As risk levels soar during big weekends, houses will be more rigorous about safety precaution enforcement, Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity president Nick Allen '14 said.
"It's not so much the new rules as much stricter enforcement and harsher punishment that are scaring most of the frats into really cracking down," Allen said.
Allen said that while fraternities should always be cautious about giving out 21-and-over wristbands, houses will be even more vigilant over Green Key. He said that fraternities who hold events, such as Phi Delta Alpha's block party or Alpha Delta's lawn party, may be more restrictive in who they admit.
Chi Gam is currently on probation, which means that the house cannot host events with alcohol over Green Key weekend. Chi Gam will instead host its annual Gammapalooza concert and dance party, as a dry event, and will extend this policy into the future.
Allen said that the stricter alcohol policies have informed Chi Gam's decision to continue holding Gammapalooza as a dry event.
"We don't want to assume this new risk," he said. "Gammapalooza and other concerts we may have and other houses that hold concerts have decided to make these dry events."
Allen said he does not forsee the new policies having any major effect on the weekend. He added that the change in precaution will be more visible from the side of those hosting the parties than those entering them.
"Freshmen or people going to another house are not going to see it as much as the brothers organizing them do," he said.
Interfraternity Council president Gunnar Shaw '14 also said that the new policies would not cause any major changes to Green Key weekend.
"I think everyone sort of approaches Green Key in the let's just have as much fun as possible in the outdoorsy and productive way,' so they might hinder some people from doing things that they might have done in the past," he said. "But overall I don't think they're going to affect things."
Although ideally every event is registered and wristband rules are carefully followed, it is difficult to achieve universal compliance with regulations, Shaw said. He said he hopes that there will be an increase in registration and proper wristband usage despite this.
While event registration may not increase, the safety measures taken within each house will definitely escalate, according to one fraternity president who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the subject.
"People in each house at least the risk manager will have to be responsible to make sure nothing bad happens," he said. "I think the College's new alcohol policies will force houses to be more careful."
He said that stakes increase exponentially on big weekends and are particularly high this year given recent events and the new alcohol policies.
"The College is very on edge and needs to do something right,' i.e. make an example of a house," he said.
Alpha Chi Alpha social chair Andrew Roberts '14 said that there is currently greater compliance with college policies and that houses are being increasingly conscious about their decisions during events. He added that the biggest change for many houses will be the random walkthrough policy because it requires that houses register all events.
There will likely be a difference in the volume of alcohol provided this year, not the number of events offered, he said. Houses will do a better job at pacing events by not putting all their alcohol out at one time.
Roberts said that the majority of changes will be inconspicuous to those who are not looking for them.
"It's definitely true that it's more visible to those within the house," he said. "People may not notice a brother giving up an hour of him having fun to do door duties."
Alpha Chi's largest social event of the year, Pigstick an annual lawn party held the first Saturday in May typically has over 1,000 people move through it and requires constant risk-monitoring, according to Roberts. The flow of people and alcohol is consistently under surveillance during the party, and brothers are performing duties at all times, Roberts said.
With stricter policies in place, enforcement will be essential this year.
"In the past we've had some issues, so our goal this year is a risk-free Pigstick," Roberts said. "The College makes it really easy to comply with rules because it's all online."
Representatives from Sigma Delta sorority, Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority, and Phi Delta Alpha fraternity did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
