State leaders, University of Idaho student leaders and UI administrators are excited about recommendations made by the drugs and alcohol and Greek life task forces because of the way students were included in developing the recommendations.“I think this is a fantastic step in promoting a safe and healthy campus, I think that the process they used was one that was well thought out and logical,” ASUI President Max Cowan said. “They really took a hard eye, or a hard look, at what we currently do, what works and what doesn’t, and what we could do better.”
The State Board of Education also praised the recommendations after UI Interim President Don Burnett and Dean of Students Bruce Pitman gave a presentation about the task force work at the last State Board of Education meeting in August.
Pitman said the SBOE was so impressed with the work done by the task forces they asked other Idaho universities to look into taking similar action on these issues.
“They looked at the work we did and then asked the other institutions to take a similar look at their practices,” Pitman said. “And get back to the board with a summary of what their action plans would be.”
Pitman said every SBOE board member approached him to personally express their support of the task forces.
Christopher Chesnut, president of the InterFraternity Council at UI, said the Greek community is in support of the new recommendations made by the Greek life task force including a relationship statement between UI and the Greek system.
“Going forth, we’re pretty excited about having a relationship statement with the university because that clears up a lot of gray area,” Chesnut said. “It was critical that the university said ‘hey we need to say what our relationship is with these fraternities’.”
Chesnut said there has been discussion in the Greek community about the extent of UI oversight in disciplinary actions involving Greek members, however the oversight is seen as a positive action.
“Generally the guys feel like that’s a positive move as well because, at its core, fraternities are about holding their members accountable for higher values,” Chesnut said. “That gives us another resource at holding our members to those standards, and making our membership better.”
Many of the Greek life task force recommendations, like registering house-sponsored parties, are done through the IFC, which is an independent entity from UI, Chesnut said.
“Discussion on both sides from chapter presidents and university staff are actually starting to get excited about the thought of collaborating,” Chesnut said.
He said involving UI in the disciplinary process will be a positive move towards holding individual chapter members accountable.
“I don’t see it as a way to target chapters, I see more as a way to target students, the individuals of those chapters, make sure that those individuals are living up to the code of conduct that the university has for its students,” Chesnut said.
Cowan said he supported the recommendations made by the alcohol and drugs task force to reevaluate disciplinary actions related to underage drinking.
“They took a lot of time to consider solutions that are practical and are based in changing culture, and not necessarily trying to place too many regulations or punishments onto students, because that’s ineffective,” Cowan said.
Cowan said he was glad UI allowed student input throughout the task force process, which allowed for a greater collaboration of ideas.
Chesnut agreed and said student input during the recommendation process was appreciated.
“We’re really happy the university is involving us in the entire process,” Chesnut said.
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected]