Noticeable increase in fraternity sanctions causes Greek community to reassess.
Friday and Saturday nights on Greek Row have been noticeably quieter in recent weeks.
"The weekends definitely haven't been as eventful because most of the fraternities are on probation," said sophomore Lacey Gorochow, a fact Director of Greek Life Kristin Torrey confirmed.
Of the 17 Interfraternity Council fraternities on campus, five are currently on probation and three more are pending judicial action, Torrey said.
"During this academic year, all of our IFC groups will have been on probation at some period of time with the exception of Beta Chi Theta and Lambda Theta Phi," Torrey said.
While the severity of the offenses and lengths of probation have varied, Torrey said both the numbers of chapters sanctioned as well as the number of incidents reported has increased compared to past years, although the exact numbers were not available. The most common incidents that have occurred have been risk management issues - violations of the alcohol policy, hazing policy and the student code.
When an incident is reported to the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, one of two methods of investigation are usually pursued. The IFC mediation process is more informal, in which mediations are held between chapter officers and the IFC judicial team, which is made up of the IFC president, vice president and attorney general, Interim Director of the Office of Student Conduct Daniel Swinton, Associate Dean of Students Steve Caldwell and Torrey.
The IFC Formal Conduct Board meets less often, however. The board is made up of four members of the IFC executive board and three faculty members. Chapters are brought in front of the board depending on either the severity of the incident or the history of the chapter. Torrey said the Formal Conduct Board has met more often this year than ever in her memory.
"This semester, IFC Formal Conduct Board has met four times already and will probably meet at least once or possibly two more times given what we currently have," Torrey said. "In an average year, we might have one or two Formal Conduct Boards."
In a recent interview with Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos, the administrator expressed his concern about the welfare of both the Greek community and its members.
"I love the way (Greek life) fits into our traditions and culture. ... I have heard about some fraternities going on probation ... I just hate when a fraternity has to be on probation or lose a pledge class or be shut down," Zeppos said. "It destroys our community, and it leads to what I think is a problem at some other schools - the administration doesn't support fraternities and sororities and they go off campus or are not a part of our community."
Some students question the reasons behind the increase in houses on probation.
"I think the reasons they're being put on probation are unrealistic given today's college environment," said senior Brigit Bowers. "For the most part, I think it's just one of Vanderbilt's strategies in furthering their image as a prestigious university."
According to Torrey, however, the increase is merely a result of the current circumstances.
"It just simply has been a year of more poor behavior that has been identified and adjudicated. I don't know if it is necessarily that the behavior is worse," she said.
Junior Charlie Kirby, acting IFC president, said he does not know why there have been more issues this year but the processes in place have served their educational purpose.
"Right now, the Vanderbilt Greek system is moving in a better direction. When fraternities get a sanction, they realize they have to make a change in their community for the better," Kirby said. "Sanctions are meant to (encourage chapters) to learn from their mistakes."
He also added that a new task force, the Delta Force, has been created to address some of the problems IFC has faced in the past year. The group of 10 men from different fraternities has been working on a proposal to revise the system to encourage more men to go Greek and to place a greater emphasis on brotherhood and philanthropy and less on alcohol and parties. The proposal will be introduced to the IFC president Sunday.
Torrey also said efforts need to be made to address issues like these.
"We are going to work with leaders of the fraternity and sorority community to identify ways to change the culture at Vanderbilt because that's part of the problem," she said. "At the core of our cultural issues is a lack of commitment to fraternal values and behavior that is inconsistent with the purpose of Greek organizations."
Kirby said while attention is currently being drawn to the Greek community for negative reasons, it is important to not ignore the positive aspects of the community such as their philanthropic efforts.
"Even though there were a lot of fraternities have made some serious mistakes this year, it shouldn't overshadow the good done by the fraternity community," he said.
