The Interfraternity Council elected 10 new executive board members yesterday who will have plenty on their agenda come Jan. 1 when they officially take power.
LSA junior Michael Caplan was voted to be the new president of IFC ‘s executive board last night.
“They are going to be dealing with Greek life being in the spotlight and forming a better relationship with the administration,” said LSA junior Jon Anderson, IFC’s outgoing vice president of internal affairs.
The new leader will have to decide on new social policy proposed by IFC and its sorority counterpart, the Pan-Hellenic Association, to limit the number of attendees at fraternity parties to invited guests and require people to bring their own alcohol. The new policy is aimed at relieving fraternities of liability should someone be injured or assaulted at one of their parties.
They will also deal with the repercussions of hazing allegations made against two sororities and five fraternities in October.
“The old policy was obviously not working,” Caplan said. “With every new installation of (fraternity) presidents, you want to make sure the social policy is right because they are the ones upholding it. After we vote on it, we want to expand the social responsibility committee and get someone from every chapter on it.”
Caplan said he would also like to improve the Greeks’ relationship with the University administration. A period of tension culminated in last year’s proposed changes to the system by Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper, which among other things included delaying the rush process. Many fraternity and sorority members believed Harper did not adequately solicit student input.
“I would like to put together a dinner where (the administration) could sit with members of the Greek community,” Caplan said, adding that he would also reach out to faculty and invite administrators to speak at IFC and individual chapters.
Throughout the election, IFC members and fraternity presidents said they worried that recent hazing allegations and enduring stereotypes about the Greek community may hurt their recruitment efforts among freshmen.
“Without an influx of quality characters, the Greek system wouldn’t continue to be a strong as it is now,” said LSA sophomore Jordan Edelman, who was elected as IFC’s recruitment chair last night.
To reverse a trend of low recruitment over the past few years, Edelman said he would start by publicizing the Greek system.
“It’s all about having flyers and leaflets all over campus. We want people to get the word out, and publicity is one of the biggest tools we have. The new social policy will help — I think that education is the biggest key. If we continue to educate people to end the stereotypes, we can really bring in quality guys in large numbers.”
The IFC is scheduled to vote on the changes to parties Dec. 8.