University president predicts fraternities and sororities may self-destruct

Publish date: 2024-07-31
2015-10-07T15:44:00Z

University of Michigan president Mark Schlissel blasted the school's Greek system in a speech Tuesday, saying the current risky party culture may cause fraternities and sororities to "naturally wither."

"It's not my ambition to get rid of fraternities and sororities," Schlissel said following a speech to the Detroit Economic Club, according to the Detroit Free Press. "[But unless] the students moderate some of the risky behavior ... they may naturally wither and people may want to stop joining them."

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel speaks at a news conference announcing the resignation of Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon in the Regents Room of the Fleming Administration Building October 31, 2014 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Joshua Lott/Getty Images

More than 20% of the UMich undergraduate student body is part of Greek life, with 65 chapters on campus, according to the university.

UMich's Greek system came under fire earlier this year, when three fraternities and three sororities reportedly caused more than $100,000 worth of damage to two ski resorts in January.

This is not the first time that Schlissel, who took over as UMich president in 2014, has spoken out against the school's Greek system. In a meeting with Greek students earlier this semester, according to student newspaper The Michigan Daily, Schlissel claimed that the value of a University of Michigan degree will go down because of fraternity and sorority culture, citing a popular party video from "I'm Shmacked" that was filmed on campus.

Here's what he said:

The value of their degrees are gonna go down because the reputation of the University of Michigan won't be the excitement in the Big House or our teams doing well under our fantastic new coach. It's not gonna be the kids who receive the Rhodes Scholarships and the Fulbright Scholarships, and the famous professors who do the work that you're going to get reflected on for, or the National Medal for the Arts that our faculty won this past week. It's going to be the "Shmacked" videos. So it's really up to you what the value of your education is going to be, what the reputation of this institution's going to be.

Watch one of the "I'm Shmacked" videos filmed at the University of Michigan below:

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufony2usivnKurmanGbrvFZqSim5ietKK6jKmpnquZmbKvwIypqZ6cmZjBtHnEp5tmp5ZitLOxxKRkpaGWmnpzfJBuZGpo