The four IFC fraternities that violated a performance-based recruitment policy have opted to take a semester-long social suspension as their punishment.
The official policy mandates that any Greek organization that fails to meet the University-wide GPA must forfeit recruitment of first-semester students.
The alternative sanction of social suspension is a fair substitute for the original option — if it can be enforced.
The social suspension offered by Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp is ideal in theory. It gives Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Lambda Phi, Pi Kappa Alpha and Zeta Psi the opportunity to forgo social events, allowing the groups to switch their focus toward academics and away from the social scene that may have landed them in this predicament.
However, the University must ensure that any organization that accepts social suspension complies with the set guidelines.
Administrators routinely outline policies for events such as dry rush but don’t necessarily follow through — often seeming to use a don’t see, don’t hear, don’t speak approach.
If administrators were to turn a blind eye, the University could establish a bad precedent and run the risk of hurting the administration’s credibility in the eyes of not only the Greek community, but also the rest of the student body.
On the other hand, while it could be easy for these fraternities to evade a hard-to-enforce sanction, the chapters should adhere to restrictions that they themselves chose.
With fraternity and sorority recruitment starting this week, now’s the time for the Greek community —not just those on suspension — to start the year off right.
