Fraternity men Score Lower GPAs

According to the Fraternity and Sorority Report released Wednesday by the Office of Greek Affairs, the campuswide all-men GPA for the fall 2001 semester was 2.927, and the all-fraternity GPA was 2.921.

The all-sorority GPA was 3.158, and the all-women's was 3.042. The all-Greek GPA for the semester was 3.072, and the non-Greek average was 2.997.

Director of Greek Affairs Jay Anhorn said the .006 gap between the all-men and all-fraternity GPAs is not significant and that the two numbers usually are similar. He also said it is the first time in at least five years that the all-men GPA was higher than the all-fraternity GPA.

"(The all-men and all-fraternity GPAs) are about the same this semester and have always been pretty close," he said.

But Interfraternity Council President Matt O'Brien said it was unexpected to see the Greek GPA fall below the non-Greek average.

Anhorn said he does not know of any specific reason why the all-men GPA is higher this semester, but O'Brien attributed the difference to chance.

"Everyone has their ups and downs," he said. "We didn't do poorly by any means, and I'm sure (the all-fraternity GPA) will correct itself by the end of this semester."

Anhorn said the all-fraternity GPA is traditionally higher than the all-men GPA, possibly due to the fraternity environment.

"The fraternities have a good network of people," he said.

"They all live together if they have a house, and if they don't have a house, they socialize and work together all the time. Many (of the fraternity members) have the same professors and take similar classes, and I think it gives them a better understanding (of their work)."

Anhorn also said the fraternities have academic standards set by national chapters, as well as UNC, that must be maintained in order to remain an active group on campus and that fraternities try to recruit members with higher GPAs.

"The fraternities have a certain GPA they have to maintain to stay active nationally," Anhorn said.

"Here at the University, fraternities must have a cumulative GPA over 2.5 or they lose their social privileges. So if they want to host any social functions, they need to keep up."

O'Brien said fraternities also offer rewards for performing well academically. Incentives offered by the fraternities are usually academic scholarships ranging in value from $50 to $4,000.

Both O'Brien and Anhorn said they feel the difference between the all-fraternity and all-men GPAs was nothing to worry about.

O'Brien said he is confident that the all-fraternity GPA will once again be higher by the end of this year.

"I'm sure that it was just last semester," he said.

"(The all-fraternity GPA) will be back up by the end of this semester."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.