The Student Assembly discussed perceptions that some College administrators have unfairly implemented Greek life policies at a meeting last night.
"For those of you who aren't aware, there's been a crackdown on the Greek system, sometimes in subtle ways," Student Body President Janos Marton '04 said.
Marton suggested that the Assembly create a body to look into violations of Greek-related regulations. If Greek members perceived that infringements were processed unfairly, the body would conduct interviews and arbitrate any disputes.
The Assembly singled out particular rules that fraternity and sorority officials have objected to, such as the Clean Grounds policy.
"At the time [it was instated], the policy said that if you have trash on your lawn after 10 a.m., then you get a violation," Marton said. "[Some College officials] said, don't worry -- we won't enforce it, but then when upperclassmen came back from interim, there were violations ... It's ludicrous."
"The committee would do an investigation on what happened on the student side ... and stop that policy from being implemented unfairly," Marton said.
During discussion of the proposal, an Assembly member asked whether this proposal could also be used for other disciplinary actions, not involving the Greek system. In response, Student Body Vice-President Noah Riner '06 said, "that's definitely a possibility, we are just in the planning stages right now."
"I feel that as students we have the right to talk to others students," Marton said, continuing the conversation over this topic.
"Raising campus awareness is huge leverage," Riner said.
After the proposal, an unofficial vote was taken, which gave Marton permission to go forward with the issue. The Assembly unanimously resolved to look into the topic of Greek Life policy violations.
Other topics at the Assembly's meeting included a dialogue about malfunctioning BlitzMail computers around campus, and the Assembly's efforts to fix them.
"It's in the works," Steve Koutsavlis '05 said, referring to the process of replacing damaged computers. "Broken computers will be replaced by the new ones in the SA office."
Koutsavlis said the Assembly also aims to augment existing computers, adding "more heavy duty keyboards and optical mice."
The committee of Student Life noted that the vote for a new mascot ends at 11 p.m. today.
"We're looking for a definite candidate, so help us out," Stella Treas '05 said.
On a final note, Student Services Committee members said they encountered problems with a plan to install fax machines for public student use.
"Phone services are against installing new lines for the fax machines," Diana Zhang '06 said, "so Janos came up with the idea of putting a fax machine in the SA office and keeping it open 24-hours-a-day."
