Fraternity GPA

Fraternities at the University of Massachusetts have stepped up their academic standards in an attempt to increase membership.

"Our standards should be higher. It should be a privilege to be a Greek," said Greg Andonian, president of the Intra fraternity Council (IFC) at UMass. He said that "fraternity members have always been superior in other areas such as sports," and added that "now is the time for them to become superior in academics."

According to Mike Schardein, director of the Greek Affairs Office at UMass, the academic standards were imposed in hope that "fraternity membership would increase by 100 percent in the next three years." Five percent of the school's students now reside in the 22 fraternities at UMass.

Under the new restrictions, a student must have at least a 2.2 average in order to become a fraternity member and a 2.5 average to become an officer. Furthermore, in order to maintain a fraternity, the members must maintain a cumulative average of 2.2, and members starting new fraternities must have a cumulative average of 2.5 or better.

According to Schardein, "It is not necessary for the administration to put rules on top of the fraternities, because they are taking the initiative themselves." He added that he felt "the Greek area is getting stronger. It is something that we can have pride in."

Andonian added that the IFC's decision was not influenced by the recent abolition of fraternities at nearby Amherst College.

Much of the press coverage from the Massachusetts cape has misinterpreted the decision to mean that fraternities at UMass will be abolished as well, Schardein said. Because of this problem, "some of the UMass alumni was miffed," he added.