By Brett Billings
When the members of the Alumni Interfraternity and Sorority Board met this past Wednesday evening, they came prepared to discuss the future of Greek life at Lafayette.
Since the Working Group on Greek Life and Campus Community was formed, Co-chair of the AISB Bill Messick ‘68 has tried to encourage more involvement among alumni, including those chapters that no longer have active members.
The alumni want to see a more unified Greek system, one that maintains a strong working relationship with its alumni. During the meeting, they discussed best practices and how a stronger Greek system could be formed through collaboration.
“The trouble is how daunting it is, the entire report essentially” Delta Upsilon President James Maloney ’12 said. A lot of sophomore pledges, according to Maloney, will say, “I’m just getting oriented into this system, and suddenly they’re going to be all these changes.”
“I recognized, two years ago, when they first announced this Working Group,” Messick said, “we were going to be in big trouble … The issues we have are serious.”
The report was released in May, and on October 22, the Board of Trustees voted to support 23 of the 31 recommendations contained in the report. Also decided by the trustees during their October meeting was the historic decision to give Greek life at Lafayette three years in which to meet standards or else face the option of elimination.
The AISB was completely thrown by the decision of the trustees to pose the option of elimination should Greek life not meet standards.
“Lafayette has counted on indifferent Greek alumni as they have overseen two decades of policies resulting in the weakened Greek community we all now participate in,” Messick wrote in an email to members of the AISB.
In mid-September 1993, then-President Arthur Rothkopf said at a “Greek Summit”: “The college does not have an obligation to maintain life-support systems for fraternities and sororities if they are doomed to fail.”
In mid-October 1990, The Lafayette reported on the first informal meeting between then-President Robert Rotberg and Greek life leaders. “The Greeks were upset when Rotberg urged them to study the gender issue and sophomore rushing [not in place in 1990]. According to Spencer Houldin 91, president of IFC, the Greek members were upset because he continues to promote changes in the system.”
“‘Although Dr. Rotberg is aware of the importance of our system to any changes his administration may want to make,'” Houldin said in 1990, “‘I do not feel he realizes what the Greeks bring to the campus.'”
An implementation committee for the trustee-approved 23 recommendations will be formed and chaired by Vice President for Campus Life and Senior Diversity Officer Celestino Limas. The transparency of this group is essential to the AISB.
At the meeting Wednesday, alumni and current Greek leaders spoke with Limas. A prominent agenda item for the meeting was the details regarding this implementation committee.
Limas was uncertain what the timeline would be for the formation of the implementation working group, but hoped it would be in place before the end of the semester. He foresees the group meeting approximately every three weeks. As for a time-commitment, as long as three years is a viable option, Limas said.