Students heading to fraternity parties this semester might have to get their names and ages cleared by Syracuse University staff, according to the administration’s new guidelines for fraternity and sorority events.

The guidelines, distributed to fraternity and sorority chapters this week, consisted of a number of major changes to social events. The new rules could control underage drinking, allow SU to monitor who attends parties and make Greek organizations more vulnerable to disciplinary action.

The new rules apply to all Greek organizations — Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, National Association of Latino Fraternity Organizations, National PanHellenic Council and Multicultural Greek Council.

Eddie Banks-Crosson, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, said the new guidelines are not finalized and met with students and chapter advisors Wednesday night.

Banks-Crosson said he wished to discuss the changes further with chapters and committees before he spoke about the plans.

The new guidelines say chapters must submit a list of guests to the university on the Thursday or Friday before a party. The list cannot include more than 150 people, including chapter members, or whichever attendance number exceeds fire safety regulations.

‘Your guest lists must be typed and numbered with underage guests (under 21) clearly identified,’ according to the guidelines obtained by The Daily Orange.

If the policy is adopted, parties could be cancelled if the names and ages of guests are found to be incorrect.

The university will have to check 2,700 names if all 18 fraternities hold parties one weekend with lists of 150 people.

If the name list is checked out, the fraternity would have to purchase wristbands for everyone at the event. The wristbands would be one color for students 21 or older and another color for students under 21, according to the guidelines.

Adam Bottorff, a junior marketing and management major in an SU fraternity, said the number of guests they’ll have to check will be overwhelming, and it will be hard to keep everyone safe.

But Bottorff also said regulating Greek parties is not all bad.

‘It’s nice to feel like we’re looked over, though,’ he said.

After parties are over, fraternities would be required to return the guest list with signatures — the ‘sign-in list’ — which will show who came to the party, according to the guidelines.

Limiting the number of guests, including chapter members, to 150 also has implications for parties this year. Most sororities have more than 150 members alone. This means some members would have to be cut from the guest list of closed fraternity-sorority mixers.

Will Utley, a senior communication and rhetorical studies major and brother of Alpha Chi Rho, was at a meeting Tuesday night about the new guidelines.

‘People were outraged at the meeting,’ Utley said.

Utley also said the extensive regulations could hurt small fraternities.

‘We don’t have the manpower to do a lot of this stuff,’ he said.

The new guidelines add that fraternities can’t serve alcoholic drinks, and people who plan to drink and are of age need to bring their own drinks. The guests would be limited to bringing six beers per person or four wine coolers per person.

The regulations SU places on parties are meant to protect students from the obvious dangers of drinking and crowded parties, according to the guidelines.

The purpose of the rules is to ‘manage unnecessary risks to any member of Greek organization or University community,’ according to the guidelines.

But members of Greek organizations worry that limiting the amount of alcohol allowed at a party will cause people to binge drink before they get to the fraternity houses.

‘That’s just going to make people pre-game on alcohol a whole lot more,’ Utley said.

The danger is especially great when students drink hard liquor before they go to a party, because they may underestimate how much it will affect them once they get to the party, he said.

Although fraternity members are skeptical as to how well the university can enforce such extensive measures, the guidelines spell out the consequences if Greek organizations break the rules.

Breaking several of the potential new policies, including falsifying information on the guest list, would result in immediate suspension of activity for a chapter, according to the guidelines.

‘I don’t think they’ll really check the lists,’ Utley said. ‘They seem to be overstepping their bounds.’

rastrum@syr.edu 

– Asst. News Editor Michael Boren contributed reporting to this article. 

Published on September 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm