average university student stu-dent of the Ws. Most who like to believe that the fraternities are not dying need only to look at the number of rush applications each fall or the number of fraternity members over a period of a decade. For example at UCLA, whose total student population , is reaching the 30,000 mark only about 500 names of girls interested in fall rush were received last year. Less then half ' of these girls were "accepted" into the 23 sorority houses at that campus. At Utah, where some maintain adamantely that the fraternity system is as strong as ever, the statistics reveal an acute stagnation. In 1956 there were approximately 1,400 Greeks allied with one of the nine sororities or 1 1 fraternities. Now, 12 years later, the residents of Federal Heights are still 1,400 strong with the same number of chapter houses on the row: For better or for worse the fraternities are planning to increase their number by one with the hopeful addition of a ndW' Tau Kappa' Epsilon chapter in the near future. But the Greeks heed more than numbers or new houses, they need a new philosophy. There are tremors from several major California schools as well as the University of Utah that a change is in the making:::: mak-ing:::: Some schools subscribe to the active participation of other university students in Greek activities while our Uni-" Uni-" . versity still leans toward the traditional "total development of the individual" on a Greeks only basis. Time may well pass the University Greek system by if the system is unwilling to benefit the campus as a whole. In other states Greeks sponsor lectures and entertainment for the total university community as well as performing needed public services. The Chronicle encourages Utah Greeks to seriously evaluate the programs and durability of the present system. Hopefully this could lead to a more active and stimulating campus for everyone. |