Ethical Question
 

Ive got an ethical question for you GCers. This year a large national fraternity is trying to recolonize on campus. The greek community was thrilled when we found out because our administration is trying to get rid of us by making things very hard.
IFC supported the move and my fraternity made the motion to allow and interest group. Problem is this. Now they have a core group of guys and will be on campus again next year. These guys are ones who rushed but did not receive bids in the fall 07 rush. Some will be ineligible under college rules, others have sorted pasts. Our campus has come very far in eliminating hazing and we fear that the new president of this chapter will haze the living out _______ of pledges. The make-up of this group has already done things to piss of IFC and Administration, and we as a community fear that should they recharter, they will bring a bad rap down on themselves, the community and their national.

So the question, would it be ethical to try and make them fail in their rechartering quest?

> ineligible under college rules
Usually this means a low GPA? I don't know of any other "rule", other than "you must be a student taking at least xx hours."

> others have sorted pasts
I assume you mean "sordid"? As in vandalism? alcohol violations?

If you have facts to bring up, there's nothing unethical as long as you present the whole truth. Say, they got drunk, and destroyed a park bench. They replaced the bench and did a day of community service, like raking leaves. That would be the whole truth.

Rechartering involves many steps, both for your campus as well as their national. You can't make them fail, but they can make themselves fail. Their (hopeful) national usually has a risk management team, I don't think much will get past them?

Ideally, you probably don't want them to fail, but get their act together, and be a good house? Realistically, that might not be practical for the whole group? Perhaps a couple? But a solid coaching effort, of both students and faculty, would not only be ethical, but also a feather in your house's cap.

Do you get to re-vote on them before they actually charter? If you do, vote no.

If that isn't possible, let the national fraternity know that their name is already mud with IFC and the admin before even being chartered...hopefully they'll step in and get the guys on the straight and narrow.*

*pming you

As long as you can back up your feelings, thoughts and beliefs I would agree-inform TPTB on and off your campus.

Low GPA's for a few, some have judicial records with the college, like to many busts for underage drinking or drugs, and police records.

If they could get their act together it would be the best thing, but i dont see that happening.

It doesn't sound like they'll be competing with y'all for candidates.

I wouldn't worry about it except that if you're an IFC delegate and these guys ask for your written recommendation, vote your conscience there. You never know.. this president could fizzle and a decent leader could come in behind him and turn things around.

If Gettysburg is a private school, I would be communicating my concerns to the Greek life adviser or the campus life director, but I would want to have the backing of IFC before doing something like that. If you're at a private school, there's too much at stake to put your future into the hands of individuals who are apparently a bunch of miscreants.

If the pledges and president are as bad as you say, the fraternity wont last.
Sustaining a fraternity is all about stability and recruitment and if there is a lot of hazing and a bad core group of guys, then it wont be stable, and no one will want to join. So just let it flow and see what happens.

No it would not be ethical.

Agreed.
Allow the chapter to make its own mistakes after it recharters. Then either its national or IFC can take the steps to discipline it.

Is it "better" to be re-active or pro-active?

I can't believe it, but I totally agree with Jon on this one.

As the OP stated, the administration is not exactly Greek-friendly and the current Greek community is trying to repair that relationship. The fear is that these new guys will come in acting like ding-dongs and destroy any goodwill that has been up or make things even harder for the current Greeks. The admin won't care that it's a new group because it paints all Greeks w/ the same brush.

you do realize that all this is assumptions right? and you know what happens when you ASSume...

it seems to me that if there is evidence of hazing, underage drinking, drugs, vandalism or whatnot, that ifc could have representatives of the colony appear before the assembled body and answer the charges. isn't that how ifc would handle the same situation with an established chapter?

it would demonstrate to the school administration that the established greeks are committed to positive fraternity/sorority experiences and are capable of policing their own.

The OPs original question is would it be ethical and try and make them fail. This (to me) implies underhandedness and that would make it unethical. That is to what I am responding.

True, the OP did say or use term "make them fail".
Judging from the rest of thread, would seem of report situation to TPTB in
their chartering.

I guess the real question is should we a community cut this off, or let them screw up?

Our college is finally coming to the realization that Greeks are good. They understand that the service they provide, ie parties, are a necessary evil. If they kicked us all off, then the drinking would occur across campus in small parties with hard liquor instead of beer, and it would be harder to control. What the college wants is to own the houses outright, and control us that way. They already have 4 of the 11, but their desire to exterminate us seems to be diminishing. Id like to think that is due to our chapter and the connections we have formed within the community and between us and Admin. We worry because this new chapter has already pissed people off on both sides, and we dont want to see our hard work go to shit.

I'd say nip it in the bud. It would be unethical if you were just trying to mess things up for them to be cruel. But they're putting your own chapter and others at risk. I wouldn't let them tarnish the better image you're presenting to the admin. Besides, if they haze they don't deserve to be around. I have zero sympathy for them.

I wouldn't do something sneaky or deceptive to make them fail at their recolonization effort, but I would, as a community, watch them very carefully and be sure to report violations. You haven't said that they've actually done anything wrong yet, from what I could tell, you are just unsure about the men they've chosen. Perhaps they will have strong guidance from their national group and rules will be enforced and you will have nothing to worry about. Aren't most colonies pretty well supervised or is that just a sorority thing?

What she said.

If you've got reservations about this group, tell someone about it now. Tell the other guys on IFC that you're worried. Maybe the staff guy over IFC, the alums of the group that's recolonizing, or whoever else is helping this colony come back on, too.

Maybe you'll get a huge sigh of relief. Maybe you won't. Maybe you'll find that other folks have the same worries about it than you. Thing is, don't wait until it's too late and it turns into a mess.

I wouldn't normally advocate messing in other glo's business - but in this case I think sharing your concerns with the headquarters of the colony would be a good thing to do. There's no way they want to start out a colony that may turn out to be a HUGE liability. Don't attack - just state that you have some concerns that you wanted to shared because you want the new chapter to be an asset to the greek community. If you don't know things as fact, just tell them that you have heard some disquieting rumors which you hope are not true, but you wanted hq to have a chance to address them.

eta - My advice holds only for actions that have occurred since they have formed a colony. I don't think you can say "Joe Blow had low grades two years ago!" and have any authority.

I disagree, leave them alone and mind your own business.

If they are the way they are, they will prove themselves soon enough.

Guess what, they will not last long and you have your dignaty.

Tom;
As we have "seen" here all too often, and what maybe to case at this campus, one bad eggs can damage if not wreak the whole container.

I do agree with several of the other posters that if one were to do this, make sure that the report is based on real, factual, current data rather than IMHO, POV, rumors et al.

As you said, if and only if factual info is involved, but how long do we/they think is will come out to soon.

There should be no one turning against another when they will shoot themselves in the foot.

Could it make all GLOs look bad, of course it could, but it could also show that GLOs will not stand by and see this happen, but not by snitching which would would look bad for them. This too would show a bad light also.

Snitching?
No; perhaps in this case it is showing that GLO's can do the right thing.
Be adult, see the larger picture and step up to the plate.

DROLE!!!!!! Need a translation, please. :)



eta - "snitching"? What's next - cooties??

If this chapter is openly doing things that are against the rules of the IFC and University, then take credible evidence to your administration to prevent the activities. I think members of the greek community do have a responsibility to assure that other members of IFC/PHC are safe from hazing. If you have no evidence that the group is acting illegally (since Hazing is illegal), you cannot expect your administration to act simply on rumor. Just because this group of guys may have shady pasts doesn't mean that they will assuredly be up to no good. Hard evidence is what you need, otherwise someone could make up rumors about Sigma Nu and get you kicked off campus too!

What is the problem??????:confused:

We already told their national about them. We informed then that a portion of the brotherhood would not be eligible under college rules. But the natioanl has sided with them and made it very clear that they will do so in the future.

Their big infraction so far is supplying freshman with rush literature, and advertising in freshman dorms, which is against college policy. You must be a sophomore in good standing to pledge a fraternity and they are not allowed to advertise to freshman

Well, that's easy - if they are in violation of IFC or college rules, THAT should be reported to the proper authorities. But I have to say - that particular infraction doesn't make all Greeks look bad.

If this is the biggest infraction then it is not as bad as you intimated.

If the schools has regulations, then why have they not said something to them about it? Why hasn't the IFC done something and warned them?

This would seem to be very obvious to anyone with out looking to hard at this infraction.

I AGREE WITH TOM (alert the media).

You made it sound like they were throwing drunken orgies and sacrificing small animals. Giving literature to freshmen? Ummm . . .report to IFC.

Check with IFC...new colonies are often given extra help to make the colony a success. For all you know, they may have been given permission to advertise to the freshmen. If not, the worst they'll get is a rush infraction for that "horrible" offense! Give them a chance to get off the ground!!

Well you did what you could and what you believed to be the right thing.

Now, just step back and let the chips fall.

And work with your chapter and the rest of the GLO's on campus to make
the Greeks, in total, look good.

And if the chapter in question has a problem or two, then let you school and National work it out or fix it.

i really didnt want to go into the personal infractions of the individual brothers, but there is a member with a record with the town for assault, and the other has a judicial record with the college for assaulting a Campus police officer. Both of these things prevent them from joining any fraternity. Both of these guys hold the top two positions in the colony. since they are not a full fraternity now, its not a problem, but i find it hard the believe that the two guys instrumental in founding the colony are going to walk away when they get rechartered.

Just be glad that they aren't in your fraternity and leave it at that! If they didn't learn their lessons with their arrests and IFC isn't enforcing the rule, there is nothing you can do to stop the inevitable down fall of the colony. Unfortunately, this may have an adverse effect on the greek community, but then again, you have plenty to spin if your story is true.

Not a good start for a plank-holder.
However, at this point, it is now up to IFC (If they have any say in this at all), the school and National.

Having been involved in one way or another in two charterings, if what you say is even close to be true I would find it interesting if National is not giving this a close review.

How do the sororities feel about them?

If Panhellenic passes a rule saying that no sororities can mix w/ them because they're violating college policies, that might do the trick.

Of course, if the sororities all like them, this won't work because they'll just party w/ them "unofficially" (i.e. go to their house, just not have mixers).

it would be highly unethical for you to try to make them fail

it would be likewise unethical for IFC or the University to intercede

Here's something to ponder that others haven't brought up. It appears that the national is going to back them up no matter what (obviously, major mess ups aside). So, there could be two possible outcomes. They charter with nationals and IFC accepts them or they charter with nationals and IFC rejects them and they become an off campus chapter. Which would you rather have? (Yes, I know neither might be a better option). At least if they are part of IFC, then there can be some control or attempt to control them. If they are off campus then there is no IFC/university control and they are pretty much free to do as they please. Yes, they will have national but the national won't be there to monitor what they do. Additionaly, being rejected by IFC might cause even more tension between them and the rest of the Greek system and that could lead to increased ugliness. The best bet might be for the IFC/school to continue and try to work with them and try get them in the right direction. I would think not giving them an IFC charter should be a last resort.