The party room has morphed into a weight-training and study center. And the bar holds nothing but a quarter-inch of dust. Haunted by rising insurance costs, sinking membership and a string of deaths and accidents, fraternities across the country are seeking to end their unofficial role as campus bartenders. Phi Delta Theta is the first national fraternity to enforce a ban on alcohol throughout its chapter houses, but several others are poised to follow soon. Already, about 1,500 of 5,300 fraternity houses in the North-American Interfraternity Conference nationwide have gone dry, up from about 300 just a few years ago, said Executive Vice President Jon Williamson.
Old habits die hard, though.
Some national organizations that rolled out strict alcohol-free policies with great fanfare a few years ago are now backing away to appease unhappy undergraduates. And problem drinking can extend far beyond the rules of a chapter house. This current of resistance raises the question of whether fraternities have become so grounded in a culture of partying that they can't exist without alcohol. But five months into their new way of life, the Maryland Phi Delts say they're surviving all right, in a house strangely cleaner and quieter. We drink, but just not here.