Fraternity alumni give substantially to schools

I read Camille Mancuso’s article on fraternity hazing deaths and maiming with some interest. She asks why this hasn’t been stopped and the perpetrators punished.

Well, like many other things that don’t seem to make sense, you have to follow the money to figure it out. Multiple studies have shown that alumni who belonged to fraternities donate to their alma maters much more than non-fraternity alumni; some estimates have it that fraternity alumni are responsible for as much as 75% of all alumni giving.

That’s a big golden egg, and nobody wants to kill the goose that laid it; hence the pro-forma investigations, the slap-on-the-wrist punishments and the ubiquitous thoughts and prayers. All those kids that died are just collateral damage.

James H. Cook, Doylestown

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