In a controversial move, Cornell University administrators recently announced stricter attendance rules for Greek social events. According to The Cornell Daily Sun, after seeing a rise in alcohol-related incidents during pledge season last year, the administration announced plans to bar freshmen from fraternity parties starting in fall 2011.
But while there seems to be little room for compromise at Cornell, Interfraternity Council leaders at Penn are confident that if a proposal can be drawn up demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the University’s current alcohol policy, changes will be made that could potentially meet the goals of both students and administrators.
On Tuesday night, the IFC and the Panhellenic Council hosted a University-wide town hall meeting to discuss the IFC’s upcoming five-year strategic plan and assess the overall quality of Greek life at Penn. Intended to cover a range of issues affecting Penn’s Greek community, discussion at the meeting centered around the University’s policy on alcohol consumption at undergraduate events.
The meeting represents the next step in IFC leaders’ plans to work with administrators on revising the current policy.
According to the Vice Provost for University Life website, kegs and hard alcohol are prohibited at all on-campus events. Another stipulation requires security and licensed bartenders to be present during registered events.
Attendees voiced the concern that the current policy is driving students to binge drink in unregulated environments.
During the presentation, Wharton junior and IFC Judicial Inquiry Board Chairman Harris Heyer spoke about how the IFC is currently working to gather information from students in the Greek community regarding the policy. The IFC will distribute surveys at the end of the week to fraternity and sorority chapter presidents, with the goal of hearing back from 25 percent of the Greek community.
One of the concerns the survey will address is the issue of pregaming, or binge drinking before registered on-campus events. To demonstrate the importance of this statistic, Heyer, a former Daily Pennsylvanian advertising representative, asked all attendees to raise their hands if they have pregamed in the past. Nearly every hand in the room went up.
IFC President and Wharton senior Christian Lunoe also said the IFC is working to gather information about policies on alcohol and about the Greek communities on other campuses in order to inform the proposal. The plan will be presented to VPUL and eventually the Council of Undergraduate Deans.
Another concern raised during the presentation involved unregistered parties that occur off campus at unrecognized societies, which are seen by Greek leaders as a detriment to the community as a whole.
According to Heyer, there has been a rise in off-campus events hosted by societies that pose as Greek organizations. IFC leaders emphasized the negative reflection this has on Greek life and the University as another reason the alcohol policy should be revised.
The end goal, Heyer said, is revising the policy “to allow recognized Greek organizations to host appealing events for members in a responsible way.”
