U of A Task Force

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Arizona Daily Wildcat
University of Arizona
September 4, 2003

Task Force
to Address Hazing


By Cara O'Connor
Arizona Daily Wildcat


A new group of faculty, students, staff and volunteers is looking to
give
the greek system at the UA a facelift.

Following a troublesome year for
UA fraternities at least six fraternities lost university recognition
or
were put on probation since last May a greek life task force has been
formed and will spend this school year looking into issues that include
hazing, academics and alcohol.

"It is probably going to bring about some
pretty radical changes," said Clint Walls, a pre-physiological sciences
sophomore and vice president of public relations for the
Interfraternity

Council (IFC).

The task force will focus its research on scholarship,
risk management, hazing, membership development and rush and
recruitment,
said Chris Bullins, coordinator for greek life. "(This is) an effort to
be
more proactive to solving our problems than reactive," he said. "I
would

like to see a change in the culture of what being greek is about."

The
task force will be co-chaired by Senior Associate Dean of Students
Carol

Thompson. "The goal is to really get a better feel for some of the
issues
and challenges and needs of the community," she said.

Bullins said that
he would like to see a better balance between social life, scholarship,
leadership and service in greek organizations.

The greek life task force
is not a new idea. It has been done at a number of universities across
the
country, said mechanical engineering sophomore and IFC President Ted
Burhans. "We want to achieve the same thing that greek communities
across
the country are doing," he said.

The task force will bring together
representatives from the dean of students office, the greek governing
councils and selected chapters, Campus Health Services, the business
college, the alumni association and ASUA, along with chapter advisors
and a
sorority house director. Bullins said that by collaborating with a
diverse
group of people he hopes to fairly assess the greek community and
rebuild
from the ground up.

"Setting the rules from the top about change has not
been the most effective way to approach this," he said.

The task force
will also look into greek life policies on other campuses and try to
identify the best practices, Bullins said. These practices will be
considered when the task force makes its recommendations for the greek
community at the end of the school year, he said.

The task force will
look into past disciplinary cases at the UA and other university
policies
when they put together recommendations for the greek community.

"(We are)
creating a standard for chapters to follow so they can be in good
standing
with the IFC and with the dean of students," Burhans said.

When making
its recommendations, the task force will also look into documents from
the
Council for the Advancement of Standards, which has set forth national
guidelines for student organizations, Bullins said.

The task force will
have its first meeting at the end of the month.