(Editor’s note:This is the third story in a five-part series exploring the issues of Select 2000. The first stories can be read on-line at https://www.dailyegyptian.com).

Former greek leaders and administrators paint a vastly different picture of how Select 2000 will affect membership in the SIUC greek system than the current greek leaders and some members.

Administrators and former greek leaders point to a system in which greeks will recruit better students who will revisit the values and standards upon which their national organizations were founded.

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But some greek members say Select 2000 could damage the greek social structure and cause a decline in membership.

Select 2000 is a nine-part initiative for the greek system that includes maintaining higher grades, making chapter houses alcohol and substance-free, and requiring hours of community service for greeks. SIUC is one of four schools in the country chosen to pilot the program.

Select 2000 makes all chapter houses, on and off campus, substance-free beginning fall semester 1998. This year fraternity houses cannot sponsor or conduct social events that include alcohol, but members of legal age may drink in their rooms.

Nick Dodd, Interfraternity Council president, said eliminating parties with alcohol and forbidding alcohol from chapter houses will cause potential members not to join.

If the area of social outlets doesn’t get addressed, this could hurt the greek system, Dodd said. A lot of people don’t understand the good qualities and good aspects outside the social area until they get involved in the greek system.

They don’t understand the brotherhood, the leadership ability. They don’t understand it can help you in school. They just see the social outlet like a lot of people do.

Katie Sermersheim, assistant director of Student Development, said Select 2000 will make greeks live up to the standards set by their nationals and that it will not detrimentally affect enrollment in the greek system.

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It depends who you talk to and how they view their organization, Sermersheim said. If they view their organization strictly as a drinking club and providing social outlets that provide alcohol, then no, they probably will not survive under Select 2000, but that is the choice they make.

If, however, they choose to revisit the founding principles by demonstrating what a fraternity or sorority is supposed to be as defined by their rituals, then they will be here for many, many years to come.

Chris Schoonover, a Theta Xi member and a junior in finance from Mattoon, said many students join fraternities and sororities for a social life.

It’s going to be a different greek system, Schoonover said. In the long run there might be better scholars, but overall there’s going to be a lot fewer greeks.

Ryan Nix, a member of Delta Sigma Phi and a former greek leader, disagreed.

You hear that this is going to kill the greek system, but it’s not true, he said. We have 17 new members this fall, and not one of these guys has ever said, You guys can’t have parties and we don’t think we want to join your fraternity.’

People are joining organizations because they want to be a part of something. People who pledge for alcohol have low standards and put holes in the wall.

Dodd, however, said that Select 2000 could make chapter houses unappealing.

You need a certain amount of people to pay the bills, Dodd said. But when you start telling people who are 21 or 22 that they can’t drink a beer in their room while they watch football on a Sunday afternoon, then I think that person is going to go to an apartment or out of the house.

Nancy Hunter Pei, director of Student Development, said Select 2000 will not dissuade potential members from becoming greeks.

Studies have shown that the incoming freshman class is looking for more than just alcohol consumption, she said. It is becoming a national trend.

David Vingren, Undergraduate Student Government president and Pi Kappa Alpha member, said Select 2000 could hurt greek enrollment enough to cause chapters to lose their houses.

They don’t allow alcohol, and that’s a big turnoff, Vingren said. People won’t move in there, and they will potentially lose their house.

Dodd said that despite the announcement of the initiative last spring, enrollment in the greek system has not decreased this fall.

The exact fall enrollment in the greek system has not yet been compiled.

I’d say it’s at or better than last fall, Dodd said. But a lot of people didn’t know about Select 2000.

As a whole, I don’t think Select 2000 affected Rush because not enough people knew about it.

Sermersheim said greek enrollment at SIUC is about 7 to 8 percent of the undergraduate student population. She said at most other campuses, the average is 10 percent to 15 percent.

Maybe our question needs to be if we are going to die in the current way we are existing, she said. If we continue to operate the way we have been operating, there may not be a greek system in five or six years.

Doug Burkott, former Interfraternity Council president during the Select 2000 discussions in January, said that once Select 2000 is implemented, it will be better for everyone.

These are growing pains similar to those of a teen-ager, Burkott said. When they start eliminating alcohol, they are going to be in a better fraternity and they’re going to realize that.

In Monday’s Daily Egyptian, part four of the series will examine the alcohol aspect of Select 2000 and alcohol’s effect on the SIUC greek system.