Sorority membership is at an alltime high. There are folks that focus on this generation being lost in their ipads, phone, texting, the reality is there is a store nearly a store and or a demand for fraternities and sorties, because they provide an opportunity for students to grow and learn in a context that does not otherwise exist on campus. Host bart fraternities i am not ruling out a lawsuit said stephen jones, a lawyer hired by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter. We are wanting seeking someone other resolution to the matter in the face of the closing of that chapter being kicked off cap campus. Two of the members being kicked off schools. Independent line. Guest caller a lot of these campuses are microcosm of our country as a whole. To hear that someone has made a racial slur, it does not surprise me, it happens every day, whether it is publicly noted or not. I do not know why anyone is surprised. I know strides are being taken to have more diversity but, on campuses, you have black sororities and you have white sororities. The university of maryland, i dont think theres one black sorority. It does not surprise me, and it should not surprise anyone that racial slurs and stuff like this happen. It happens everyday. Host in todays New York Times, says the racist video is a window into a huge problem at fraternities on College Campuses. He says greek life on campus is worth preserving, but before the next shocking video, schools must confront the inequality that the greek system has managed to preserve. Guest there is probably a reason i use the New York Times to read my fish every morning. I disagree strenuously. They provide minimum and for people to live and Work Together in a variety of contexts. For most of the 700,000 members spread across 12,000 chapters and more than 800 campuses, they are getting a chance to be involved in a Diverse Community that maybe they didnt have before in high school or growing up. I think they are part of the solution, this is the most diverse generation ever. The instances of racism they face remain challenging, that they have made significant strides over prior generations. This generation of students has said, like their fathers, they want to be part of the solution, fraternities and sororities are active in working in social justice issues every day. That is especially true for africanamerican fraternities and sororities, which were founded to help that first generation of College Graduates go back, get back, to those communities and help them move forward. Host flower mound, texas im a democrat line, georges waiting. George is waiting. Caller i have a different opinion about the chapter. We are eastern europeans. In eastern europe, soviet union, whatever, Young Students of organizations were very much dependent of the political life of the state. They were a submission of the government. Here, i see an extreme here come a there is another extreme. I dont know if this is that chapter prevents them from doing that. When they make mistakes or what is happened in oklahoma. Which is clearly a bigger problem. When they make mistakes in taking an attitude, or political attitude that shows their concern for the future of this country, are there any limitations . Host are you saying you want to see more oversight of fraternities and sororities by outside groups . Caller yes, they have to show being more active in political life. Guest i think it is important glad to hear that you moved here to the United States where we enjoy freedom of association and the opportunity to enjoy things like fraternities and sororities and exercise our right to be to be with people we want to be with an exercise our rights to free speech, usually means making people in the majority uncomfortable him otherwise that freedom of speech right without be worth very much at all. Fraternities and sorties are highly regulated on College Campuses. They are governed by state and federal law. We Work Together in partnership with the host institutions. They have professional staff who work closely with these organizations as they do with other student organizations. The vast majority of their activities are on file with the university oftentimes advance permission is required. Most institutions would tell you that the vast majority of their leadership in other student organizations comes from members of fraternities and sororities. Those tend to be the most engaged students, those folks generally go on to have a much higher engagement in the political life and fabric of the United States then members that did not join fraternities and sororities. Host marilyn, independent line. You are on with kevin oneill. Go ahead. Caller i have three comments once you make about the kids. Another to make about the fraternities in general and another about black people. Those kids that they learned that once they joined the sorority, i dont know why theyre trying to treat this as a racial incident, when the kids learn that song when they join their sorority. The africans that join the greek sorties, there are no black sorority, all of the sorties are greek. I do not know why africans would want to join something greek and take it is progressive. In my opinion, about sororities, i look at them as mens colts cults. They do ritualistic practices that is based in satanism. Host i will let you respond. Guest lets take that in order there is no evidence at the university of oklahoma or any other case that any of these organizations are advocating or teaching their members to engage in acts that anyone would perceive as racist. That is a ridiculous assertion to make. You said there are no black sororities, i guess that is a misperception we can clear up quickly. There are nine predominantly africanamerican fraternities and sororities all started around the beginning of the 20th century. They are all in the same association, many of the black fraternities, they have traditional africanamerican fraternities, and they are also members of the north american in a fraternity tousle. Counsel. One of those sororities, delta sigma they are was just on capitol hill, they are couple thousand Community Leaders come to town. The vast majority of africanamerican members of congress are themselves alumni of one of those nine organizations. They are proud members and they think those organizations make a huge difference, not only in their communities, but in america as a whole. As for black magic and cu lts, i do not think there is much to that. Host republican line in louisiana. Caller it is really sad that so many people are ill informed about what the greek system does. First of all it is a group of people that come together to live in unity any system stresses that fellowship, and also scholarship, and a Community Service. I was initiated into Phi Delta Theta in 1968. I think it is so cool that the president of the phi delt chapter at okolona University Oklahoma university is a really neat guy who happens to be black. Opportunity chapters, they have their own unique personalities their own different the sae s at ou screwed up, but that is not indicative of for trinitys and sororities at large. For turner these fraternities and sororities at large. Host one of our previous callers said that the more oversight of fraternities and sororities would you agree with that and if so how . Caller there is. At the university of arkansas, they had behavior about three years ago, that chart that caused them to lose their charter. A national fraternity. They had to earn it back. It involved drinking. The national fraternities do have some very strict oversight. I would wager that sae, the national sae what have come down on these guys hard if president doran had not. Guest i want to make sure people understand that Sigma Alpha Epsilon close that chapter at the university of oklahoma. Independent of the president because of the accident because of the incident and they were not indicative of the organization. For trinitys and sororities had done a good job translating who they are, the largest valuebased groups. The largest providers of Community Service hours and expertise on College Campuses today. The second largest landlord of College Students housing a quarter of a Million Students across the country. And therefore reducing the tax burden on public universities that otherwise have to build facilities for those students. They are highly regulated. The reason we know that regulation is working is precisely because, when there is a problem, those problems are getting addressed. Maybe privately, or in this case, publicly but there is an extraordinary accountability. I want to compare and contrast what is happening with university of oklahoma and at the university of virginia with other context. This is march madness this weekend, next weekend kicks off determined kicks off the tournament. You have had to members that lost members of their team because of allegations of sexual assault. The universities did not close down the teams, they simply discipline the individuals. They do not discipline the womens track team because of what happened on the mens basketball team. But fraternities and sororities when these types of situations occur, a are being punished in a variety of fashions, not just as individuals, but the chapters are being closed, often by the impetus of the national organization. In the university virginia, thousands of students who were suspended by the University President for an allegation that eventually was proved meritless by an investigation i the washington post, they were held accountable but something they had nothing to do with. Most notable for that john, you had thousands of Women Leaders sororities are the largest Leadership Organization for women on campus. They were held accountable and suspended for an allegation of sexual assault, which is a terrible message to send. Host pennsylvania is up next, line for democrats. Caller im sorry to hear you wrap your fish in the New York Times, but maybe that speaks to the gentle general intelligence level of fraternities and sororities. Guest maybe it does. I read it i read a great deal of publications. The caller is misinformed him and does not realize there is a strong correlation between the member of a fraternity and sorting and completing college. One of the reasons these host institutions are eager to partner with them. They help retain freshmen into sophomore years and they a significant difference in making sure folks complete their college experience, earn that degree, and are capable of going out in the job market and getting a job that will help them pay the student debt they have incurred in the process. Host one of our colors but of a drinking issue at a fraternity i believe he said he attended, i want to run these numbers by you, this from a bloomberg story, 59 students died in incidents involving fraternities since 2005, thats 2005 to 2012, about half of them out of all related. I want to i what you to address the issue of drinking and wreaking deaths in fraternity houses drinking deaths. Guest the issue of alcohol on College Campuses is complex. The government chose three decades ago to raise the drinking age to 21, and that has proved to be that has transformed the way students use alcohol and are educated about it. Before raising the drinking age it was very common for folks to drink in high school and to learn at home, under their parent supervision, how to handle our call and make responsible handle alcohol. Folks are still drinking at that age, now they come to College Campus and they are unsupervised , they have seen all the media depictions that they need to go crazy. Efforts to control that are hemmed in, the universities are at a difficult position in trying to teach responsible behavior at the same time they are trying to kill 90 of the student body that they cannot engage in alcohol use. It sets up a difficult situation, where College Students, the vast majority of them, are breaking the law regularly by dragging alcohol by drinking alcohol. A lot about a lot of universities, if not turning a blind eye, are not enforcing it because it is difficult to enforce. Eternities and sororities inherit a part of that problem. It is externally rare for a College Students to arrive on campus and have their first ring on campus. They learn that behavior before they get there. Colleges are dealing with the aftermath of that learned behavior. An environment host is a lower drinking age something you would advocate for . Guest we do not have a position on whether or not the drinking age should be changed. We do have a commission on alcohol that is looking at ways they can continue to better educate members and students at large about how to make responsible choices, some of the policy issues involved and how freaking occurs on College Campuses drinking occurs on College Campuses. College president s would tell you that those issues concern them greatly. The weight the law is today, it encourages dangerous behavior. Students know, if they will go to a bar, they will be carded, they now pregame, drink in the room, with illicitly obtain alcohol. By the time to get to their destination, that alcohol is in their blood system and it hits them at once and it can lead to dangerous situations. It is probably time for members of congress and others at the state level to have a discussion about how to address these issues. Host tennessee james, our line for democrats. You are on with kevin oneill. Caller how are you doing this morning . Guest good. Caller i want to know how can you sit there and say that it is regulated and it is not something that has been going on . Everybody knows where i am from at least, the community i live in, not to do with race for turner these fraternities are more likely to do Community Service . We are kept out of that gate for life. You cant tell me, that i can do things. \ i can have a car in my yard. I can have a certain color, and i have to pay this and that. Ive talked about you, the people that sit there and have the power you just sit there and feed into it. Guest you bring up an important point about the history of fraternities and sororities. The article referenced in the interview, talking about they were founded as elitist when all universities were elitist. The history is vastly different. Most of the womens organizations, some are as old as 150 years old those organizations were founded, in part, because women were having a difficult time having an access to Higher Education. Sororities were a useful tool to make sure they had a handout the latter. Up the ladder. National fraternities were formed because they made an opportunity for different segments of the community to get into an organization of likeminded individuals who would support one another, learn to be Community Leaders and get engaged. I think its very rare to have what the reviewer said, the system shuts anybody out, the system is inclusive, there is a place for everybody, it basically look for the right opportunity. The right place where they will feel comfortable with the values. If not, we incurred them to start a group that reflects their values. We encourage them. We would be happy to welcome them to our community. Host park hills, missouri, independent line. Caller good morning you dont mention about this bar the Bar Association they were under a flag in this country, how come your not talking about that . Host we are talking about fraternities and sororities and the greek system. Did you want to jump in . Guest i think shakespeare said it well, i will leave it at that. Host kevin oneill is the executive director of the fraternities and sororities Political Action announcer on the next washington journal Bill Richardson talks about congressional involvement in negotiations with iran over its nuclear program, president obamas request to use force against isis, and other foreignpolicy issues. James hendel will talk about the potential 2016 president ial candidate spending time in new hampshire. And a roundtable discussion on legalizing marijuana, with the founder and ceo of the medical marijuana advocates group. As always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. That is live at 7 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Monday night on the communicators, fcc commissioner minion cliburn on the recent Net Neutrality ruling and the subsidized Broadband Program lifeline. What im proposing that we do is overhaul the Lifeline Program making it concurrent and in sync with the information age. Challenge them to give more to consumers. It should be for lifeline consumers. Get the providers out of the certification business. That is the number one problem we have seen with not so positive headlines. It is a vulnerability in the system. Announcer that is monday night on the communicators on cspan2. Tuesday, there was a hearing on the benefits to patients. The nih director dr. Francis collins and the fda commissioner Margaret Hamburg discussed with their respective agencies are going to advance the field of medicine. This is two hours. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] senator alexander senator murray and i will have an opening statement. Then senators will have five minutes for questions. I have been looking forward to this day.