Student Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 is currently compiling research for a "thought piece" analyzing the College's Greek system and said she plans to present her report to the College's Board of Trustees at its June meeting.
Sichitiu said she has spent the past month interviewing "close to 30" Greek leaders and will continue to interview students this week before she writes her paper, which she will also release to the College community at-large.
Sichitiu said she asked the Trustees at their April meeting whether they would allow her to present a report, compiled from student testimony, on the Coed Fraternity and Sorority system.
College Trustee Joseph D. Mathewson, who is the chair of Board's Committee on Student Affairs, confirmed in a telephone interview that Sichitiu proposed at the Board's April meeting the idea of a "white paper" on the Greek system.
Mathewson said Sichitiu has not given him a recent update on her progress. "She just said she wanted to get back to us in June on a paper on the Greek system," he said. "We said fine."
Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco, who is helping Sichitiu compile the report, said, "The challenge was for [the Trustees] to consider the question of whether or not the Greek system should be further reformed, coeducated or abolished."
According to Sichitiu, Turco calls the project a "white paper," after the policy papers issued by the British prime minister. In the British government, the prime minister occasionally releases a "white paper," a statement of policy about which he or she feels strongly.
Sichitiu explained in an electronic-mail message that she is writing an analysis on the system because as a campus activist, she has "always been concerned with the impact of the fraternity system on the intellectual and social climate of the College, specifically ... with the role it plays in creating an environment that is hostile towards women, students of color and gay, lesbian and bisexual students."
"In undertaking this report, I aimed to provide recommendations that would address the fundamental problems of the system, as identified by members within each of the respective organizations, while maintaining the positive aspects of the current structure," she wrote.
Sichitiu wrote that while she holds reservations about a social system which excludes on the basis of gender, she feels the issue is "highly complex," and has positive and negative aspects.
Sichitiu wrote the final report will be a result of "thorough and extensive research" to provide an intelligent discourse as well as constructive recommendations for change.
Some of the topics Sichitiu wrote that she will analyze in her paper include: CFS programming, the relationship of "mainstream" Greek houses and historically black fraternities, the difference between fraternities and sororities and coed houses and the role of alcohol in the system and rush process.
As Assembly president, Sichitiu is an ex-officio member of COSA and is given an opportunity to address the Board at its termly meetings.
Mathewson said COSA normally does not convene at the Board's June meeting. He said some of COSA's Trustees might meet with Sichitiu, but it "definitely won't be a full meeting."
CFS Council President Matt Raben '96 said Sichitiu approached him a few weeks ago and said she was working on a "white paper" on the Greek system.
Raben, a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity, said, "I'm pleased that she plans to do this in concert with Greek leaders ... I encouraged her to speak with as many people as possible."
He said he gave Sichitiu a list of CFS leaders with whom she could speak, including the names of current presidents of houses, former officers and executives in the CFSC and the Panhellenic Council, the governing body for the College's six mainstream sororities.
Raben said some students have suggested that he address the Trustees in conjunction with Sichitiu to offer a balanced perspective. But Raben said he has no plans to address the Trustees.
CFSC Treasurer Bill Tovell '96 said he and Sichitiu met for about an hour two weeks ago to discuss issues such as alcohol, gender relations and homophobia in the Greek system, especially in single-sex fraternities.
Tovell, an officer in Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, said the College's social system is a major part of student life. But Tovell said he was concerned that Sichitiu, who has a reputation for being anti-Greek, waited until the end of her tenure as Assembly president to approach leaders of the CFS.
"If it's something that's such an issue in her mind I wish she'd taken the time to meet with CFSC leaders ... [not] two weeks before she's about to leave," he said.
