Recommendation 4 - Make Major Changes in the Coed, Fraternity and Sorority (CFS) Organizations
The committee unanimously believes that the CFS organizations, as presently constituted, require major improvements and a review in five years to determine its future in the new Dartmouth social and residential system. The deficiencies enumerated in Part II above are too significant for the Dartmouth community to tolerate the system as it currently exists.
Therefore, if it is to survive, the system must change significantly. To achieve the required improvements, the committee recommends that the CFS organizations meet new higher standards that are outlined in the remainder of this section. These standards are not for the mere purpose of creating evaluations, but are true standards that must be met to earn the privilege of recognition.
We recognize that some of the new standards we propose may sound unreasonably stringent and overly specific. However, readers of this report should understand that there is already an existing body of very specific regulations that apply to CFS houses. By and large, we have judged these existing rules and regulations to be inadequate, and we have also noted that they are frequently not enforced. Thus, we propose a new set of regulations that will hold CFS houses to higher standards and that are designed to be backed up by new enforcement by the College.
It is unlikely that all current CFS organizations will be able to meet the higher standards, with the result that the number of organizations will probably be reduced. This reduction is desirable in order to eliminate the historical dominance by the CFS organizations of Dartmouth social life. A reduction in the number of CFS organizations would also complement the enhanced cluster system and the other recommendations of this report. The selective social organizations of the future will constitute a very different, higher quality but secondary component of the overall Dartmouth social system.
A majority of the committee also supported the elimination of residency for selective social organizations for reasons set forth in Part II above. However, the committee concluded that elimination of residency is not now practically feasible because of the overall shortage of beds in the campus housing system. As a result, the committee proposes that those CFS organizations that can meet the new higher standards continue to be residence-based organizations until June 2005. At that time, as part of a major five-year review of the system of selective social organizations, the Board of Trustees should consider whether to permit residence-based selective organizations.
(1) Limitations on number of organizations. The committee proposes that no new selective residential social organizations be recognized. If any currently recognized organization fails to achieve recognition for any reason, it could not be replaced by another new organization. Any single-sex organization, however, may change itself into a coed organization and maintain recognition without being deemed to have closed. The overall cap on the number of selective social organizations effectively adopted by the Board of Trustees in the mid-1980s (30) should be retained. New non-residential selective social organizations could be established and existing selective residential organizations could become non-residential but subject to the overall cap. The purpose of these limitations is to assure continuing balance between selective social organizations and other campus institutions.
(2) Standards for Recognition. The committee recommends new Standards for Recognition, listed below. The overall goal of these new standards is to create improved organizations that will contribute to Dartmouth's sense of community, that will complement the central academic mission of the College, and that will be compatible with other recommendations in this report. These standards will apply to any selective social organization whether residential or non-residential (except where not applicable, based on context).
- Standards relating to organizational practices. The Dean of the College should review and revise the current CFS Minimum Standards for leadership, membership, budget, program development and behavior. In the course of this revision, the standards should be upgraded to "Standards of Excellence." The application of the standards should also be changed from the present evaluative system of minimum standards to higher standards that must be met in order for organizations to achieve continued recognition (see Provisions for de-recognition below). The new standards for recognition should include the following requirements:
- Each organization would adopt, maintain and honor a statement of purpose that sets forth how it intends to contribute to the community and the College's academic mission. The statement of purpose would include a commitment to achieving diversity of membership.
- Each organization, and the system as a whole, would organize itself in the manner described below under Governance.
- Any recognized organization would not permit any activity by a group of its members that violates Dartmouth's Principle of Community.
- All recognized organizations would adopt a redesigned membership contract that includes at least the following commitments by each member: to honor a new code of personal conduct (including alcohol-related behavior); to comply with the new alcohol policy; and to refrain from participation in any hazing or abusive initiation rites (see Selection and initiation practices below).
- A revised programming standard would include a standard for community service, designed in consultation with the Tucker Foundation, to assure that selective social organization members' average participation in community service places them in the top tier among all Dartmouth undergraduates. This standard is intended to continue the laudable trend of increased community service by selective social organizations and to assure that these activities are more than just talk. Consideration should be given to replacing pledging rituals (see below) with a community service project for new members that would contribute toward this new standard.
- Each single-sex organization would create formal affiliations with either coed organizations or single-sex organizations of the opposite gender. Whereas the committee decided to preserve the choice of organizations to remain single sex, it does wish to promote coeducational activities.
- Each organization would be required to have among its residents (or members, if non-residence based) at all times at least one of each of the following: (a) a sexual abuse peer advisor, (b) a peer advisor on alcohol and other drugs, (c) a designated Tucker Foundation liaison, (d) a designated liaison to the new Inter-Cluster Council, and (e) a person devoted to diversity and leadership training.
- As with other College residences, each selective social organization with a residence would be required to make a room available for a non-member UGA who would serve the needs of the entire organization.
- Each residence-based organization would be required to open its facilities for use upon reasonable request by other College-recognized organizations for meetings or other functions.
- Each organization would prepare a detailed budget that would be formally presented to members for approval in the presence of the organization's advisory board members (see Governance below). This standard would promote awareness by the entire organization as to its purposes and how its resources are being utilized. Every purchase of alcoholic beverages would be recorded in the regular books and records of the organizations. The committee believes that the present prohibition of alcohol purchases with organization funds has promoted the undesirable and hypocritical practice of off-the-books purchases, which it wishes to stop.
- All residence-based organizations would permit free access at all times to their premises by Safety and Security personnel and other College officers on the same basis that such access is allowed in the College's residence halls. This measure is necessary to allow equitable treatment of all students and to permit appropriate enforcement of College rules, particularly related to alcohol.
- Selection and initiation practices would be changed materially. The overall goal would be to require organizations to offer membership in the most inclusive way possible while still permitting them the freedom to select members.
- Rush would be moved to the beginning of winter term of the sophomore year in order to reduce somewhat the fall housing crunch and allow more time for students to experience the new enhanced cluster system.
- Rush will be conducted simultaneously for all single-sex and coed organizations to maximize the chances for success of both existing and possible new coed options. The new system of rush must be made less exclusionary such that any student who, in good faith, considers membership in a specified number of organizations will be assured a place in at least one of these organizations. The details of the new rush procedures will be designed by the successor to the CFSC in consultation with the Dean of the College.
- In order to minimize any financial discouragement for seeking membership, financial aid must be made available by the organization to any student in need. We encourage that no services to organizations beyond those expected of any new member would be required in exchange for this aid.
- There will no longer be any "pledge period." Students chosen to join an organization will be admitted as full members, subject only to reasonable education requirements and participation in constructive group projects. The committee concluded that the pledge period encourages practices which are demeaning and uselessly time consuming to students, while not being highly valued even by most of the organizations.
- There will be no hazing of new members. The Dean of the College would set forth a new definition of hazing that is substantially more encompassing than the present standard of New Hampshire State Law. There would be no abusive or demeaning initiation rites, especially those requiring or encouraging the use of alcohol or physical abuse.
- Residence and membership requirements applicable to all selective residence-based social organizations should be enhanced to ensure that each such organization is strong enough to sustain itself financially, is a viable component of the College's housing system, and attracts enough members to well utilize scarce house facilities. Aspects of these new standards should include the following:
- Residence in houses of selective social organizations would be allowed only for seniors and up to four junior house officers (President, Treasurer, Social Chair and House Manager), all of whom must meet minimum GPA and disciplinary-record requirements to be determined by the Dean of the College. These measures are designed to maximize the responsible management of valuable house facilities.
- A thorough evaluation would be made as to the optimum number of residents who should live in each house, taking into account measures of square feet per bed, study space, library space, computer facilities, bathroom space, etc. This review should be akin to that conducted by the Office of Residential Life to determine decompression requirements in residence halls. Once the optimum number of residents was determined, each house would be required to fill each bed. Therefore, there would have to be at least as many senior members as the number of residence units (at least for the fall term).
- Non-member residents, except for the aforementioned UGA, would not be permitted to live in the house of any selective social organization. Such living arrangements do not promote organizational health and are likely to be uncomfortable for the outside residents.
- To assure that the residency requirements would be met in the future, the total membership immediately after winter rush of each selective residence-based organization would exceed three times the number of residence units. Any house not now in compliance with this standard would need to demonstrate class by class compliance, beginning with the rush class of winter 2002. The Dean of the College would allow reasonable exceptions to this timetable, especially in the case of co-educational organizations.
The committee recommends that failure to meet any residence or membership standard should cause the organization to lose its privilege to be a residence-based selective social organization. In the event of such a failure, the organization could continue as a non-residence based organization if it were in compliance with all other applicable standards for selective social organizations.
- Physical standards should be enhanced and should form the basis for a major improvement in the facilities of the selective social organizations. The sequence of these improvements would be as follows: the setting of new standards; the undertaking of a College-paid audit of the facilities; the drawing up of cost estimates for necessary renovations and repairs; fundraising by CFS organizations to finance the repairs; construction; and periodic inspection to maintain compliance with new standards.
- New standards of physical quality would first be established by the administration in consultation with an outside professional engineering firm. These standards would include internal and external cosmetic features, furnishings and grounds, as well as structural, utility and safety features.
- The standards would also specifically provide that all tap systems together with associated large open refrigerator units must be removed prior to September 2000 and that basements must be converted to general purpose uses, such as kitchens, lounges, study/computer space, storage areas, exercise rooms or workshops. This standard is intended to eliminate the regular large-scale distribution of alcohol as a central function of the selective social organizations. It is also recommended that permanent bars be eliminated in such conversions.
- The overall objective of the physical standards is to bring and maintain all houses to a quality level that is at least equivalent to that now met by the best of the CFS houses and by the residence halls, and to maintain them at that level over time. Implementation of the new physical standards would thereby create a uniformly clean and comfortable environment in which all Dartmouth students could live and learn, and be proud to host friends and family.
- Town building code requirements would also be met, including those of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- An independent, College-paid audit would determine for each house the nature and cost estimate of work required to meet the standards. The audit would be completed before March 2001. Each organization electing to continue as a residence-based organization would, by June 2001, submit to the Dean of the College a plan for executing the necessary work. This plan would include realistic financial projections, including any necessary fundraising. Loans from the College, secured by the property, could be made for these purposes, but only after external options have been exhausted, and only if analysis supports a high likelihood of repayment. Any required loans or fundraising commitments would be completed by June 2002, by which time construction would also commence. All necessary construction would be completed by September 2004.
The committee proposes that failure to meet any of these milestones would cause the organization to lose the right to use its house (whether privately or College-owned) as a residence. Any such organization could continue as a non-residential entity if it were in compliance with all other applicable standards. If the house in question were privately owned, the owners would have several alternatives, including commencing negotiations for the College to acquire the house. Proceeds from the sale of any such house could be used to sustain the organization as a non-residential entity. Upon acquisition, or in the case of an already College-owned house, the College would execute the necessary construction to meet the standards and convert the house for use as senior, coed residences in the Office of Residential Life system.
Under this proposal, houses would immediately become subject to unannounced inspections for compliance with present physical Minimum Standards. Once the above-described construction programs were complete, these inspections would enforce maintenance of the new physical standards. Inspections would be conducted by a team including representatives of the House Corporations Organization (see Governance below), the College administration and Hanover-area residents. This system of regular inspections is intended to assure that all houses continuously maintain the specified high level of quality. In the future, houses of selective social organizations will not be used as residences during the summer term. This provision is meant to permit the necessary construction for initial compliance with the new standards and continued maintenance thereafter.
(3) Provisions for de-recognition. The committee proposes that Dartmouth adopt a new philosophy for Dartmouth's selective social organizations. The new policy would stipulate that recognition by the College is a privilege that would only be granted in return for ongoing organizational responsibility, as evidenced by compliance with the above-described standards. As previously noted, failure to meet residence and membership requirements or physical standards would result in loss of an organization's privilege to continue as a residence-based entity. Failure to meet any of the other Standards for Recognition or to comply with the new alcohol rules and regulations (see below) would result in de-recognition of the organization in the event of two such failures in any year or three over any three-year span. Any major behavior in violation of the College's Principle of Community by any group of members of a selective social organization would constitute such a failure.
Violation of the prohibitions against hazing or abusive initiation rites or any voluntary withdrawal from recognition would result in immediate (i.e., at first offense) and permanent de-recognition. De-recognition would result in the permanent revocation of all privileges, including residence (if applicable), all College support services (billing, accounting, insurance brokerage, funding), participation in rush, and ability to conduct registered social functions.
The Dean of the College would devise a new system of sanctions for first offenses and for infractions deemed to be short of violation of the Standards for Recognition or of the alcohol policy. A specified number of such minor violations could also result in de-recognition.
(4) Governance. The committee proposes that each selective social organization have an Advisory Board, which would include alumni, faculty and College administrators. The Advisory Boards would meet at least quarterly. At least three of these meetings each year would continue into a meeting of all of the organization's members.
The House Corporations of residence-based selective organizations (or their equivalent in the case of occupants of College-owned houses) would join and actively participate in an organization of all such House Corporations (the "HCO"). The HCO would organize itself so that member organizations could share ideas with each other, set common goals and act as a sounding board for the Dean's office as it deals with residential issues on campus.
The committee endorses changes to create a more coordinated student oversight of selective student social organizations, as recommended by the CFSC in its proposal submitted last spring through the Nelson Task Force. These changes would foster greater collaboration and interaction among the CFSC and its four sub-councils that will be especially necessary as the system adapts to a new set of standards.
The separate CFS judicial system will be discontinued. Infractions of standards, codes of conduct, or other judicial matters affecting organizations or individual members will be handled by a unified College-wide judiciary system. Individual organizations, however, will be encouraged to exercise discipline over their members since certain misbehavior by individuals can have adverse consequences on their organization.
(5) Alcohol use and parties. Alcohol use by selective social organizations will be covered by a uniform campus-wide system of rules set forth under Recommendation 7 below. Only one such proposed rule is specific to selective residence-based organizations and deserves mention here. Registered parties (by definition any gathering of more than 15 people with alcohol present) in a selective residence-based organization's facility may only be conducted on the ground floor. The intent of this rule would be to change the nature and atmosphere of campus social functions in the houses of selective social organizations.
Two additional matters related to alcohol are discussed in this section: Wednesday night house meetings and drinking games. In the end, the committee decided, for strictly pragmatic reasons, not to propose specific rules to change the time of house meetings or to ban "pong" or other drinking games. However, the committee believes that both large-scale, organized drinking late on Wednesday nights and widespread games designed to promote rapid drunkenness are inimical to the community that Dartmouth wants to be. The committee hopes that the re-formulated social organizations will amend these behaviors.
(6) Annual reviews and five-year review in 2005. The committee proposes that each year, beginning in June 2001, all selective student social organizations submit a formal report to the Dean of the College setting forth progress made on all the above fronts. These reports would also summarize information on each organization's membership, grade point averages, disciplinary history and compliance with all standards. These reports would be publicly available for student consideration prior to each year's rush process. Any omissions of information required in these annual reports of any individual organization could be grounds for de-recognition or other sanctions.
The Dean of the College would compile these reports, together with his or her own assessment of the progress being made. If, after any year, the Dean of the College believed that the system-wide progress achieved was below expectations, he or she would recommend that the College no longer recognize the selective residence-based social organizations. This consolidated annual report would form a part of the annual report to the Board of Trustees on all aspects of the Student Life Initiative (see Part IV below).
The committee recommends that in June 2005, the Board of Trustees organize a five-year review of all campus selective social organizations. This review should consider, based upon the experience of the previous five years and prospects for the future, whether selective social organizations should continue to be recognized by the College. If this review concludes that recognition should continue, it should proceed to consider whether the selective social organizations should be allowed to continue to offer residence.
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