Senators silent on Greek problems

When students perceived a police crackdown on fraternities in the fall of 2000, Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate Vice President Eric Greenberg rushed to organize a protest rally on the President's Lawn.

Greenberg, who was also the Senate representative to the Committee on Fraternities and Sororities (CFS), later worked with administrators to create initiatives that would assuage their concerns about liability for problems at fraternity parties. They set up a program where fraternities would have detail officers at their parties and police would let the parties stay open. They also expanded programming at Hotung and organized a bus to Boston on the weekends to provide students with options other than the frats.

But with three fraternities on temporary shutdown this semester, the TCU Senate has had little to say on the matter. Senators expect concerns over the Greek system to be raised during the upcoming presidential race, but no one plans to take on the issue this semester.

"It's out of our hands, at least for the time being," said Dave Baumwoll, a freshman senator who also sits on the CFS. "I don't think there's anything pro-active we can do right now because things are pending."

There are many reasons for the difference in response, and it in no way has to do with the Senate's perception of what issues are important to students right now.

It is often said in politics that timing is everything, and in this case, timing is a major factor shaping the Senate's response. The Greek issue came onto most senators' horizons right before spring break, and with only one meeting left this semester, they had little time to act. By the time hearings are held for the cases of the houses that are closed, the Senate will have stopped meeting for the semester.

But more than timing, the Senate cannot act until it learns the facts of the situation. In 2000, what was happening was clear -- Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) was shutting down parties early in the night, and two fraternity presidents were being taken to court by the University for serving alcohol to minors. Administrators were also clear in explaining the concerns that had motivated this action -- Tufts feared that it would be held liable for injuries incurred by students at frat parties after MIT settled a lawsuit for $6 million over a student death.

This year, details of the shutdowns have been hard to come by.

"Part of the reason [the Senate is waiting to act] is that we don't know what the administration is going to do," Senate Vice President Andrew Potts said. "It's too new right now -- we wouldn't know what to say."

Complicating the situation is the fact the Baumwoll only recently began serving as the Senate liaison to the CFS and has spent much of the last month of meetings getting to know the position. Former TCU President Melissa Carson, who was on the Senate two years ago when it faced the crackdown, was the liaison until she resigned from the post in February.

Though both crackdowns were motivated by liability concerns, the situation is different now that these concerns are stemming from the Tufts campus. Students were angry in the fall of 2000 is that they thought the crackdown was arbitrary, given that the incident that motivated it occurred on a different campus and that two fraternities were singled out for serving to minors.

But this spring, Zeta Psi, Alpha Phi, and Delta Upsilon were all temporarily shut down in response to hazing violations. Because of this, students have responded more with concern and worry than with anger, which means there are less calls for immediate action.

When Senate does resume in the fall, senators say they are committed to tackling the Greek issue. Senator Randy Newsom, a candidate for TCU president, thinks that the key to solving the situation will be changing the relationship between the administration and the Greek system.

"The only interaction should not be discipline," he said. "There needs to be more help from the administration to help the different houses. It could be a great system here."

That the administration does not interact much with fraternities and sororities outside of discipline is something that administrators have recognized in the last year as well. Plans were announced over a year ago to create an Office of Greek Life, and an office director may be hired by the end of the semester, according to Baumwoll, who is on the search committee for the position.

That the search has gone ahead despite uncertainty over the future of the Greek system is a sign of the administration's resolve to fix the problem, Baumwoll said.

"I don't think they'd invest this much time and energy into a solution if they didn't think it had a chance," he said.