TO THE EDITOR:
The Board of Trustees’ recent resolution to align the minimum GPA for all Greek organizations with the UNC average should make all student groups question how much autonomy they really have.
The Board of Trustees has asked all four Greek Councils to comply with a mandate that is not placed on any other student group on campus, apart from UNC’s athletic teams, without being given any additional academic assistance.
To improve academic performance among Greeks, it would be prudent for the Board to first allocate adequate resources and establish a plan for reaching this goal.
The goal of the Board of Trustees should be to help cultivate and encourage student organizations in their development and expansion.
This resolution and comments by some of the Board’s members indicate that the Board believes there is not a place for Greek life at UNC. One in five University students and numerous community organizations served by Greeks would disagree.
We strongly encourage the Greek Alliance Council, the Interfraternity Council, the National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Panhellenic Council at UNC to reject the Board of Trustees’ vague, blanket resolution.
As self-governing organizations, each council should be left to establish their own academic improvement plans, including requests for additional resources from the University, when necessary.
We hope the Board will revoke their stance and instead choose to work directly with Greek leaders to accomplish our mutual goals in a realistic and impactful manner.
