Greek community seeks compromise

The Interfraternity Council reformed its social policy Tuesday, outlawing hard liquor in common rooms of fraternity houses but allowing eight guests of age to drink beer, wine and champagne in chapter houses’ common rooms without registering it as a party — another small step toward setting social standards that satisfy both university officials and students.

Students and faculty alike agree the Greek community has changed drastically since leaders enforced the social policy more strictly over the past 10 years.

“The party scene has kind of dwindled,” said Larry Cook, former president of Zeta Psi and a senior criminology and criminal justice major. “It’s kind of a necessary response to things that happened.”

In February 2002, 19-year-old freshman Daniel Reardon died after accepting a bid from Phi Sigma Kappa, where he was a boarder.

Police were investigating excessive drinking as a contributing factor. The fraternity had its charter revoked within two weeks of his death.

Less than one year earlier, another university student, Alexander Klochkoff, was found unconscious on the porch of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which was recently kicked off the campus for violating hazing policies.

Greek officials said they’re developing the IFC social policy to give students freedom while not compromising the law.

“Is there such a thing as drinking responsibly if you’re under 21?” said Matt Supple, assistant director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. “How well is it living within our values if we are blatantly allowing people to break laws?”

Matt Jackowitz, former IFC vice president, said the organization needs to strike a balance between Fraternity and Sorority Life interests and students’ interests.

“We are students, and we are in college, and we enjoy having a good time,” he said. “The best policy we could have is something that promotes responsible use by members who can drink.”

Supple said the university began enacting stricter social policies in the 1990s as a reaction to social norms and incidents at the university, but the change has been gradual.

“In the ’80s and ’90s, society had its kind of ‘boys will be boys’ mentality,” he said. “It wasn’t until the liability and the litigious nature of society changed and kind of started to put a dollar amount on those types of mistakes that people started paying attention and said, ‘This could ruin my life.’”

Supple said the Greek party scene has calmed down since the 1980s, when kegs were permitted and parties were unregistered and open to anyone.

“The landscape has changed in the type of parties our fraternities are having,” Supple said. “Ten years ago, they used to have outside happy hours, kind of like block parties.”

Now, the IFC requires fraternities to register all in-house parties and sends social event monitors to check for code violations. All parties must have a bouncer checking IDs at the door, only one entrance and one exit and trash cans next to the doors. Though people 21 and older can drink beer at these parties, they must bring it themselves.

Students said they’re turned off to registering parties because they think the IFC focuses on minor policy points instead of larger safety issues.

“If you’re throwing a party, there’s so many things you’re worried about doing correctly,” Cook said. “A lot of parties, they almost could be run safer if you’re looking out for things, rather than looking out for having a trash can in place.”

Because parties must be registered, many students — Greeks and non-Greeks — turn to unregistered parties off the campus, which they said are potentially more dangerous than registered ones.

“They’re always keggers,” said Dan Weber, president of Phi Gamma Delta and a sophomore environmental politics and policy major. “They’re always around. Every weekend, people randomly walk in.”

Jonathan Kava, a freshman criminology and criminal justice major who is not in a fraternity, said he thinks the Greek community attracts so many people because it’s closely tied with drinking. He said he usually goes to the unregistered parties at “satellite” houses — unofficial off-campus chapter houses.

“They let in a [large] amount of people at the satellite houses. You just kind of walk in,” he said. “It’s just cool, you just drink and socialize or whatever. They pretty much don’t run out of beer.”

Saam Parsa, president of Alpha Tau Omega and a junior economics major, said the restrictions for house parties are a deterrent.

“Some chapters definitely decide not to [hold registered parties] from what I hear because there’re so many restrictions that if you break a tiny rule, you’re going to get in trouble, so it’s kind of not worth it,” he said.

Former Student Government Association President Aaron Kraus said the regulations are unreasonable and are leading to an increase in off-campus parties.

“When I was a freshman, Fraternity Row was a fun place on campus. Now, it’s the most unfun,” Kraus said. “It’s desolate on a Saturday night.”

Jeremy Cohen, a sophomore government and politics and history major and member of FIJI, said the social policy has pushed more students to the bars than to off-campus parties.

“Greek Life is almost bar-based in College Park,” Cohen said. “There’s a big emphasis on going to the bars, and that’s one of the biggest opportunities to see people from the Greek system.”

Cook said registered parties are much safer than unregulated ones because chapter leaders have more authority in their own houses.

“I’d rather have a party at the chapter house, where there isn’t going to be hard alcohol. The liability is much less, the party is going to be much safer,” Cook said. “Once you push away from that environment, safety is lost.”

But leaders agreed that even though cracking down on policy infractions has caused more off-campus parties, the policy has also helped fraternities and sororities members re-examine their chapters’ founding values and helped incorporate them into their daily lives.

“Now we’re holding ourselves accountable to what we say we are,” said Tim Peach, vice president of internal affairs for the IFC. “I think there’s a lot more integrity now within the leaders of the community.”

Justin Simon, vice president of external affairs for the IFC, said the Greek community has been attracting more members who are getting involved for the right reasons, which is moving it away from the partier stereotype portrayed in Animal House.

“I think the Greek system overall is better than it was anytime I can remember it,” Simon said. “It’s just not as crazy [as] Animal House.”

Peach said the IFC’s enforcement of the policy in recent years has given it more credibility with university administration members and put Greek leaders in a position to bargain with them.

“We’re not a joke anymore to the university,” Peach said. “My exec board is totally on the same page as Linda Clement [vice president of student affairs].”

Supple said his office is trying to find fun non-alcoholic events for fraternities to host to help fight underage drinking.

“We talk about being social organizations, but that doesn’t mean we have to have all our social interactions around alcohol,” he said.

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