The College dropped a proposed housing plan intended to fill empty beds in Greek houses and undergraduate societies because it was discriminatory, Dean of the College Lee Pelton said.
"My office had some concerns about a policy that would apparently make distinctions among students based on their association with a particular group," Pelton said.
But administrators say they will still try to come up with a way to get houses to fill empty beds. The Office of Residential Life said it would work with the Coed Fraternitiy Sorority Council to find a solution to the problem.
The original proposal, released by ORL two weeks ago, would have forced Greek organizations and undergraduate societies to fill their houses before their members could get on-campus housing.
Panhellenic Council President Dani Brune '96 recently submitted a counterproposal to ORL's plan, calling for the College to give Greek houses and undergraduate societies financial incentives to fill their houses up to the minimum occupancy level set by the College.
"A lot of people in privately-owned houses felt that the College was encroaching on their rights by commanding them to fill the beds," she said. "We don't want to punish anyone for not filling them."
Both proposals are intended to help alleviate the College's recent Fall term housing problems. This fall, the College said there were 58 empty beds in Greek organizations, 56 of them in fraternities.
But Associate Dean of Residential Life Deb Reinders said Brune's proposal does not address the issue of non-compliance by the houses.
"It is important to reward organizations for filling their physical plants and who are in compliance with minimum standards," she said. "But on the other hand, you need to hold them accountable for compliance."
In a letter accompanying her proposal, Brune wrote, "The CFS houses are fulfilling their role as part of the Dartmouth community by taking the initiative to fill their houses."
The CFSC is in the process of selecting a committee to address some of the concerns with her plan, Brune said.
Brune's proposal, dated this Sunday, stated that organizations that fill their houses to minimum occupancy would get money from the College to improve their physical plant and to program events for the Dartmouth community.
Brune said her proposal seems logical because Greek houses are residential areas and house a substantial portion of the College's population, but do not receive programming money like dormitories do.
The proposal also calls for the College to give the houses money to improve their physical plants so members will be more inclined to live in them.
Brune said the Greek and undergraduate society houses want compliance to be voluntary.
CFSC President Matt Raben '96 said there is a strong feeling among many Greek houses that the ORL plan is not the best way to address the empty beds' problems.
"We always recognized that we were members of the community and were obligated to help out, but we didn't think a system that mandated the filling of beds was the best way of going about this," Raben said.
"The administration has raised some points and has had concerns with certain aspects of the plan," Raben added
"But generally this is the way we want to go," he said.
Like ORL's original proposal, Brune's proposal calls for the deadline to live in a Greek or undergraduate society house to be one week before the conventional deadline.
She also suggested that all houses create their own internal housing policy "with a view to reaching minimum occupancy every term."
Brune said she presented the counterproposal to the Interfraternity Council and the presidents of all the Greek houses, and she has received extremely positive feedback.
