Five Towson Sororities on Probation (Alcohol)

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Some thoughts:

1) Rho Chis, even if they are disaffiliated, are entirely responsible for representing their chapters and always have been. Let's say Suzy RC from XYZ really loves Janie PNM and they are best buds during recruitment. On the last night, Janie is really struggling to decide if she should put ABC or XYZ first on her bid card. Suzy RC tells Janie she is an XYZ and she should put XYZ first so they could be sisters. Janie ends up bidless and heartbroken, and tells the GA what happened. Would you expect there to be consequences? I would expect XYZ to be held responsible for a rush infraction. Sure, Suzy would probably also be held responsible by her chapter, but to the community, the punishment of XYZ is all that matters. Rho Chis are expected to know the rules and follow them, even if they are disaffiliated.

2. Towson should have been concerned with PREVENTING this behavior, not punishing it. They could have put word out in advance that this would be a "no tolerance" year and that alcohol on bid day would be taken very seriously. Then, if people still chose to drink, they would have deserved what they got. As it was, you can't silently condone something for years and then suddenly change your tune.

3. It is nearly impossible for one chapter to decide on its own that there will be no booze on bid day. If your chapter is the one following the rules, and everyone else isn't, your NM's want to know why they aren't having the same fun as the other girls in the dorms. I would be really curious to know the difference between "sanctions" and "probation", but they should really treat all chapters the same.

[AOII Angel]

I will defend Ihatesquirrels on one thing only, the AGD advisor did report the drinking to the administration, but I won't agree that this was malicious or inappropriate. She was present that day and saw the dangerous situation. Acting, rather than continuing to watch this recur is responsible.

In my field of work, I have seen what can go wrong (medically/surgically.) They were lucky that more serious injuries weren't sustained during this fiasco.

I think people can argue that she should have spoken to the other chapter advisors first, but she did the right thing to stop this nonsense. In terms of liability, she would be responsible if something happened while she was present as an advisor. I think the rumor that this was all done maliciously may stem from prior actions, but no one has ever given me any details to support these allegations.

Unfortunately, one of the houses is in serious trouble with their nationals and may loose their charter. This, of course, is due to multiple infractions not just the Bid Day event.

[exlurker]

The Towerlight reports that last month Zeta Tau Alpha national conducted a membership review of its chapter at Towson:

http://media.www.thetowerlight.com/m...-3127295.shtml

The article has very few details, which is probably as it should be.

[33girl]

According to Miele, during a membership review, the national organization interviews members of the individual chapter to make sure their values are connected.

"[Greek] organizations are value-based organizations and they want to make sure the undergrads are getting the most out of this type of organizations," Miele said.

This kind of doublespeak annoys the piss out of me.

Why don't they just say "they want to find out who the ding-dongs are who drank on bid day and got caught and posted pictures all over the internet"?

I'm sure they wouldn't be worrying about if the girls were "getting the most" out of ZTA if the semester was just going along with no problems.

[AOII Angel]

ZTA, thank goodness, will stay on campus. I'm not sure what the entirety of the sanctions imposed on them by nationals consisted of, but they did remove the entire leadership from office. I have a feeling they will be scrutinized closely. I've heard that the majority of the chapter are good, upstanding members.