'Fraternities Resist Change" by columnist Dick Ahles in the Dec. 28 edition piqued my interest. And we have since witnessed the University of Michigan travesty with six fraternities and sororities trashing two ski lodges on separate hell-bent sojourns.

As we all know, bad news makes the press far more often than good news. This piece would like to address the latter. Recently, I have ascended to the presidency of my fraternity's (Sigma Nu) property association at Cornell University - not a great honor, as nobody else would take the job. Alumni members of our fraternity comprise the property association, which owns the physical building and manages its day-to-day maintenance. Alums in the association also serve as advisers to the house's 75 or so students. Thus, over the last two years, I have immersed myself in fraternity Greek culture.

I was actually not a gung-ho fraternity guy. During my 1969 initiation into the house, I refused to swallow the goldfish. The Cornell rowing team took precedence over many house events. And then I turned down the chapter's presidency to serve, instead, as a freshmen dorm counselor, something I thought much more important. But I also took a lot away with me from Sigma Nu - deep friendships and a sense of family.

Although friendship is important, I have come to realize that Greek Life, especially in the Northeast, is a lot more than that. First and foremost, fraternities and sororities represent safety nets. Of the six heart-wrenching student suicides on the Cornell campus in the 2009-10 academic year (an extremely unfortunate year for Cornell in this area of statistics), not one individual was a Greek house member. Cornell has a reputation as a pressure cooker campus. Stress is high, and good grades are hard to come by. Most kids graduate number one or two in their respective high school classes. So, when B's and C's start piling up, depression sets in.

Students return night after night alone to their boarding houses or dorm rooms to sulk. The famous Ithaca gorges look better and better to them. Fraternities and sororities, however, serve as safety nets - places a brother or sister can return to seek emotional and personal support after a bad grade, a dating relationship gone sour, or any other negative experience. Talking it out and commiserating are therapeutic.

Then there are the aforementioned friendships that stem from Greek life. Ask a Cornellian what he or she remembers best about their years on the hill. It's usually not the academics. It's the frat or sorority house. I'm sure this goes for most other campuses. Last are the connections generated, connections that will help both in the workplace and in family.

The year 2011 brought a terrible incident to Cornell - an alcohol-related death at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house on campus. Fraternity pledges were asked to grab and tie up an upperclassman in the lodge, drive him to a remote location, and feed him vodka if he could not answer trivia questions about the house. Results were tragic and fatal. Cornell's then president, Dr. David Skorton, issued a proclamation that rang out across the nation, an initiative "to end pledging as we know it." Student rush, pledging, and initiations at Cornell have changed drastically, as they have on many other campuses.

I refused to swallow the goldfish in 1969 because I had the inner strength to do so. But I should never have been asked in the first place.

And, at a few colleges across the nation, Greek systems remain unbridled. But at far more institutions, fraternities and sororities build character and kinship, instill ethics, values, and philanthropic instincts, prepare students for business, and lastly, represent safe havens, places where students can return for solace and where parents can feel confident their children are not alone and can prosper and grow.

Robert Linden is an internist/geriatrician from East Lyme and a graduate of Cornell University, Class of 1971.