University of Pittsburgh reviewing greek life!

[fire1977]

More news for all you pittsburgh people. The last article said that the students that were representing greek life would get to see a copy of the report and now, hmmmm, they only get to see excerpts of it. I second what the pres of panhel said.

NEWS
Pitt's Greek report nears completion
by GREG HELLER-LaBELLE
News Editor
January 24, 2003

The report that could determine the future of Pitt's Greek system will be done soon, if all goes according to plan.

According to Pitt director of Public Safety Deborah Furka and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Dean of Students Jack Daniel, Furka's report studying Greek systems at Pitt and across the country will be done in the next two weeks.

The report was scheduled to be completed in December, but Furka said that it required "a lot more research documentation" than originally anticipated.

"With the research that was obtained, there was a lot to go through," she said. "There was a lot to digest."

Daniel, who was sick with pneumonia for much of winter break, said that he met with Furka during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.

"It turned out to be far more complex than we thought," Daniel said.

The report will be only be seen by Daniel, but he said he will "discuss sections" with students before making a decision.

"I don't want to do anything to hurt the Greek systems," Daniel said. "I definitely won't receive a report and then take action."

Furka declined to comment on whether there had been direct student input into the report, but did say that feedback from the Greek forums held last semester were included.

"It's been very involved," she said. "It's been a priority ... for Student Affairs as well as the Greek organizations.

Panhellenic Association President Alissa Krutoff said she did not have any comment at the time, but did say she had not yet met with Furka to discuss the report.

"I just want to know what's going on," she said.

[33girl]

Originally posted by fire1977

The report will be only be seen by Daniel, but he said he will "discuss sections" with students before making a decision.

coughcoughbullshitcoughcough

from what I have heard of this dude, I don't find that to be too cool.

[PsychTau]

Question for the legal people on here. . .

How does the Freedom of Information Act apply here? It's not a disciplinary report, nor does it contain personal student information. So, if it's at a public university, can it be obtained under FIA?

I personally would like to see it (interested in research AND greek life).

[kddani]

I'm not all that familiar with the FIA.

But one thing about Pitt is that it's not technically a public school. It's "state related"- they get money from the state, but it's still private in that it's not run by the state at all.

But the Pitt administration has really really been screwing Student Affairs in the past yer.

[fire1977]

Originally posted by 33girl


coughcoughbullshitcoughcough

from what I have heard of this dude, I don't find that to be too cool.

Yeah I agree. Here's my thought. He says he'll share excerpts with the students to discuss before he makes a decision. What the h*** decision is he making?? I'm so irritable right now.

[33girl]

Just for giggles, and beause I'm nebby, I searched the Pitt News on this.

From Nov 4:

Many students were concerned as to whether or not they will have a say once the review is complete.

"We are hoping to get input from the students on what they feel are important qualities for a Greek adviser," Harrigan responded.

"Rather than just hire a replacement, we want to be sure we are hiring the right replacement," Harrigan said. "This is all being done to find the right person for the job."

Vice Provost and Interim Dean of Students Jack Daniel is allowing the student committee on Greek life to look over the review before it is published to the public, according to Pat Creighton, member of student government of Sigma Chi.

I still don't understand what background the head of Pubic Safety has to do this evaluation (it said in a couple places she had "worked with Greek communities" - ambiguous much?) or process what she finds - it's clear she didn't know what she was getting into or she would realize how long it takes to do these sorts of evaluations.

[fire1977]

Grrrr....
I have so much to say but I don't want to put it on a public forum.

[kddani]

Originally posted by fire1977
Grrrr....
I have so much to say but I don't want to put it on a public forum.

I say knock yourself out. I have a few choice words in mind to describe this situation, and most have 4 letters

[SigEp42]

Hey I tried to post earlier but I screwed up some how.

One word can sum up my opinion of the Pitt administration… Disappointed.
Between this and the debacle with the chancellor I have very little faith that the administration has the students needs in there hearts.
I can tell you that the Greek forum that they used to gain student input was completely bull poop. (Pardon the French) I attended the forum and it was 2 hours of the two women in charge of the report asking how they could help us and ignoring every suggestion. Neither Jack Daniels, nor our interim Greek councilor was there. At one point during the forum they asked what we did. The two people who were supposed to have experience with Greeks were surprised to find out how much we actually do. As for a Greek advisor from what I hear from brothers who work with Terrie Melani (the temp Greek Advisor) he has the job weather the students like it or not. The vagueness used in the article is about par in what we the students have been told. The consensus of those I have talked to is that no matter what the school says it wasn’t a tighter leash on Greek life and if it doesn’t get it they will find away to dispose of us. (Can you tell we don’t trust them?) Every time we voice a concern about what is going to be done we are met with a vague answer like “nothing will be done with out consulting the students. Then in the article it says we will only be able to see sections of the report. I have known the Panhell president who was quoted in the paper for 3 years, and one of my pledge brothers is the IFC president. If they aren’t telling either of them what’s going on I don’t trust them.

Sorry to rant but students at this school are always getting screwed by the administration I’m tired of it. I think I can speak for most Greek students when I say I do not trust Jack Daniels or either of the women putting the report together.

[33girl]

Hey, I have a question about Mr. Just Because You Are Named After Alcohol Doesn't Make You Cool...

isn't he the INTERIM Dean of Students? IN-TER-IM, as in place holder, as in you are not supposed to make sweeping changes as the office isn't yours to keep. We dealt with this isht at Clarion the year after I graduated...the interim prez (who was approximately 120 years old) came in and made changes in the alcohol policy and other things. No one was too happy about it.

Plus I saw that Jack Daniel is a Provost of some sort. I'm unfamiliar with the layers of administration at Pitt, but isn't that somewhat of a conflict of interests?

[SigEp42]

Mayby...

Maybe they are plannign on making the changes while everyone in charge is "interim" so when the real replacements get here we wont hate them.

If it smells like a duck, talkes like a duck and walks like a duck, most likely it aint a squirrle.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

lol@ Jack Daniels being the Interim Dean of Students! Jack Daniels

I hope that everything works out for my fellow greeks at Pitt.

[Little E]

Wow! Good Luck!
I'd think about contacting alumni that are lawyers and see if you can get by with the FIA thing. Most likely if they are recieving any state money, they fall under state guidelines in most cases. Wouldn't hurt to check, and besides, admin, at least here, hates lawyers, they have logic that doodles up their plans to do shady stuff.

Good Luck!
Lil E

[madmax]

What changes does Pitt want to make?

[33girl]

madmax -

no one from the admin will come out and say what they are looking at specificially, that's part of the problem.