Penn State is conducting a study on fraternity and sorority life. That’s not likely to happen at The Capstone where the Administration trembles at the thought of questioning Greek life and the Machine.

Hope Stephen reported in Penn Live: Penn State President Eric Barron has appointed a diverse 25-member task force to study fraternity and sorority life university-wide, offer suggestions for ways the university can have a positive influence on Greek life and propose opportunities to evaluate the organizations and share that information publicly, the university announced Wednesday.

Penn State is among the defendants named in a lawsuit filed in June by a 21-year-old former fraternity brother regarded as the whistleblower behind the hazing allegations leveled against the chapter campus. The chapter was the second to be closed down by the university this year.

The same day the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity was charged with violating rules about hazing, alcohol use, disorderly conduct, providing accurate information and registering social functions, Barron said an announcement of the task force membership would be delayed.

Barron said Wednesday the task force will focus on broad ways the university can have an impact on the system, according to a news release. Possible areas of focus of the Fraternity and Sorority Life Task Force include:

• Developing criteria that students and their parents can use to evaluate fraternities and sororities;
• Proposing user-friendly ways to publish data about the organizations based on the criteria, and ways data and information could serve as an early-warning system for potential problems;
• Examining the balance of the university, local communities, fraternity and sorority governing councils, advisers and housing corporations and national Greek-letter organizations; and
• Seeking student opinions on the fraternity and sorority system at Penn State.

At Penn State there’s nothing like the situation that exists at the University of Alabama where a Greek campus secret society can take over a voting district, where limo rides and the promise of free booze were reported

During the homecoming celebration at the University of Alabama students and alumni gather around a huge bonfire.

Where the University Administration and Greeks involved with the Machine will be stationed in Dante’s Hell is a matter of conjecture. Perhaps the homecoming bonfire serves as a preparation for the hereafter?