Scott Maxfield
All the Right Reasons
the eye interviews scott maxfield
PrintNicholas Syrett, CC `97, argues for the dissolution of fraternities on American campuses in his new book, “The Company He Keeps,” citing issues of homophobia, sexual assault, and the prominent danger of alcohol poisoning. Scott Maxfield, a CC junior and president of the largest fraternity on campus, Delta Sigma Phi, does not exactly agree. The Eye sits down with Maxfield to discuss community service, misconceptions, and forging a sense of community at Columbia.
What do you think of Syrett’s claims? Do fraternities still have a place in our universities?
When I came to Columbia, I had a very strong idea of what I was expecting, and I was immediately surprised at the lack of community. My brother and sister had gone here, neither of them joined a fraternity or sorority. And I didn’t join a fraternity until the spring of my first year—I wanted to wait it out and see if it was the right thing for me or not. I had a very close group of friends and I decided, for me, in order to expand my social group, it was the right decision. My primary and sole motivation for doing this was to establish a sense of community that Columbia as a whole really lacks.
Do you think the Greek system is actually building that community that our school lacks? I’m not sure everyone would agree with you on that.
The way I look at it, our fraternity, and fraternities in general, is like any other micro-community in campus. One of the biggest problems of Columbia as a whole is that there is no kind of unifying force that connects the entire community, which is pretty unfortunate. What’s nice is that the number of people involved is greater and greater. In Columbia College, there is 20 to 25 percent involvement. So there is definitely some unity there, which is nice, and hopefully that can expand beyond the Greek system.
And what about the issues Syrett cites?
In terms of the accusations, this is a very diverse fraternity socioeconomically, politically, religiously, racially, sexually. I think as it grows, it becomes less of a niche thing and takes on people who in the past, like me, who would have said, “Oh, fraternities, that’s the last thing I’d want to do.” I think for a lot of people they see the fraternity culture on campus, which, first of all, I don’t think is an entirely distinct culture, I think in a lot of ways it is the same culture within fraternities as it is outside of it. But some people look at fraternities and see it as an assault on their motivations for going to school in New York City. They see it as a way for people to not expand their horizons, but I think that is pretty short-sighted. There is a lot we do beyond the nightlife on this campus.
What we do is very much the same as what everyone else does except that we probably do it in a more organized way just because we have the financial and structural means to do so. In terms of the social aspect, I really don’t think it is very different than anyone else. ... We’re in the middle of New York City so obviously the extent to which the fraternity dominates the social life here is much less than it would be at any other school.
If not just for the social aspect, what is your fraternity’s place at Columbia?
Well I think it’s changing actually—this is only our second year in this house. We were a relatively small fraternity in East Campus, and this is only our 10th or 11th year on campus. … We’re now growing almost exponentially—we had 16 new members this semester, which puts us above 60, making us the biggest fraternity on campus. At least in size we are definitely changing, and there is a cultural change that goes along with that. In the past we may have had more homogeneity in terms of who we recruited, which is very different now. If we bring in five new guys who are all different, each of them might bring in their friends who are all different as well. We are becoming much more diverse and recruiting people who you might not immediately associate with fraternities. And I think you can see that across the board—the stereotype, whether it did or did not exist in the past, it definitely does not now.
And your organization is pretty involved in community service as well, no?
Actually, we are starting a program this semester, which unfortunately won’t start up until next semester, but it’s a Big Brother program that will in some ways be associated with the Big Sibs program here on campus. We are pairing up with the School at Columbia University, which is for faculty children and children who live in the area. At first it will be a once-a-month meeting, but as it expands we hope to meet every other week. And this is a relationship we hope will allow fraternity members and these kids to extend their relationship beyond college and elementary school.
How could your fraternity improve?
I think this is something that all fraternities and sororities on campus struggle with—debunking the myth—which is why I’m very glad to do this interview. We’re at a point where with over 20 percent of Columbia College involved in fraternities and sororities, it’s really about time people realize that we’re not in any way distinct from anyone else on campus. We’re doing our best to be viewed just like any other student organization. We’re involved in community service, we do fundraising, and like everyone else, we also hold social events. And that’s obviously what people focus on, but there are a lot of other very good things that we do. But for us and definitely anyone else you’d talk to in the Greek community, that’s priority number one.
One of the issues Syrett argues is that having gender exclusive organizations on coed campuses is retroactive and antiquated. What value do you see in Greek system as gender exclusive?
I mean I don’t think of it as any different than a sports team or any other group that is gender exclusive. ... In a lot of ways, perhaps because we are an exclusively male organization and sororities are exclusively female organizations, it allows us to, in a more formal setting than you would have in other areas of campus, to come together and have events together. I understand what you’re saying that it’s not entirely representative of our college campus at large, but I don’t think there is anything negative about that. I don’t think that because we are an exclusively male organization, that leads to any more discrimination against women. One of the things that we stress is a very strong relationship with the sororities so although we are distinct organizations, as a whole, the Greek community is very unified. We consider the sororities on campus and also the fraternities, for that matter, to be part of our larger organization. Although we may nominally be an explicitly male organization, the larger community we’re a part of is not.
19 November 2009
vol. 7, issue 10
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