New GPA requirement has little impact on Greeks
Prospective members of Central Michigan University’s Greek organizations had to submit grade release forms in order to receive a bid into a fraternity or sorority this fall.
In July, CMU adopted an academic standards policy for fraternities and sororities, requiring prospective members to have a 2.5 GPA.
“What we do, we have a grade release form that interested students must fill out,” said Tom Idema, assistant director of Student Life. “We use the high school GPA for freshmen and, as long as they have a 2.5 cumulative GPA from high school, then they can rush.”
Fraternities have only experienced small trouble with the new rules. They have a rolling recruitment and can continue to recruit potential members throughout the year.
Fraternities have to ensure their potential members submit the grade release form before offering bids. So far, two have tried to offer bids to students whose GPA did not meet the requirements.
“In general, when fraternities do bid a potential new member whose GPA is below a 2.5, they are unaware of it,” said Chris Dutot, Phi Kappa Tau President and Midland senior.
Sigma Tau Gamma President Carl Fraser said looking at a student’s GPA is helpful when selecting new members.
“GPA is a good indicator of what potential members are going to be like in your chapter academically,” the Richmond senior said.
Though it is too early to be sure, Idema said the GPA requirement does not seem to have had an effect on fraternity recruitment, and Fraser and Dutot agree.
“It was a successful recruitment semester for Phi Kappa Tau, as well as other fraternities despite the new requirement, and I think asking for a higher GPA standard does more good than bad,” Dutot said.
Sororities unphased
There were not any noticeable changes during sorority recruitment.
According to Idema, sororities have not been affected by the new GPA requirement because of their formal recruitment structure.
“When the sororities began their formal recruitment process, the women interested had to fill out the grade release form ahead of time,” Idema said. “When it came time for recruitment, we knew that every woman interested had the grades.”
