Consistent Greek policy needed

The WSA passed a resolution on fraternities this Sunday, asserting, “Greek organizations must have the right to continue to exist with the support of the university.” While this gesture was largely symbolic, it represents an important first step in a fight for a comprehensive policy toward frats.

Representatives from Beta, DKE, and Psi U presented their grievances in tandem while members of Zeta Phi Beta, La Unidad Latina, and the ethnic Greek council showed their solidarity by attending the meeting. We applaud these organizations for working cooperatively and encourage the University to similarly adopt a consistent policy for Greek organizations.

The cornerstone issue surrounding frats concerns the housing status of these organizations. We believe that ResLife should guarantee interested members of these frats off-campus status. Forcing people who want to live in frats to enter the housing lottery is unfair to the community in general because it inevitably means that someone intending to live in a frat will register for a room he doesn’t intend to use. It can also unfairly hurt frat brothers who may unfairly have to pay for a both a room in their frat house in addition to normal University housing fees. Certainly, if ResLife insists that members of frats enter the lottery, they should automatically be placed at the bottom of the list since they clearly have a more preferable option anyway. Frat brothers forced into the lottery should be allowed to pay a reduced rate to the University alleviating the financial deterrent to belonging to a frat.

More importantly, the University’s stubbornness and fickleness in dealing with Greek organizations asks this question: Who are the frats hurting? While there are surely people whose lives wouldn’t change a bit if the University were to eliminate frats, there are others for whom frats form a significant part of their collegiate experience. We do not believe that the frats detract from the welfare of the community. On the contrary, frats enrich campus life and endorsement of frats would signify not just a commitment to Greek life, but to diversity in student experiences.