U of Michigan Petition
 

A recent submission to the University Regents puts forth a plan that, if enacted, would infringe upon the basic freedom of association of students in the Greek community, as well as those seeking membership in it.

Some of these topics include:
Mandatory live-in advisors, substance free living and deferred rush.

Please sign the petition in support of our greek community

http://focalhost.com/petition/

I "signed" it. Please keep us posted with the poll numbers, as well as the outcome of the university proposal.

I sign it. Please keep us posted on this matter.

I signed it. :) I had to think about what my uniqname was, lol.

if its coming from the board of regents, good chance it could be for A2, Dearborn and Flint.

I signed it. Best of luck! I hope they work with the Greek System in this matter.

Signed.

What prompted the Administration to propose these changes? They seem a little draconian to me.

Its only for Ann Arbor. I read about this a while back off of Fraternal News.

Maybe I am reading this wrong but here goes...
I'm paraphrasing the dissents..

* PNMs must live on campus 1 qtr/semester prior to pledging....My state requires freshmen to live in a specific dorm the entire freshman year. So does mean that freshmen can't pledge fall quarter/semester?

* Substance free housing -- Isn't that what is in each GLO's rules..no illegal substance use...esp. in housing.

Not every GLO has alcohol free housing. For example, I know that Sigma Nu voted it down at our Grand Chapter 4 years ago and it hasn't come up again since.

Personally, I don't think it's a university's place to tell its students what they can and cannot do in their free time (unless that school is a private school).

Unfortunately, UM-Flint doesn't have a whole lot of Greek housing. Theta Chi is the only organization with a house.

Yes. And if you wanted to get picky, it would also prevent transfers from pledging until they lived in a dorm for a semester, and I can't imagine THAT would fly. Twinkle, do a lot of people transfer in to UM after they are freshmen somewhere else? I know people would often go to a state school before they went to Penn State as it was easier to transfer in than come in as a freshman.

What prompted this were several incidents in the past few years which resulted in death or serious injury that were hazing or alcohol related.

This is something that had been in the works since 1998 when first proposed by the faculty. In 2001, the VP Student Affairs charged IFC and PC to develop a plan for taking charge of their organizations and stopping the incidents from occurring. At that time, IFC and PC hired a consultant who developed a document entitled Strategic Plan 2010. This document suggested developing a task force to investigate whether deferred recruitment would help with the problems the Greeks were having.

The faculty took that and ran with it. They developed a plan which included the things that TwinkieAngel outlined, as a method of eliminating hazing and alcohol related injuries. The VP Student Affairs is an alum of a GLO herself and is trying to mediate between the two groups. The faculty initially wanted to defer recruitment a whole year and she talked them into one semester. The proposal affects PC, IFC, Multicultural Greek Council and NPHC.

Over the past two months, numerous alumnae have met with the VP Student Affairs and the Dean of Students, including a phone contact with the President of AXO. She is in charge of the alumnae organized protest to this proposal because AXO holds the Panhellenic President currently. Local alumnae have written letters and met with these officials and the general consensus is that this is already a done deal. I do think it's important that they hear from the students, but I wouldn't be too optimistic about the petition changing their minds. The VP Student Affairs has explained the extreme financial implications to these chapters to the faculty team that developed the plan and they did not seem to care.

The way the drafted proposal was written, I do not think it can effect the satellites of U of Mich because it says that they must live on campus for one semester, not complete one semester of academic work. The satellites are primarily commuter schools anyway. The alcohol free housing and required resident supervisors might apply to the satellites if GLOs have houses, but the document seemed geared toward Ann Arbor. I have a copy of the draft but it is set in landscape and it shows up sideways in Word so I can't cut and paste (and yes, I tried switching the view).

Dee

This is a standard administrative trick: "Gosh, the faculty wanted to defer a whole year but I talked them into only one semester." Truth is the faculty don't have any more power to determine when & with whom you can associate with than you can abridge their 'academic freedom'. If the alumni have talked to the VP and explained the extreme economic hardship, and still get no relief - then the wrong alumni have been doing the talking. I promise you: set up a meeting with the VP, a local judge and several attorneys representing the chapters. Explain how enforcement of such rules would bring Federal civil rights issues into play, and how the University might be liable for economic damages. Ask if the faculty is willing to accept liability for the losses. You'll be amazed at the sudden rush to cooperate and compromise.