IFC will incorporate more sensitivity training into new member education

This year, the Interfraternity Council's new-member education program will feature a workshop hosted by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center as part of a larger program to incorporate more sensitivity training into fraternity life.

Each fraternity chapter must send new members to one of four workshops, which include a session with the Drug and Alcohol Resource Team, sessions with One in Four, an all-male group dedicated to combating sexual violence or a seminar on race and culture hosted by Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski.

The new-member education program, coordinated by OFSA, will begin in two weeks and will continue until the first week of March, when all new members will be initiated.

College senior David Ashkenazi, last year's IFC president who set up the workshop with the IFC and OFSA, said LGBT issues have never adequately been addressed by fraternities.

"It was an area that needed better articulation," he said.

Homophobia is not an issue that exists exclusively in fraternity houses, he said.

Instead, he said the Greek-specific issue is how to manage the "delicacy" of a brother's coming out, both for the individual and the fraternity as a whole.

"There was just a legitimate need to figure out how that would affect the brotherhood - or if it affected the brotherhood at all," said Ashkenazi.

Held in the Carriage House, the workshop will be followed by a group discussion.

Erin Cross, associate director of the LGBT Center, said the program will consist of several parts.

New members will hear about general policies surrounding LGBT issues on campus, ways to create a supportive atmosphere for brothers who have come out or are thinking about coming out and gender variance issues - "which aren't on many peoples' radars at all," said Cross.

She added that she hopes the program will serve as "a model for a lot of campuses across the country."

Much of the presentation will be given by openly-gay fraternity brothers, said College sophomore Alec Webley, last year's political chair for the Lambda Alliance who developed the workshop with Ashkenazi.

Webley said the workshop is intended to encourage "a wider worldview."

"Tolerance towards LGBT people isn't just good because it improves the climate, the atmosphere on campus," he said. "It's good because it encourages us to be more humane to each other no matter what our gender or sexual orientation is."

Reikofski called the choices indicative of the Greek system's commitment to fostering a "rich dialogue on issues that our students deal with."

Though no such "menu system" exists for new sorority members, Reikofski said OFSA hopes to establish one in the future.

Current IFC president and Wharton junior Shawn Woodhull said the IFC intends to keep the new-member education choices for the fall.

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