IFC, not administration, pulls recognition

[DeltAlum]

Will we see more of this, or is it a special case?

Thoughts?

Frat presidents decide to pull Pike from IFC


By Meris M. Lutz
Staff Writer
November 05, 2004


The Interfraternity Council voted late Tuesday night to stop
recognizing Pi Kappa Alpha as an official campus fraternity after
concerns were raised about its history of offenses involving fighting
and underage drinking.

The president of each official fraternity voted secretly, creating a
new precedent of student involvement in the decision of a fraternity’s
status.

No official vote total was announced, and no presidents would say how
they voted.

After the meeting, IFC allowed Pike 48 hours to submit an appeal to the
Conduct Council’s judicial appeals board. It was unknown as of press
time Wednesday whether Pike had appealed.

“We are taking it one step at a time,” Pike President Lee Brodsky said.
“We are going to go through with our plan of action as if we were
successful during the hearing.”

Brodsky said the plan includes “fostering better interfraternal
relations” and “addressing campuswide issues” such as underage drinking
and fighting.

Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Lauren Kent-Delany predicted
Pike would appeal and said that a hearing would probably occur next
week.

She said the administration is anxious to resolve the issue as soon as
possible.

IFC President Jon Rio said IFC could not determine whether Pike should
keep its fraternity house, a decision left to Executive Vice President
and Dean of Student Life John Ford.

Ford could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Kent-Delany said administrators for the first time allowed the IFC to
vote on whether to revoke a fraternity’s charter.

“It’s always more powerful to have students monitoring students,” she
said.

Rio said IFC has long had the authority to expel a fraternity but has
never had to chance to use it before.

“This is the first-time the IFC has voted to revoke its recognition of
a chapter, although it’s had the power to do so for quite some time,”
Rio said.

He said Pike has been on behavioral probation since October and has had
several “incidents” during that time period.

Rio said the IFC executive board decided to have the presidents of the
fraternities vote instead of the regular IFC delegates because they are
the “most engaged and best informed” members of the Greek community.

“I made it very clear that they were not representatives of their
chapters. They are delegates of the Greek community,” Rio said.
“They’re not there to vote how their chapter wanted them to vote.”

A fraternity president who asked to remain anonymous said the meeting
was well-run and very organized.

He also said that Pike’s misconduct had been allowed to persist for too
long.

“Obviously it went too far,” he said. “It should never come to this. I
don’t know if it’s the school, Pi Kappa Alpha, the national chapter,
but as a fraternity president, it’s personally distressing.”

If Pike successfully appeals, Rio said, the IFC “will work with Pike to
figure something out.”


BTW, "Fighting" is one of the top five or six reason for fraternity insurance claims nationally, and is alcohol related a majority of the time.