Mizzou Greek Life Proposals
 

"Proposals to ban women in fraternity houses, require drug tests prompt backlash"

Some of the proposals according to the article:

•A ban on any alcohol except beer at fraternities
•A ban on fraternities hosting out-of-town formals
•A drug-test requirement for in-house members of all Greek organizations
•A ban on women in fraternity houses between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, in addition to the entirety of syllabus week and "Reading Day" every semester

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/ne...655680baa.html

There is so much sexism and violation of individual and organizational freedoms in this I simply don't know where to begin.

I sincerely hope that Mizzou is going to drug-test all of their students on campus if they are going to make members of the Greek community take them for living in the house. Don't even get me started on how ineffective particular drug tests can be--especially if you don't have a background in addictions and know what does and does not show up on tests or for how long certain drugs stay in your system. That's the same argument I've had about drug testing for welfare but, it's another discussion for another day. It does appear that Mizzou is trying to dispose of Greek life.

This has all been hugely blown out of proportion. Which isn't to say that I support the proposals. Generally I don't. But the likelihood of them being implemented as is, is slim to none.

The drug testing proposal is already off the table. That was tossed around weeks ago and is no longer being considered. The document that I guess leaked was an older version.

The Chancellor is having a summit on the 20th of this month to discuss the proposals. Not to dictate their implementation. I'm not even sure that the Chancellor supports the proposals. They did not come from him, or from the Office of Greek Life. They came from some fraternity alumni, who don't necessarily have the backing of their collegian members or of their organizations as a whole.

I think it's good the community is having a discussion. I hate that the proposals are being presented online as if they come with the backing of the university or as if the university is ready to implement them.

Thanks for this insight. I'll wait for one of the lawyers to chime in, but it seems pretty clear they couldn't unilaterally implement some of these at a state U anyway.

Pbear is a lawyer, as well as a chapter advisor. :)

I didn't mean to take anything away from her comment, just meant to say that I wasn't going to speculate on the legality, because others here know much better than I do.

Question: when they say out of town formals, do they mean that people legitimately leave where they are, go to another city/town/resort, have formal there, and stay the night?

Campus Panhellenic (PHA) and IFC have issued a joint statement. It's a good read, I think.

http://greeklife.missouri.edu/2015/0...coming-summit/

I will note that to the best of my knowledge none of the sorority and fraternity properties are owned by the university or on "university property." But I'm not 100% sure on that. I know the streets and sidewalks in Greek town are maintained and owned by the city, not the university. But MU police department has jurisdiction.

I haven't thought through the legal implications, as this isn't my area of practice and I hesitate to commit without research. But I also don't think the proposals are likely to be mandated as is, so that's another reason I haven't thought about the legality. :)

Yes. Columbia is in the middle of Missouri, about halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City. Fraternity formals are in places like Memphis, Chicago, Lake of the Ozarks. They are weekend-long events. A fraternity member will invite a date, drive her in his car several hours away to the venue, rent a hotel room to share with her overnight, and then bring her back.

There's a section of Tom Wolfe's book I am Charlotte Simmons, in which Charlotte describes her fictional experiences at an out-of-town fraternity formal. It's not pretty.

I never understood what people meant by out-of-town formals but this makes much more sense now. I'm also know coming to understand why some (younger) people see formal as a big commitment- it's more than just an evening. Wow, very glad I was never Risk Management for those, must be a logistical nightmare!

Out of town formals aren't that rare for remote campuses, I recall UA formals in Tulsa, KC, Memphis and Dallas. Baylor formals were often held in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. Of course that was 20yrs ago...

Not to pile on about out-of-town formals, but they're very common at schools here in South Carolina. Fraternities all across the state travel to Carolina Cup in Aiken (a yearly horse event akin to the Kentucky Derby), Myrtle Beach and Charleston for formals and beach weekends, and mountain weekends in Gatlinburg, Tennessee which is affectionately referred to as "Fratlinburg" for the number of weekends it hosts. Every chapter at Clemson will do at least one of these things per year depending on the interests of the chapter and the funds available. These are all date functions, with the fraternity member paying for their date's trip and the date usually painting a cooler and filling it with food and alcohol in return.

Sororities can't host them because the logistics of transport and lodging for a 225-person chapter would be impossible, plus most (if not all) risk-management policies would prohibit such events. These functions absolutely can get out of hand, but I would argue that the only difference between a fraternity party and a formal is that if and when property is destroyed, it doesn't belong to the fraternity. Obviously we've seen this play out in the news recently. I acknowledge that my experience is entirely anecdotal but the one mountain weekend I went to this semester was no rowdier than any of the fraternity parties I've been to during my time at Clemson.

I am thankful that these proposals were suggestions and have next to no chance of implementation because as 33girl said the sexism alone makes my eyes cross.

My thoughts are that the fraternities would be wise to adopt the risk management policies that sororities adopted years ago. This would include- visitation hours at the house, alcohol policies in the house, and prohibiting overnight formals. If it truly is fraternity alumni who are proposing these changes, why aren't they proposing them to their fraternities? I imagine the worry that some wouldn't agree would create a huge inequity between the chapters.