LETTERS-YOUR VIEW: Involve students in process

To the Editor: In addition, it is unclear exactly which students will meet with the provost. Obviously, we feel that in order for the University to make informed decisions, students must be involved. In making the decisions handed down today, administrators neither consulted nor contacted students. In addition, the InterFraternity Council wishes to express its concern that the hasty ban on all alcoholic functions on campus may impact negatively on the safety of students. With parties moving off campus, students will likely opt either to spend time outside of University boundaries late into the night or drink illegally in their rooms -- behind closed doors and away from supervision. This danger scares us more than any other ramification arising from this new policy. In addition, the abrupt implementation of this policy means that these scenarios are immediately very real possibilities, from now until whenever the suspension is ended. In the future, we hope that we can meet with the University administration and weigh in on issues related to alcohol. As we understand it, students will be able to meet with the provost beginning this weekend. Certainly, the sooner we are able to confront these issues, the sooner we can reach an understanding with the administration. In the meantime, the InterFraternity Council will continue to represent its constituents within the student body and lobby for increased student involvement in policy-making. As is now clear, alcohol is a problem and an issue that affects the entire student body. While the Greek community has taken the lead thus far in alcohol education on campus, we sincerely hope that this recent announcement will lead to campus-wide dialogue on the issues surrounding alcohol at the University. InterFraternity Council Executive Board Where's the love? To the Editor: A broken contract with a photographer, a broken contract with a bar and 250 phone calls later, we were finally able to cancel the Phi Sigma Sigma crush party -- and all within two hours. Last night, the University declared our campus dry. On Monday, they received a list of registered parties. It is rumored they had been planning the announcement since Sunday. Thanks for the warning. For a few days, the rumor going around among the students was that President Judith Rodin might be turning the social Ivy into just an Ivy. In a meeting on Tuesday night, our sisterhood voted not to cancel our crush party, thinking that any rumor was just a rumor and that if the administration was planning such an announcement, they would have had the courtesy to tell us in advance. Apparently, we were wrong. Our party was in no way to be the type of irresponsible event that Rodin alluded to in her announcement. We chose to have it at Helena's only because it was 18 to enter and 21 to drink. Any Penn student could attend without breaking the law. Our party was not just to be about getting drunk. It was to be an event for us to meet boys that we had crushes on. I didn't get to meet my crushes last night and neither did over 100 of my friends. Had we had this information earlier, our sorority could have had the opportunity to plan another event, one in which alcohol would not have been present. I do not mean for this letter to show disrespect for the recent death on campus. Phi Sigma Sigma respects and reflects on the loss of the FIJI brother Michael Tobin, but we as a sorority have not broken the current alcohol policies that the University adheres to. I resent the University not only for assuming that we would be irresponsible in our behavior but also for giving us such short notice to cancel our party. That is irresponsible of them. Because of the University, we lost credibility with a photographer and with Helena's. And Helena's and the photographer lost the money they could have otherwise made. If the University wants us to take more responsibility for our own actions than I suggest that it do the same. They can start by introducing me to my crush. Jennie Salwen Phi Sigma Sigma College '01 An unfair action To the Editor: The University's actions toward fraternities in the wake of the incident at FIJI violates the very principles our school tries to instill in its students. These principles of leadership, conscientious and accountability cannot flourish in an environment where all fraternities are deemed guilty of alcohol violations regardless of any actual truth. The entire Greek community certainly recognizes that the incident at FIJI is unfortunate. By the same token, this entire community should not be penalized for the actions of one of its chapters or possibly even just one of its former members. To imply that all chapters are violating the very policies they are taught at University-sponsored retreats and are refreshed on a weekly basis with their University-sanctioned Greek Life advisors would be making as sophomoric a case as believing that an entire class should fail because a few students do not study for the test. Just as classes reward students that understand their obligations as a student, the University should reward the fraternities that follow the rules and punish the ones that do not. Anything less would show that University's lack of faith in the students it believes will be the future leaders of society. Leon Fresco College '99