>> Re fraternity closure: I really do. A deleted fraternity is unlikely to be life-wrecking in the way a forced change of someone's academics could be. <<
That depends on the person. Remember that a lot of people no longer go to college for the academics, but for the socializing. I think that's nuts, but it is so prevalent that college-ranking websites frequently score something like "party scene" and/or "Greek life" along with "academics." :/ Further consider that people don't switch fraternities, but frequently do switch majors/minors. In which case, people may feel worse about losing a fraternity than losing a major.
>> For a related idea, maybe *threaten* fraternity closure if whoever spiked the punch doesn't come forward. That's not certain to work, but it stands a better chance of sniffing out the culprit(s), not to mention saving those undeserving of punishment from having their lives disrupted unnecessarily.<<
I like that idea. It would be well worth trying at a college that was willing and able to ban the fraternity. Too many places either support the Greek system or don't feel able to fight it due to political reasons, despite its many disadvantages.
>>Edited to add: I've just had a further thought. A forced change of major or minor to gender/sexuality is likely to teach those students to resent the subject, coursework or no coursework, which could easily have the opposite effect from what it sounds like you're going for. Good citizen and a thorough resentment of, say, the vastness of the gender spectrum don't easily go hand in hand.<<
That's possible. But they're going to resent any solution, whether it's a new major/minor or the whole school -- and given the sexual aspect of this incident, they're almost certainly going to blame the girls anyway, for "not being able to hold their liquor" or some such nonsense. It's like this kind of personality is given to much responsibility.
Also, remember that they had a choice. Two out of the three main suspects chose to leave, either dropping out altogether or finishing their major at a different school. Only one decided to stay. He might have looked at the new program and figured it was something he could use.
Consider that it depends a lot on a person's major. Switching from one liberal arts degree to another is a lot less of a problem than switching from, say, engineering. If you're studying something like psychology or sociology, you can find things that'll overlap. Even some unrelated things like business have useful overlaps. For Sam, who likes to read in general, the main aggravation was just the extra time requirement -- and his parents' response, but he rightly made the college handle that end.
Re: Thoughts
That depends on the person. Remember that a lot of people no longer go to college for the academics, but for the socializing. I think that's nuts, but it is so prevalent that college-ranking websites frequently score something like "party scene" and/or "Greek life" along with "academics." :/ Further consider that people don't switch fraternities, but frequently do switch majors/minors. In which case, people may feel worse about losing a fraternity than losing a major.
>> For a related idea, maybe *threaten* fraternity closure if whoever spiked the punch doesn't come forward. That's not certain to work, but it stands a better chance of sniffing out the culprit(s), not to mention saving those undeserving of punishment from having their lives disrupted unnecessarily.<<
I like that idea. It would be well worth trying at a college that was willing and able to ban the fraternity. Too many places either support the Greek system or don't feel able to fight it due to political reasons, despite its many disadvantages.
>>Edited to add: I've just had a further thought. A forced change of major or minor to gender/sexuality is likely to teach those students to resent the subject, coursework or no coursework, which could easily have the opposite effect from what it sounds like you're going for. Good citizen and a thorough resentment of, say, the vastness of the gender spectrum don't easily go hand in hand.<<
That's possible. But they're going to resent any solution, whether it's a new major/minor or the whole school -- and given the sexual aspect of this incident, they're almost certainly going to blame the girls anyway, for "not being able to hold their liquor" or some such nonsense. It's like this kind of personality is given to much responsibility.
Also, remember that they had a choice. Two out of the three main suspects chose to leave, either dropping out altogether or finishing their major at a different school. Only one decided to stay. He might have looked at the new program and figured it was something he could use.
Consider that it depends a lot on a person's major. Switching from one liberal arts degree to another is a lot less of a problem than switching from, say, engineering. If you're studying something like psychology or sociology, you can find things that'll overlap. Even some unrelated things like business have useful overlaps. For Sam, who likes to read in general, the main aggravation was just the extra time requirement -- and his parents' response, but he rightly made the college handle that end.