The College's Greek system is currently rewriting the programming segment of its minimum standards requirements as part of an effort by the administration to give the houses more responsibility for governing themselves.
For the past year, the Greek houses have been voluntarily complying with the new programming minimum standard, which is stricter than the College policy.
Minimum standards are a set of requirements placed upon all the Greek houses which set certain goals the houses must reach if they wish to retain College recognition. Minimum standards include leadership, membership, budget, behavior, physical plant and program development.
The program development standard, commonly called programming, requires that houses sponsor events each term to "reflect a mixture of cultural, educational and community service programs," according to the Coed Fraternity and Sorority Constitution and Minimum Standards booklet.
But Greg Papajohn '96, the programming chair of Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity, said the new standards the CFS houses have developed are more specific and go beyond those of the administration.
Papajohn said the CFS houses hope the new standards will improve theGreek system's image.
"One of the biggest problems is that the Dartmouth community does not hear about a lot of the programming that the Greek houses do," Papajohn said
"And because of this, people make assumptions that fraternities are homophobic, sexist and alcoholic," he said.
Papajohn said he was very involved with the committee that rewrote theprogramming standards. The committee was composed of CFS Council liason Amy Peller '96 and otherCFS programming chairs
"I began to realize that the system didn't work for anyone," Papajohn said. "The standards were very ambiguous, and often programs could fulfill more than one component of the standards."
Papajohn said the committee has been working on the standards for a year, and will soon take the new standards to the Dean of the College Lee Pelton and the Office of Residential Life for approval.
If approved, the new programming standards will replace the current programming standards.
Peller said she thought the newstandards were working well.
"I am very impressed with the changes I see in the houses," shesaid. "A lot of places are now focusing on the quality of their programming."
Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deb Reinders, who oversees the CFS system, said she thought the new standards were improving the quality of the Greek programming,
"With the new standards, a majority of the organizations are putting more emphasis on their programs," Reinders said.
