LETTERS: Greek partnership with Penn

To the Editor: The Greek system recently developed and voted for its 21st Century Plan for an "Ivy League Greek System." The plan includes academic, community service, technological and social guidelines -- including GPA minimums for membership, community service requirements, faculty advisor involvement and the like. The plan is progressive, and it has already served as a model for Greek systems at over a dozen other universities. But all of these changes take time -- and the current move toward BYOB and no-charging policies will also. We all want to see these plans work, but in a fashion that is equitable to all those involved -- the University and the IFC included. Running the Greek social scene is expensive, and fraternities can not rightly be expected to "pick up the tab" for the entire University community. The GreekCard is a promising alternative that will allow the social life to continue as is, by encouraging all students -- Greek and non-Greek -- who attend fraternity parties to "chip in" for the administrative expenses (bands, djs, bouncers, etc.) Even with alternatives like the GreekCard, however, fraternities will still be taking a loss, but at a manageable rate. But the GreekCard is slated for next fall, and so it does not deal with the present financial concerns. As for this semester, Greeks can not be expected to "suck up" the costs (totaling up to $90,000) and continue to hold their usual number of social functions. If the University truly expects the number of Greek social events to continue this semester without allowing charging at the door, then the IFC needs the administration to live up to its end of the "partnership" -- and help the IFC out with its non-alcohol related social costs. Otherwise, as was evident during these last few weekends, fraternities will continue to avoid throwing parties, and Penn's social scene will proceed to migrate downtown and off campus, where crime, drunk driving and unsupervised events will introduce a number of new problems to Penn's risk-averse administration. I guess that in the end, our competition will be right -- Penn really is a city school without any campus life. Boston University anyone? Josh Gottheimer Former InterFraternity Council President College '97 Vendors part of Penn To the Editor: I would like to clarify a misconception articulated by Yoni Slonim ("Getting Rid of the Little Guys," DP 1/31/97) regarding the vending around our campus. As previously stated, clearly vendors are an integral part of the Penn community; they provide an important and valued service. The goal is simply to make vending safer, more convenient and more aesthetically pleasing for everyone involved -- including vendors. "Going after local street vendors with a vengenance," as Slonim accuses the University of doing, would be counter-productive to this effort and is an erroneous assumption. Vending is a long-standing tradition at Penn which we intend to keep. We believe that it can be done better --and to these ends, we have sought to consult widely with Penn faculty, staff and students as well as many vendors. Carol R. Scheman Vice President for Government, Community, and Public Affairs