Interfraternity Council (IFC) advised the fraternities not to hold any evening events after Rock the Row on Monday. The annual event marks the opening of Greek Life on campus to new students.

In past years, the night of Rock the Row has been an active night on Fraternity Row, allowing freshmen their first access to parties held at the fraternity houses.

This year, after an informal meeting of the Interfraternity Council, the governing and coordinating body of all 12 fraternities, members of the council sent emails reminding the fraternities that there were no registered parties and advising them not to host parties.

According to IFC Internal Vice President, Jeff Shevach, the decision not to hold events on Monday night was made based on several factors, including the beginning of the fall recruitment period. IFC decided it would be in the best interest of the fraternities not to hold events Monday night.

“Certainly fraternities are being a little more cautious because right now we are going through fall recruitment, so you don’t want any sanctions to hinder your recruiting process and maybe not get a fall pledge class. So maybe they were being a little more cautious on that end. But we weren’t telling them explicitly ‘Don’t have any events,’” he said.

IFC President Eric Salzberg, a senior, said the email was entirely motivated by concern for the safety of students.

“We have registered parties for safety. We have B&D there for safety reasons. Rock the Row is externally perceived to be a day where unregistered social events might occur,” Salzberg said. “Any time a fraternity has had an unregistered social event that has been broken up it has gone through our formal standards process.”

Some freshmen felt that they were missing out on a college experience and an opportunity to bond with fraternity members.

“I was looking forward to it. I’m thinking about going Greek so it would have been a nice introduction,” freshman Jordan Nick said.

Other freshmen were less concerned.

“We have a whole year to go [to the frats],” Aubrey Richards said.

David Wallace, the coordinator for Greek housing, thinks that keeping the unregistered parties at a minimum will help enhance the Greek Life community.

“I’ve had several leaders of the past couple years get really frustrated by the fact that people knock on the door and demand entry to a place carved out for members,” Wallace said. “The fraternities are not the place that should be designated as freshmen taverns.”

This coming weekend will be the first opportunity for any of the fraternity houses to register a party. They are each required to hold one registered, open house event each semester.

With additional reporting by Emily Sybrant.

David Wallace, the University’s Coordinator for Greek Housing Programs, said that fraternities across the nation have been progressively growing since 2006, after shrinking between 1992 and 2003.

Wallace believes that the increasing interest in Greek life at the University is due to both an evolving mindset and a larger freshman classes.

This spring, 504 male students registered for fraternity recruitment and 253 bids were accepted across the school’s 12 fraternities. In 2010, 342 students registered and 220 bids were accepted.

A total of 349 female students registered for recruitment with the University’s seven sororities this year, versus 324 last year, 309 in 2009 and 274 in 2008.

“The main question to address here is whether more people are going through recruitment for the activities or if there is actually an increase in the desire to join fraternity life,” Wallace said.

Overall, members of the Greek community at the University believe that students are genuinely interested in becoming part of Greek life.

“It’s got to be something in the mentality of it all,” said junior Sam Barnes, external vice president of the Interfraternity Council (IFC). “The [rush] activities at Wash. U. have not really changed each year as far as I know.”

According to Wallace, IFC is considering the addition of another fraternity in response to increased interest in Greek life. Wallace emphasized that this may not be a viable option to consider, primarily due to lack of housing space, but it is still one that must be considered in the future.

IFC plans to create a survey investigating the growth of interest in fraternities in the next few weeks.

Fraternity members are attempting to emphasize values that students often overlook when evaluating Greek life, combating stereotypes that have come from films portraying college life.

“Looking at fraternities in general as well as the scope of what we personally have tried to do with rush over the past few years—we are separating ourselves from the stereotype of fraternities and what is portrayed in ‘Animal House,’” junior Zachary Cupkovic, recruitment chairman for Sigma Alpha Epsilon said.

Students outside of Greek life believe that fraternities on campus are doing a successful job building up positive images.

“Greek life is a way for a lot of people to get involved and meet new people,” freshman Jeremy Davis said. “I realized that I didn’t need to go Greek to make other friends, but I do see why a lot of my friends joined. I’m definitely not anti-Greek, I just am doing a lot of other things and didn’t need it.”

“I know Wash. U. is not as bad as other campuses. I think that it’s more toward the friendship side than the ‘Animal House’ side at Wash. U.,” junior Sunjoo Cho said.

Greek life members at the University have been working hard to create this positive image.

“We have been emphasizing more and more things that you experience in an organization that differs from things you experience in a classroom: leadership opportunities that help you grow and plan, participation in a working organization before entering a workplace and the ability to plan and carry out events of your own,” Barnes said. “It’s just a different type of education.”

ZBT is currently prohibited from having any programming and is essentially a non-functioning body.

“A temporary suspension simply means that we, along with their national headquarters, are investigating alleged policy violations and that the chapter should not put itself in an even more difficult situation by continuing in a business-as-usual manner,” Director of Greek Life Michael Hayes wrote in an e-mail to Student Life on Sunday. “It protects all of the stakeholders.”

The alleged infractions occurred during the recruitment process that ran from Jan. 23 to Feb. 3. The fraternity’s recognition was suspended on Friday, February 5.

Student Life could not confirm details about the alleged recruitment infractions.

According to Kurt Wall, president of the interfraternity council (IFC), ZBT was not allowed to participate in bid acceptance night on Saturday as other fraternities were.

Prospective members who were extended bids from ZBT met with chapter leaders and David Wallace, coordinator for housing programs in the Greek Life Office (GLO), and were told that ZBT was not currently accepting new members but that they could potentially accept their bids in the coming weeks pending the results of the investigation.

If applicable, prospective members could also accept a bid they received from another fraternity.

The first part of the investigation will occur Monday when sophomore Lian States and junior Zachary Buckner—the vice president of standards for the Women’s Panhellenic Association and IFC respectively—meet with Hayes to determine whether ZBT will face the Greek Life Standards Board.

Wall said that it is likely that the case will reach the board.

The Greek Like Standards Board consists of States, Buckner and one delegate from each sorority and fraternity chapter. The board is the self-governing judicial body for fraternities and sororities and conducts hearings for chapters that have violated University, state, or Greek Life policies.

At stake are the fraternity’s national and University recognition, which are not necessarily contingent upon one another.

If ZBT loses its national recognition, it could also lose its house. The fraternity chapter is housed in an off-campus apartment on Forsyth Boulevard. The apartment is owned by the national ZBT organization.

But Wall said that the outcome of the investigation does not have to be an all-or-nothing result.

“There are intermediates between the two extremes,” Wall said.

Wall noted that the ZBT chapter has been cooperating with the GLO, IFC and the standards process.

Junior Andrew Bort, president of ZBT, said that he was confident that the chapter would come out of the investigation as a recognized fraternity chapter.

“We believe that we are in the right here,” Bort said. “So we are pretty sure that we will come out of this just fine.”

Wall said that the investigation would likely be completed in one or two weeks.

Marc Elliot, a Wash. U. greek alum, will be speaking at Washington University as part of a public speaking tour. His speech focuses on the value of tolerance and the attitudes and behavior required for it to flourish. (Courtesy of Amanda Coppock)

Elliot, whose visit is sponsored by the Greek Life Office, Women’s Panhellenic Association and the Interfraternity Council (IFC), has Tourette’s syndrome and an intestinal disorder called Hirschsprung’s disease

“The thesis of my speech is basically that I try to convey the value of tolerance and the basic attitudes and behaviors that allow it to flourish,” Elliot said.

“His message is quite serious, but he presents it in a very light-hearted way, so it really allows you to connect what his message is and it really allows you to hear a perspective that you don’t really get to hear about a whole lot,” said Ryan Jasen Henne, director of Greek life.

Elliot said he is excited to be back at the University.

“The last two months, I’ve been all across the country, speaking to complete strangers, so it’s really neat to be able to talk to a group of people who know who I am.”

Elliot believes all attendees will benefit from his speech and from learning about his experiences in dealing with Tourette’s.

“A lot of people didn’t know me personally, but they knew there was a kid with Tourette’s on campus because it’s very visible,” Elliot said. “I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised, thinking they might know me, and realize there’s a lot you don’t know about people.”

Elliot’s speaking career has taken him to middle schools, high schools, colleges and nonprofit organizations across the country.

“It’s really has been a wide range of audiences, and each time, depending on the audience, I try to make it conducive for that type of audience,” he said.

Henne said the speech fills a gap in discussions on campus, since disabilities often do not come up in discussions about diversity.

“It is a serious topic that doesn’t really get a lot of air time, so to be able to educate people on Tourette’s syndrome and also on his personal life of being a man growing up in the world with a disability, it’s something that not a lot of people have had a whole lot of exposure to,” Henne said.

Junior Kevin Smith, IFC president, said there were several reasons why members of the University community would benefit from Elliot’s program.

“I don’t think there’s any one specific reason for [students] to attend. His speech is a positive message basically good for anyone to hear,” Smith said.

According to junior Amanda Coppock, WPA president, Elliot’s visit is the result of a collaboration between multiple campus organizations.

“The WPA and IFC and all the exec boards sat down, and we talked about it and decided for any community, it’s important to talk about diversity, and this was a great way to do it. Marc talks about a really unique part of diversity that I don’t think gets discussed in depth all the time,” Coppock said. “We decided it would be an excellent event for Greek life and the Greek Life Office and WPA and IFC to host for the entire Wash. U. community.”

Coppock believes the University already does a good job in addressing tolerance and diversity but thinks more discussion can always be beneficial.

“I think that our campus tries to be really progressive and tries to have a lot of conversations about diversity and important issues, and this is another way of doing that,” she said.

According to Henne, the Greek community has a special connection to Elliot, who was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, but Elliot’s message applies to a much broader audience.

“For us, he is a Greek man, but the cause that he represents and the issues that he’s going to speak about really do speak and transcend all boundaries of race, gender, ethnicity, etc,” Henne said. “It’s truly an opportunity for us in Greek life to be a frontrunner in presenting to the campus-wide population an issue that affects people of the world.”

Henne believes anyone can rally behind and discuss the issues Elliot will address.

“We’re hoping what’s going to happen is that people are going to hear this message and start having more conversations about it,” Henne said.

More than 200 students, and at least eight from each fraternity, attended. In addition to the students already in chapters, 60 students currently considering joining Greek life participated. The men undertook different projects to improve the school, such as painting walls in classrooms, the cafeteria and the gym, packing boxes and fixing desks.

This is the only event during recruitment in which all the fraternities collaborate.

“The purpose of the event was to bring the Greek community together in a positive way and add service to the recruitment process—something that has been lacking in the past,” senior Dan Cate, president of the Interfraternity Council (IFC), said. “Fraternities take philanthropy and service extremely seriously. Almost everyone has their own signature philanthropy event, and it only makes sense that we would all come together during recruitment to help a school in need of work.”

According to Ryan Henne, director of Greek life, community service is a vital part of Greek life that adds to the more visible aspects of fratenities and sororities on campus.

“I think that the potential new members got to see a real side of Greek life and that they liked what they saw. Fraternity life is more than just a social outlet. Joining a fraternity connects you to something bigger than yourself. Serving our community is one aspect of that mission,” Henne said.

Cate added that the fraternities will be involved with community service programs throughout the year.

“I believe that Greek life and community service have always been linked together and will continue to be in the future,” Cate said.

The Service Recruitment Day was a successful program, from both the point of view of the fraternities and of Langston Middle School.

“The school was incredibly thankful for all of our help. They couldn’t thank us enough,” Henne said. “I think in the end, through a lot of hard work by the Interfraternity Council and each chapter, we were able to give back to the community and add something special to the entire recruitment process.”

In addition to this event, the Greek Life Office works with other campus groups on community service events throughout the year for the whole student body. Greek life is a part of Service First, Dance Marathon and Relay for Life, among other events.

Senior Andrew Kline, former president of Theta Xi, said he hopes that this event will occur again in the future.

“We’re hopefully going to try and do it every year,” Kline said.

Junior Jeff Lesser, president of Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT), agreed with Kline and hopes to see Greek life join together for more events like this because of the effect they have on the area surrounding the University.

As part of that desire to increase community service activity, the ZBT chapter at the University is partnering with United Way this year to tutor at schools and to help in old-age homes.

“Ideally, these service days should happen not only once a year but once every semester or a couple times every semester,” Lesser said. “It was really a terrific day, a great idea and an excellent way to make a positive difference in the St. Louis community.”

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