Greek community adjusts to policies, criticisms about implementation
Despite the good intentions of the University of Idaho Greek Life Office, many Greek students feel there was a lack of communication in the rollout out of recently updated Greek policies.
“People are frustrated with this because they don’t know,” said Jesus Iniguez, social chair for Kappa Sigma.
The updated policies, listed in the Greek Relationship Statement, triggered strong resistance from the Greek community. Much of the criticism stemmed from the Event Notification Form.
“Anytime there’s new regulation that’s enforced, I think that there’s going to be some considerable backlash,” said Nate Fisher, Interfraternity Council spokesman. “That’s kind of what we are seeing.”
Rollout criticisms
Fisher said the policy implementation lacked proper communication between the Greek Life Office and Greek houses with respect to the logistics of the policy.
Although chapter presidents signed the agreement in April, he said further communication before the academic year began in August would have led to less confusion within the Greek community.
When the Greek Life Office punished Beta with a three-week dry period for not filling out an Event Notification Form for a party they held in September, Fisher said Beta contacted Brittany Bowles, UI director of Greek Life, to schedule a meeting with the entire house to go over the policy.
“I just wish that, that could have happened a little bit sooner,” he said.
At first, Iniguez said he did not understand the purpose of the Event Notification Form and was perplexed by some of the specific questions on the document.
He said it was not until he contacted the Greek Life Office that he received an explanation of the event form and the process for getting it approved.
Brittany Bowles
UI director of
Greek Life
Bowles said her office reminded chapter leadership of the updated policies prior to the start of the school year, but did not communicate with general chapter membership. She said chapter leadership is tasked with informing Greek members of new policies.
Bowles said she went to each chapter during fraternity recruitment to remind house presidents and recruitment officers that the policies would be immediately enforced — with the exception of a two-week flex period at the start school year.
Fisher also said there was little to no warning on the severity of the possible repercussions for violating the Event Notification Form requirements or the Greek Relationship Agreement — something he said could have deterred many violations in the first place.
Fisher said clear punishments for various violations should have been communicated to chapters before the policies were implemented.
“Everybody would expect the same thing from the Moscow Police Department,” he said. “If you’re caught underage drinking, here’s what you can expect.”
Bowles said there are no established punishments associated with specific violations because the sanctions are determined on a case-by-case basis.
Under the policy, Iniguez said he has to do a lot more work to host an event. He said although he might not agree with the every aspect of the Event Notification Form, he is willing to do the extra work to ensure student safety.
“I would love not to do the forms,” he said. “But I also see where the Greek Office and the Greek director is coming from.”
Although Fisher has criticisms of the implementation process, he and Iniguez agree the event form and the new policies will make the Greek community more responsible for their actions and make events safer experiences.
In fact, Fisher said the event form often forces chapter’s to follow their own national polices already in effect.
“It’s new in the sense that it’s actually being enforced,” Fisher said.
Moving forward, Cleppe said it would take time for information about the new policies to disseminate throughout the houses. He said he hopes the Greek community will accept the form and comply with the policies.
“It’s not life changing, it’s a one-page document that’s basically trying to hold people accountable,” he said. “So that we don’t have major incidences like we’ve seen in the past.”
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected]