Leaders of the Interfraternity Council have made ‘cooperation and accountability’ their new mantra, in light of Syracuse University placing new regulations on greek social events.

Although IFC’s executive board, which met Tuesday evening, agreed there are important issues with the new social policy, the council said they are working with its 19 fraternities to ensure they fully understand and abide by the final regulations to regain the trust of the university’s administration.

The new greek social policy, which went into effect two weeks ago, restricts the type of drinks available at parties and the times when and places where fraternities and sororities can hold parties. The policy also mandates a 150-person guest list be submitted to the university with the names and ages of those invited.

IFC President Aaron Farovitch said he hopes the greek organizations can work together to prove to the university they can follow the rules and, in return, get some leniency back.

Other universities have chosen to shut down greek life entirely when they thought the organizations were focused on partying more than philanthropy and community service, Farovitch said. He said he doesn’t want greek life at SU to meet the same fate.

IFC’s executive board plans to respond to the new policy by pushing to educate fraternity leaders about the intricacies of the rules and by supporting the committee working on revising the policy.

‘We want to make sure they are educated,’ Farovitch said. ‘If they screw up, there’s the excuse that there’s a lack of communication. But we want everyone to be on the same page and be accountable.’

Gabe Lister, vice president of internal affairs, has arranged a meeting Friday to talk to fraternity presidents about the new policy and explain the details.

IFC is charged with the role of peer review when a fraternity breaks a rule. A panel talks with the offending house to determine how severe the infraction is before the issue moves to the SU Office of Judicial Affairs.

The IFC executive board is also hoping to create a more informal and open relationship with all IFC chapter presidents and make the process of judicial review more of mediation than punishment.

‘We ultimately want to be able to handle our own standards,’ Farovitch said. ‘We want to prove to the university that we’re more accountable.’

The motivation to work together on revising and talking about the new social policy has also brought the various greek organizations — off-campus and on-campus fraternities, sororities, and multicultural fraternities and sororities — a lot closer, the board agreed.

‘It may have rallied us together a little bit,’ said Justin Tasolides, vice president of recruitment. ‘Regardless of how serious (the policy) is, we have to start working together on things.’

Farovitch stressed although the new social policy is important to greek life members and to IFC, the council is more focused on projects that will bring the 19 fraternities together, such as overhauling the recruitment system.

Tasolides has been working since last semester to make fall 2010 recruitment smoother and more effective. Between 150 and 200 men who participated in spring 2010 recruitment didn’t get a bid. The board thinks upgrading the process of recruitment will keep that from happening again and will result in more satisfied recruits, Tasolides said.

‘There were too many people coming through at once, and there was no way of keeping track of everyone, so we threw that recruitment process out the window,’ he said.

Fall 2010 prospective recruits will tour houses and have more interaction with fraternity members. This year’s pilot recruitment process will be a lot closer to the way sororities conduct formal spring recruitment, Tasolides said.

IFC is also working on a number of other projects that will bring greek life together, the most notable being an upcoming philanthropy event. The board said they hope those projects and a combined effort to follow the new policy will strengthen SU greek life.

‘We’re going to do it as a community,’ Farovitch said, ‘under any circumstances.’

rastrum@syr.edu

Published on September 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm