Wednesday night, a counterproposal to a potential live-in graduate advisor policy in fraternities was presented to the Interfraternity Council.
Under the live-in GA proposal, rumored to have been considered by administrators, graduate students would be hired to live in fraternity houses.
“The University has no plans to institute live-in GA positions in Greek residences,” Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs Ajay Nair wrote in an e-mail.
Though University officials say there will be no standard GA policy for all fraternities, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs remains concerned about chapter house management, risk management and academic support, according to College senior Jeff Fronek, former Psi Upsilon president.
The counterproposal outlines problems that live-in GAs would create and aims to address OFSA’s concerns.
“We defeated the GA policy as a blanket policy,” IFC President and Wharton junior Christian Lunoe said.
“We continue to work collaboratively with fraternity and sorority leaders to discuss a variety of strategies to enhance support services to students,” Nair wrote.
Fronek, who worked on the counterproposal, stressed the importance of improving “self-governance,” or “students governing students,” within the IFC. He suggested that this could be achieved through “strengthening the [IFC] Judicial Inquiry Board” and “leveraging the University’s resources” to improve chapter safety.
“I’m glad that the University has cooled off a bit,” College junior and Alpha Epsilon Pi President David Dobkin said. “There are problems within the Greek system that need to be addressed ... instead of being hostile, the best approach is to work together to figure out what the best solution is.”
Lunoe said March 23 that Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) and Zeta Beta Tau are among the fraternities that will have live-in GAs next year. Both Fiji and ZBT are required by their national organizations to have GAs as a condition of their return to campus. Beta Theta Pi was also identified as a candidate for the policy due to allegations of sexual assault in November.
The GA proposal and counterproposal has lead to a wider discussion about the future of the Greek community at Penn.
According to Lunoe, the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life is keen to see a “cultural change” within fraternities and an improvement in the way fraternities are perceived by faculty and students on campus. In response, he will strive to create “a more academically friendly, community service-oriented environment.”
Short-term changes will include a re-evaluation of the alcohol policy and the ratio of wet to dry parties, he said. The IFC is also aiming to streamline recruitment and create a newsletter to provide regular updates to the Greek community.
Lunoe said OFSA and VPUL “want students to be driving the change,” adding that they wish to create an “incentive system” for fraternities by strengthening both rewards and consequences.
