Despite rumors of tension growing between the Cal State Long Beach Greek system and the school’s administration, the two are working together to enhance the Greek system as a whole on CSULB’s campus, according to Jeffrey Klaus, the director of Student Life & Development.
In recent years, multiple Greek organizations have lost their recognition from CSULB for not fulfilling requirements needed to be met by university guidelines and the organization’s national requirements, Klaus said.
The Greek chapters lost their recognition from the school for reasons such as insufficient grades, consistent bad behavior and not meeting proper requirements for a Greek organization.
“The loss of those organizations has turned around to help strengthen those remaining in the Greek community along with their affiliation to the school,” Klaus said. “The last thing we would want to do is pull any organization from Long Beach State; we [the administration] are here as partners in achieving success.”
The Greek system on campus has adopted the Standard of Excellence Program (SEP) to enhance the quality and reputation of the Greek community.
SEP is an accreditation program designed for campuses throughout the California State University system, Caitlin Roberts, coordinator of Greek Life for CSULB said.
Roberts said the stereotypes on campus about fraternities and sororities are mostly negative nor true due to the media influence, which cause these organizations’ contributions to be overlooked and reputations to be diminished.
“More students look down on the Greeks than the administration,” said senior sorority member Lauren Henson.
SEP consists of four components: academic achievement, community involvement, membership development and leadership development.
“The Standards of Excellence Program allows us to measure the positive things that each Greek chapter has achieved,” Roberts said. “If a member is not meeting the requirements for their chapters Academic Standard Requirement, study hours are available to help them do better.”
Roberts adds, “If a chapter as a whole is not meeting the requirements, they will lose various social activities, until they can fulfill the requirements.”
“The standards program helps us strive to be better. It keeps us aligned, making it better for our sorority and for the school,” Klaus said. Administration is working hard to bring more Greek organizations to the campus. The first new fraternity will begin Oct. 7, named Pi Kappa Phi.
Along with Pi Kappa Phi being added to the Long Beach Greek community, the school is planning to add six new fraternities within the next four years, Roberts said.
“Long Beach has a ripe environment for a prime Greek system within the CSU system,” Klaus said.
