http://www.jhunewsletter.com/vnews/d.../42274ef907ea9
Univ. to require Greek supervision
Fraternity houses must secure live-in residential directors by fall '05
By Brendan Schreiber
March 04, 2005
A new university policy to be implemented by the Office of Student Life will require that all fraternity houses receiving a sophomore exemption, which releases sophomores from their commitment to live in university housing and have a live-in residential director, according to Greek Life Coordinator Robert Turning.
According to Dean of Student Life Susan Boswell, the purpose of the policy is to honor the commitment to offer an equal, acceptable alternative to university housing by matching each option's level of security protection. The residential directors, or "House Moms", must be in place for the fall 2005 semester.
The live-in advisor would be responsible for monitoring the upkeep and security of the building and possibly advising chapter officers in chapter activities. They would also be expected to participate in the same training as university-sanctioned residential advisors.
The change will affect Alpha Delta Phi, Phi Kappa Psi, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Sigma Phi Epsilon, and those fraternities that seek sophomore exemption for the 2005-2006 academic year.
The change has left some fraternity members upset at what they feel is the abrupt nature of the policy's announcement.
"The fact that this is coming up at all is ridiculous," said Pi Kappa Alpha Housing Chair John Shuck. "For a lot of the fraternities, their housing depends on sophomores, and throwing this at us when we're trying to sign leases is unacceptable. Also, the simple fact that [the housing directors] can't be undergrads who are trained [to be residential advisors] makes it even worse."
Matt Cook, who will serve as Sigma Phi Epsilon's live-in residential director as a graduate student beginning in September, said, "The IFC director hadn't mentioned it before the fact. It seemed like someone was working behind the scenes to prevent us from having sophomores in the house."
Boswell maintained that the need for change merits immediate attention. "Concerns about security are clearly heightened, and we've invested a lot of time into scrutinizing everything."
She continued, "As we improve security in the residential halls, if we're saying students are considering this an a reasonable alternative, security must be equivalent to what we have in the residential halls."
Turning commented that each party has legitimate concerns. "I see both sides of the issue," he said. "Obviously I have to make things work for the University, so if this is a decision that has been made, my goal is to implement it appropriately."
"I've been at schools where they've had live-in grads, and I think it helps give the fraternity direction in goal-setting. I don't see how it could be a bad thing from that standpoint."
Though the University has not yet outlined clear guidelines for who may serve as a residential director, the general criteria thus far is that they must be an adult beyond college graduation age.
Residential directors would not be employees of the fraternities, but the university's expectation will be that each one goes through a certain level of training and will meet regularly with Turning.
Shuck noted that the vague requirements present the ability to hire someone close to the fraternity to avoid having to adhere to strict rules.
"No one's going to get somebody that they know ... to be a stickler in terms of enforcing rules," Shuck said. "[Pi Kappa Alpha] is going to hire an alum or someone who is friends with us, so nothing will change."
Boswell responded, "That wouldn't accomplish anything. We will make it difficult for people to serve in name only."
Sigma Phi Epsilon VP of Programming Sam Charlton said that members of the affected fraternities should recognize the potential benefits of the policy change.
"I think the effects will depend on which frat you're in, and how much emphasis they put on academics," Charlton said. "The house mom will be there to make sure that things don't get out of control, and so that the sophomores have somebody to talk to."
Shuck disagreed: "This shows that the University doesn't stand by its greek organizations in the same way other universities do. And if the explanation is safety, that's simply ridiculous. Is this person obligated to ensure safety? If something happens, are they held responsible?"
University officials met with representatives from the affected fraternities last Monday to discuss the implementation of the new policy. "They agreed to serve as a committee to develop a job description for these live-in advisors," Turning said.
"People are innately skeptical of change," he added. "This is just part of that process."
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