IFC, U. officia;s join in attempt to improve Greek life

InterFraternity Council leaders and Penn administrators are busy trying to hammer out the Greek system of the future, one that will feature more coffee houses and fewer hotel parties. The Greek Active Partnership -- a network of University administrators and fraternity leaders -- held what attendees described as a successful second meeting last Wednesday, where they made plans to work together to create a safe, educational and philanthropic Greek system. Created a year ago by then-IFC President Matt Baker, a fifth-year College and Engineering senior, GAP replaced the 21st Century Report as the forum for students and faculty to discuss Greek plans and changes for the future. While the 21st Century Report was a set of static, long-term guidelines, GAP is intended to give the system more flexibility. Most students and staff in attendance said the meeting fostered constructive discussion. Executive Director of University Life Facilities John Smolen said he saw definite progress from the first meeting in March. "There was much more of a positive attitude," said Smolen, adding that the fraternities are now "committed to working with the college houses on drug and alcohol issues." "The administration wanted us to stop charging, keg violations [and] violence at or after parties and stop [alcohol related] hospitalization," said IFC Executive Vice President Clive Correia. Correia, a Wharton senior, said that over the past semester the IFC has successfully deterred charging and has reduced violence. In addition, the group is committed to continuing alcohol education. Correia noted that at Wednesday's meeting the administrators "had nothing negative to say." IFC President Josh Belinfante said the meeting gave the IFC the opportunity to give the faculty an "update on what we've done." "With the exception of [Alpha Epsilon Pi]," the College senior said, "Its really been a squeaky clean semester." Last week, AEPi agreed to a disciplinary measure prohibiting brothers from having alcohol in the house for two years. The punishment resulted from a September incident in which a female freshman was hospitalized after consuming more than 12 drinks at an AEPi party. GAP discussed increasing the amount of non-alcoholic programming, such as Greek sponsored barbecues, coffee houses and community service events, according to Belinfante. Belinfante explained that the IFC may let fraternities hold dry events next year during the first three weeks of school. Currently the houses are prohibited from having events during that time period. OFSA Director Scott Reikofski said that some GAP members had concerns about "where the fraternities were going with relationship to faculty." The IFC wants to create a better working relationship with the faculty by developing a Greek faculty advisory board, Reikofski explained. He added that the board of faculty members would meet once a semester with the scholarship chairs of the fraternities and would also act as a resource for the houses. Reikofski said OFSA sent out letters about the faculty advisory program to about 15 different faculty members and will start selecting board members as soon as the office knows who wants to join. GAP's endeavors are solely related to the IFC. The Panhellenic Council and the Bicultural InterGreek Council are not affiliated with GAP, although they were involved with the 21st Century Report. Panhel President Janelle Brodsky explained that Panhel already has well-established philanthropy and faculty advising programs and therefore would not benefit from the current discussion in the GAP meetings. BIG-C President Everett Sands said his organization already has "incredibly good relationships" with administration and faculty members.