No charging at year's first frat parties

Officials said fraternities did not charge at parties over the weekend, and monitors had positive reports. The first weekend that University fraternities were allowed to throw parties passed without any reports of houses charging illegal door fees, Greek system officials said. Stiff penalties announced last spring for fraternities caught charging likely deterred many houses from assessing door fees from last Thursday through Saturday. Penn's Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs banned door fees in December 1996 when it set up an alumni monitor system. The restriction is based on a longstanding but previously unenforced state law which prohibits charging without a liquor license. No reports of charging door fees over the weekend have been made yet, according to InterFraternity Council President Josh Belinfante. The parties were conducted in full compliance with IFC and University rules and regulations, the College senior said. OFSA Assistant Director Tom Carroll agreed that the weekend was successful, adding that the one house he expected to charge -- which he refused to identify -- didn't. "From what I've heard on the Greek grapevine, the chapter that would have charged didn't, and if that's the case, great," Carroll said. "As far as the [graduate] observer reports, as far as the registered parties, I'm satisfied. Thursday is a different case." The incident Carroll alluded to was the alcohol poisoning of a freshman girl who was taken to the emergency room after consuming at least 12 drinks at an Alpha Epsilon Pi party. The University's Office of Student Conduct is investigating the incident. Belinfante and Carroll both attributed the lack of charging this weekend to the new penalty system announced last spring. Last March, the IFC Judicial Inquiry Board raised the punishment for charging door fees at fraternity parties. Currently, if the IFC discovers that a fraternity is charging, the fraternity face a fine of $30 per brother and a 10-week social probation, up from $10 and four weeks' probation. Delta Kappa Epsilon held a party on Friday night, and chapter President J.D. Beiting said the penalty system partially accounted for DKE's decision not to charge. "It was half the penalty and half not giving the Greek system a bad name," said Beiting, a College senior. "All the houses agreed not to charge, just not to screw over the Greek system and not to get anyone in hot water." Beiting claimed that the success of the party was undiminished. "It was just as packed, if not more packed, than it has been," he said. "I hope all the rest of the parties go as smoothly. It will make my job a lot easier." Phi Gamma Delta President Ziggy Majumder said the fraternity did not charge a fee to enter its Saturday night party, adding that it has not charged since he became president. "We haven't charged because the rules are so strict," he noted. But the College senior said the new system would have a broader effect on the Greek social scene at Penn, resulting in fewer large events and more guest-list-only parties. "There's no incentive for us to have a lot of people if we can't charge them," he explained. "So the parties will be smaller and less frequent." According to OFSA Director Scott Reikofski, the alumni system was sometimes inconsistent, leading the University to switch to a graduate student observer system. Graduate student volunteers check the parties to see if they are charging and checking IDs, if there is non-salty food and non-alcoholic beverages and if the party is too crowded. Typically the graduate student volunteers check each party twice during the night.