Leaders within Rensselaer’s greek community convened Monday evening at the Rensselaer Society of Engineers fraternity house for a presentation and discussion of the progress that the Institute has made toward developing and implementing a set of policies dubbed the “New Initiatives.” Dean of Students Mark Smith called the meeting to provide an update regarding the controversial greek reform programs unveiled by the administration on April 12, 2006. Invitations were distributed to representatives from each active greek house, advisors, the Alumni Inter-Greek Council, student government leaders, and members of the student press.
In contrast to the 2006 statement, however, Monday’s meeting was designed to be a casual gathering on friendly turf without any shocking announcements. According to Smith, the policies being discussed had already been vetted by the greek community; the only major “new” piece of information presented was the fact that some documents had received President Shirley Ann Jackson’s signature. As Vice President for Student Life Eddie Ade Knowles described it, “This is not new news—this is old news revisited.” Thus, the event served primarily as a way to ensure that everyone was on the same page and to provide a general forum where greeks could voice their concerns with the administration.
Following a brief introduction by Smith, Knowles gave an overview of the current status of the student life portfolio at RPI, particularly as it pertains to greek life. He emphasized how the student body has changed dramatically over the past few decades and how things have fit into the overarching goals of The Rensselaer Plan, and then drew parallels to the fraternity and sorority houses. He also focused on the idea of greek houses as being “ideal living and learning opportunities” and encouraged them to consider how they fit into the Plan.
Smith then launched into a lengthy explanation of the process since the original “New Initiatives” announcement of 2006. He spoke at length of the working groups that had formed to refine the core ideas expressed in those initiatives, such as, the attitudes towards alcohol, the length of recruitment periods and new member education, and the necessity of a live-in advisor for each chapter.
Touching on each item in turn, Smith noted that through the work of those committees, the administration had come to the conclusion that live-in advisors are not a feasible universal requirement for the RPI campus. He also indicated that the alcohol policy had already largely been implemented, and that there was not much of an update to give, except to remind the attendees of the Good Samaritan Policy signed by Knowles last July.
Regarding the recruitment period, he stressed that the intent was not to cut off house traditions or impose undue stresses on the selection and initiations processes, but rather to limit those stresses by preventing excessively long pledging timeframes. Beyond that, however, he stated that the guidelines were still very much up for discussion; after the meeting adjourned, he told Interfraternity Council leaders that they would be given a lot of leeway in formulating those policies.
After the presentations by Smith and Knowles, as well as brief supporting statements from Managing Director of the Rensselaer Union Rick Hartt ’70 and Assistant Dean of Students for Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Jessica Wickiewicz, the floor was opened up to questions.
Several concerns were raised—such as issues of funding for the Office of Greek Life—but the discussion focused on two issues. First, there has been a lack of communication in recent months, including that few people knew about the meeting itself more than a week in advance. Smith admitted that this was indeed an issue and indicated that it was largely his own mistake. The other major topic was the effect the proposed recruitment policies would have on individual chapter procedures; Smith, Knowles, and Wickiewicz attempted to assuage these fears by assuring everybody that discussions were still ongoing.
