Greek community adapts to new DOS policies
It was a spontaneous event at the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity house on Sept. 5 that attracted a group of party crashers.
When confronted and asked to leave, the unwelcomed men threw punches at Beta members and were escorted out of the house, said Lt. David Lehmitz of the Moscow Police Department.
Jackson Flynn | Argonaut
The Beta Theta Pi Fraternity received a three-week dry suspention for violating the Greek Relationship Statement earlier this year.
Responding police officers recorded the incident and reported it to University of Idaho Director of Greek Life Brittany Bowles.
By hosting an event unbeknownst to Bowles, Beta violated the recently updated Greek policies by failing to notify the Greek Life Office of their event. In one of the first incidents with the updated policies, the Greek Life Office gave Beta a three-week “dry” sanction, meaning events involving alcohol are not allowed in the house.
“That was our issue, our mistake, and we paid the punishment for it,” said Nate Fisher, Interfraternity Council spokesman and a member of Beta. Fisher is also ASUI President.
As Greek Life director, Bowles is tasked with enforcing Greek policies, including the relatively new policies that have received a firestorm of disapproval from Greek members since the start of the school year.
“It’s changing a culture, and that’s not easy,” Bowles said. “We just want them to be safe.”
The updated policies are laid out in the Greek Relationship Statement, an eight-page document signed by all chapter presidents in April and went into effect July 1.
View the Greek Relationship Agreement here.
The Greek Relationship Statement includes a formal association agreement between UI and all Greek houses, an explanation of the purpose and function of the Greek Community Standards Board and a copy of the Event Notification Form.
The Greek Relationship Agreement includes rules houses must abide by to have UI’s official recognition, such as obeying all national policies, meeting fire safety standards and complying with the Student Code of Conduct.
The agreement lists the privileges chapters can expect from UI’s recognition, such as the ability to house first-year students, participate in recruiting events and have access to UI facilities for meeting space.
Event Notification Form
The Event Notification Form system requires Greek houses fill out, submit and discuss all events with the Greek Life Office five business days prior to an event — the document Beta failed to submit to the Greek Life Office prior to their Sept. 5 event.
The form requires houses to include a number of details about an event, including contact information for house leadership, a system for identifying attendees under 21 years old and even a list all non-alcoholic drinks to be served at the event.
Chapters must also submit a final guest list to the Greek Life Office at least 24 hours before the event.
Bowles said the intent of the documentation is to create safe environments for Greek events and to help Greek houses preemptively go through the risk management process. She said while many houses are used to notifying the Moscow Police Department in preparation of hosting a large party, the completion of a risk management process has not been a requirement until now.
“They are used to having events whenever they want,” she said. “The point is for them to plan ahead and really think out what they’re doing.”
Unless a violation occurs, Bowles said event forms would not be shared with national chapter organizations.
“It sits in the binder unless we have issues,” she said.
Fisher said the form forces Greek houses to comply with what most national chapter policies already require.
He said the goal of the system is to prevent spontaneous parties, which are often less safe and have a higher probability of getting out of control, similar to the Sept. 5 Beta incident.
Bowles said the forms have helped UI establish a safe start to the 2014 academic year. She said first responders have seen less transports to hospitals, and when they do, patients’ Blood Alcohol Content levels are lower.
UI Dean of Students Bruce Pitman said he’s seen the same trends.
“We’ve had a better start to this year than we’ve had for some time,” he said.
Although the forms are having an impact, Pitman said it only takes one bad individual to stain the reputation of an entire chapter or community.
Punishments
As Beta already knows, chapters should expect to receive sanctions if they fail to fill out the Event Notification Form or violate the relationship statement, said Steven Cleppe, Interfraternity Council president.
He said chapter punishments would be decided on a case-by-case basis, as two situations are rarely alike.
Cleppe said Bowles would first be notified of an incident — such as a minor in possession charge or medical transport from an event — and then decide a punishment for the chapter. He said police often report events they see at chapters to Bowles, just like what happened with Beta on that Friday night.
Cleppe said sanctioned houses could accept the Greek Life Office’s initial punishment, or the house could present an alternative course of action to Bowles, who has the authority to approve, deny or negotiate the punishment further.
Cleppe said if a house and Bowles cannot reach an agreement, the house can appeal to the Greek Community Standards Board to make their case, a route Beta avoided. The board would then determine the final punishment, he said.
According to the Greek Relationship Statement, the board has the power to place sanctions ranging from an initial warning to the withdrawal of UI recognition.
Cleppe does not foresee board appeals becoming a routine practice for chapters, and said so far no fraternity has requested to take its case to the board.
“It’s just there to have that extra option, if the chapter decides to go that route,” he said.
The board includes chapter presidents, alumni and Panhellenic and IFC officials. Bowles does not sit on the board, as it’s a conflict of interest, according to the Greek Relationship Statement.
Developing the system
Like its implementation, Pitman said the Event Notification Form drew a tremendous amount of attention and criticism from Greek leaders during the input phase of the policy process.
“All kinds of questions arose,” he said. “Ninety percent of the conversation was about this form.”
The Dean of Students Office presented a draft of the policy to chapter presidents at a Greek Retreat in February. The Greek Life Office, with oversight from the Dean of Students Office, asked for Greek input throughout spring semester last year, Pitman said. He said the Event Notification Form was finalized and signed by chapter presidents in April, after various revisions were made.
“It kept getting smaller,” he said. “That was probably the piece that changed the most.”
After a trial period this year, Pitman said his office could revisit the form and talk about possible reconsiderations with chapter leadership.
Bowles said the Greek Life Task Force looked at about 25 external institutions to help develop and draft the form, and received input from national Greek organizations throughout the policy changing process. She said a form to notify student affairs offices of events is common at many other institutions.
“It’s not atypical,” she said. “We didn’t just come out of the blue with this.”
While she predicts some changes to the form may be made in the future, Bowles said it will not be removed in its entirety.
“There is reasoning behind everything that’s on the form,” she said. “The form is not going away.”
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected]