“In
addition,
the
Interfraternity
Council
has
encouraged chapters to hold
events to engage with first
semester
students
to
allow
those students to explore the
community prior to participating
in winter recruitment, when they
are eligible. All of the policies
mentioned above also apply to
these engagement events.”
“To have a cone of silence
around an issue is really
difficult”
The Daily obtained an email
sent by School of Music, Theatre
and
Dance
senior
Benjamin
Jozwiak, IFC vice president of
recruitment, to all attendees of
the IFC Open Forum on Sept.
16. The forum is an event where
every IFC-affiliated fraternity
has
a
table
for
interested
students to learn more about
their organization. In the email,
Jozwiak encouraged students
“regardless
of
eligibility”
to attend the open houses.
However, he instructed only
eligible students to formally
register for recruitment through
the Recruitment and Intake
Gateway.
Jozwiak did not respond to a
request for comment. The Daily
also reached out to all IFC-
affiliated fraternities on campus
but did not receive any responses
by the time of publication.
In an interview with The Daily,
Nicole Banks, assistant dean of
students and interim director of
Fraternity and Sorority Life, said
the University sent materials
in the mail and direct emails
to all first-year students clearly
outlining the new eligibility
requirements. In addition, Banks
said the FSL Office held public
presentations with leaders of
chapters and councils, alumni
and advisers to discuss the new
regulations.
Banks said enforcement of
the
policy
centered
around
making sure it was well-known,
especially
among
incoming
students and their families.
“And if someone really wants
to suppress something that’s
happening and especially if it’s
happening off-campus, they’ll
find a way, because we’re not
spies,” Banks said. “We’re not
out in spaces monitoring what
students are doing at their off-
campus homes or facilities.”
Banks explained students who
are not eligible for recruitment
are allowed to attend events
open to the public in order to
learn more about the various
fraternities and sororities at
the University. However, only
eligible students are allowed to
attend closed recruitment events,
such as invite-only events, which
are meant for potential new
members and current members
of the fraternity, she said.
“If a chapter is holding a
closed event that is for their
members and their potential new
members, then people ought to
meet the institutional eligibility
criteria and their headquarter’s
eligibility criteria,” Banks said.
“I hope students operated in
good faith, that if an event were
open, there wasn’t anyone who
was turned away for any reason.”
But all students interviewed
for this article took part in at
least some of the rush process,
and The Daily has obtained
text messages of IFC-affiliated
fraternity
brothers
asking
freshmen to come to various
invite-only rush events. One
student said he learned about
rush through a post on the Class
of 2023 Facebook group by the
IFC-affiliated fraternity he is
currently pledging, while others
attended the IFC Open Forum.
Banks said the FSL Office
has heard rumors from students
about violations of this policy.
However,
Banks
said
these
rumors have been anonymous
and
have
not
named
the
organizations that participated,
making
it
difficult
for
the
University to take action.
“To have a cone of silence
around
an
issue
is
really
difficult,”
Banks
said.
“The
thought that these chapters,
or some of these chapters, are
violating a policy that could lead
to harm, and not to have anything
to narrow the scope of where to
look, who to talk to, when to be
concerned, what activities look
like, what the extent of potential
harm could be is really difficult.”
The
Daily
contacted
the
headquarters
of
every
IFC-
affiliated fraternity on campus.
Alpha Delta Phi, Alpha Tau
Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Delta
Upsilon, Delta Tau Delta, Phi
Kappa Psi, Psi Upsilon, Sigma
Chi and Sigma Nu all responded,
the majority writing they have
no role in enforcing University
policies that they believe infringe
on students’ constitutional rights
to free association.
The headquarters for Chi Phi,
Delta Sigma Phi, Lambda Chi
Alpha, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi
Kappa Tau, Phi Kappa Alpha,
Theta Delta Chi, Theta Xi and
Triangle did not reply by time of
publication.
The Daily contacted multiple
sources on-campus requesting
an interview without anonymity
to
discuss
their
knowledge
of
IFC-affiliated
fraternities
recruiting freshmen students.
All individuals either did not
respond or declined to comment,
citing fear of retaliation or social
repercussions from the fraternity
and sorority community.
Banks urged those who have
knowledge of policy violations to
report these situations to the FSL
Office. She noted students can
choose to report anonymously if
they’d prefer.
“If people are circumventing
recruitment
processes,
tips,
complaints, reports to our office
help us to have constructive
conversations and interventions
where we need to,” Banks said.
“If there’s compelling evidence
an organization violated policies,
a panel will review that and
determine
first
whether
or
not there’s responsibility for
violating policy, but also what’s
the appropriate sanction.”
“Because of dirty rush, I’m
not supposed to be rushing”
Student 2 is a freshman who
received a bid from an IFC-
affiliated fraternity but decided
not to continue with the pledging
process.
Student
2
believes
freshmen made up the majority
of
students
participating
in
recruitment events and every
IFC-affiliated fraternity had fall
recruitment of freshmen. The
Daily could not independently
confirm these statements.
“Literally
every
single
affiliated frat did fall rush,”
Student 2 said. “For the freshmen,
I think it might be they count
them as winter rushes, so they
get registered when those do.”
According to Banks, students
planning to pursue membership
in an IFC-affiliated fraternity
are required to complete the
Recruitment and Intake Gateway
and register within the Campus
Director
database.
Chapters
are also supposed to provide
the names of all students who
received a bid.
Despite
the
University’s
regulations, Student 3, a current
freshman pledge in another
IFC-affiliated fraternity, said
he felt many people on campus
knew IFC-affiliated fraternities
were accepting freshmen as new
members. Student 3 shared a
screenshot of the pledge group
chat he belongs to with The
Daily.
“I don’t think there was a
huge impact, like I don’t feel like
‘Oh, don’t tell anyone’ or that I’m
not allowed to talk about this or
anything,” Student 3 said.
Additionally,
Student
1
said he has not taken part in
any of the training programs
required by the University or
his fraternity’s headquarters.
Though
necessary
training
varies
between
individual
fraternities, the University and
the IFC require all potential new
fraternity members to complete
workshops
and
courses
on
bystander
behavior,
hazing
awareness and the University’s
policies on sexual and gender-
based misconduct.
“Because of dirty rush, I’m
not supposed to be rushing, I
have received zero training,”
Student 1 said. “Sophomores are
enrolled in that because they
are not in this hidden process.
They can do it because they are
known by the University, but if I
do it I screw over myself and the
fraternity, so I can’t.”
“If you are a pledge, you
should be doing the training
that’s necessary”
One training program all
new members of fraternities are
required to complete is a 1.5-
hour University module on how
to be a sober monitor. A sober
monitor is a fraternity member
who does not drink and works
to keep parties and guests safe
in situations involving alcohol
and/or drugs.
Student 3 said he has acted
as a sober monitor at one party,
serving alcohol at the bar.
Student 3 confirmed he wore
the neon orange shirt required by
IFC policy to identify the party’s
designated sober monitors. In
lieu of official sober monitor
training, Student 3 explained he
received approximately five to
10 minutes of verbal instruction
from a brother and a written
list describing all the roles. The
Daily has obtained a copy of
these written instructions.
“I was sober monitoring,
obviously I didn’t have the
training for that, I was just kind
of given an overview by one
of the brothers that had been
trained,” Student 3 said. “Within
the people that were sobering, I
would say it was roughly about
25 percent pledges and 75
percent of brothers who’d done
the training. The head sober
kind of like went through all
those descriptions and asked if
we understood what our job is, if
we had any questions about it.”
Though Student 3 said he
felt confident in his ability to
carry out his roles, he said this
is because he didn’t encounter a
high-stress situation during his
shift.
“If you are a pledge, you
should be doing the training
that’s necessary,” Student 3 said.
According to Banks, having
freshmen students serve as
sober monitors without training
puts everyone who attends the
event at risk. In addition, she
said the situation is unfair to
Ann Arbor residents who live
near chapter houses and expect
proper risk management.
“I worry — I’m not saying this
is the case, because I feel like
we’re talking hypothetically —
I worry about hazing,” Banks
said. “What makes this person
take on the responsibility of
managing
risk
management
at, I don’t know, a chapter
facility of 6,000 square feet and
hundreds of guests at a tailgate
here in Michigan?... I think that
the first-year student may not
recognize the lack of power
in that situation to actually
confront problematic behavior
and risk.”
“They didn’t bring up the
policy”
Student 4, a freshman who
decided not to continue with the
recruitment process after rush,
said members of the fraternities
he interacted with encouraged
freshmen students like himself
to participate in recruitment.
“Brothers in the frats in
Welcome Week told everyone,
‘You should rush,’ that freshmen
could rush,” Student 4 said.
“They didn’t bring up the policy.”
Student
5,
a
sophomore,
took
part
in
IFC-affiliated
recruitment this year and his
freshman
year,
before
the
deferred
recruitment
policy
went into effect. He decided
not to join an organization both
years. Student 5 said the process
this year seemed unaffected by
the new University regulation.
“Since
it
wasn’t
strictly
enforced at all that freshmen
weren’t allowed to rush, it was
basically just like a sanctioned
rush
with
freshmen
and
sophomores,” Student 5 said.
“I didn’t notice any differences
between
when
I
rushed
freshman year and sophomore
year.”
According to Student 1, the
nature of these recruitment
events varied each time.
“After all the open houses,
they’ll text you like a day later
to come to the house at 10
tomorrow,” Student 1 said. “And
you go back and it completely
depends. Sometimes it was a
pretty chill event, where you
were sober and just had a good
time. There were some where
the only point of that was to get
drunk.”
All students interviewed said
that to their knowledge, none
of the Panhellenic sororities
recruited
freshmen
this
semester, and The Daily has not
received any confirmation of
Panhellenic sororities engaging
in unsanctioned rush. However,
one freshman student said one
of the fraternity rush events
he attended was hosted with a
Panhellenic sorority.
When asked for a statement,
LSA
senior
Taylor
Fegan,
Panhellenic
Association
president, wrote to The Daily
that sororities did not recruit
freshmen students this semester.
She noted the association works
with
various
campus
and
The
results
of
the
assessment showed that while
the schools are overall in fair
condition, without substantial
investment, many will fall
into poor ratings within a few
years.
The assessment estimated
it would cost $823 million
to keep current buildings in
good condition, not including
other capital costs such as
buses, technology, equipment
and school additions, which is
estimated to cost an additional
$618 million. Together, the
bond and the Sinking Fund, an
Ann Arbor millage levied to
aid in repair and construction
of school buildings, provide
enough funding to cover these
costs.
As Michigan is one of only
about a dozen states that does
not provide state funding for
school infrastructure, many
districts across the state also
face the costs of improving
aging infrastructure. AAPS
points out in the bond proposal
website
that
surrounding
districts such as Saline, Dexter
and Whitmore Lake have all
started voter-backed facility
upgrades in recent years.
According to the website,
Ann Arbor residents with a
home taxable value of $138,000
— the average in the school
district — will see annual tax
increases of $228.
The Ann Arbor Education
Association,
the
teacher’s
union in Ann Arbor, remained
neutral on the bond proposal.
AAEA
President
Frederick
Klein said the union is trying
to send a message that teachers
are feeling neglected in the
district’s
school
budgeting
process. He said teachers have
been taking pay freezes and
are not advancing up the year-
to-year salary steps, while
watching their take-home pay
shrink because of rising out-
of-pocket costs for health care.
“It was more of a statement
of position that the teachers
took to say, ‘Hey, we want to
also be a priority,’” Klein said.
“You prioritize infrastructure
and all that, which is essential.
But you also need to prioritize
one of the most important
cogs in the wheel, which is the
teachers.”
Klein said the teachers were
not consulted when AAPS
was deciding how the bond
would be spent until late in the
process.
“They did not come to the
teachers until the middle of
September to seek our input
and support, which is really
just superficial at that point,
because the vote was a month
and a half later,” Klein said.
While the union did not
openly support the bond, the
group also did not speak out
against it.
“The union is not coming out
and saying we’re anti-bond,
we’re just remaining neutral,”
Klein
said.
“Individual
teachers, some will support it
and some will not support it.
It’s up to them to make those
decisions when they reach the
ballot box.”
The Ann Arbor Education
Association is expected to
begin bargaining with the
district about financial issues
on Dec. 11.
Public
Policy
senior
Bernadette King Fitzsimons
attended
Eberwhite
Elementary School, Slauson
Middle School and Pioneer
High School. She shared some
of the concerns voiced by
Klein, but King Fitzsimons
said while the schools were
outdated, she did not feel
they were a detriment to her
education.
“I do think the district needs
to invest in infrastructure
updates,”
King
Fitzsimons
said. “But I think the district’s
lack of investment in teacher
salary over the years is deeply
troubling, and needs to be
addressed.”
Prior to the election, King
Fitzsimons said she was not
sure how she was going to
vote. She said she was initially
in support of the bond, but
grew concerned that teacher
salaries would not be raised
along with the investment in
infrastructure.
“In my time as a student in
AAPS, the dedication of my
educators impacted me far
more than any state-of-the-art
classroom could have,” King
Fitzsimons said.
Additionally, new with this
election, voters were able to
check the projected line wait
times at polling places via
the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s
Office. The office is piloting an
initiative to share the number
of people in line and the
estimated wait times reported
by the election inspectors in
real-time.
Ann
Arbor
City
Clerk
Jacqueline Beaudry said in
2018, poll workers submitted
line information to the City
Clerk’s Office so the office
could deploy more resources
where needed. They decided
to
share
that
information
with the public in Tuesday’s
election so that voters could
decide when to vote.
“As a result of that work
in 2018, we thought that this
information
made
public
might also be useful to voters,”
Beaudry said. “So we will still
get that information as poll
workers are entering it, for us
to react, but then the public
could also use it to make
decisions about when is a good
time to go vote or just check in
on things.”
In the future, the office is
planning on implementing the
virtual line checker for the
2020 primary and presidential
elections.
“If everything works as
expected, and we see that it’s a
positive benefit for the public
to have access to this when
there might be more chance
for them to make a decision
about when is a good time to
get out (when they) don’t have
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, November 6, 2019 — 3A
BOND
From Page 1A
FRATS
From Page 1A
community resources to ensure
the safety and wellness of their
members and all University
students.
“The Panhellenic Association
facilitated a partially structured
fall recruitment this year to
transition
our
community,”
Fegan wrote. “Through this
process, we welcomed more
than 75 new members that
met all institutional eligibility
requirements
and
have
continued
to
follow
these
regulations in all other council
and chapter operations. The
Panhellenic
Association,
specifically with regards to
recruitment, operates entirely
independently
of
other
councils.”
When asked why he thinks
sororities might decide not to
conduct
fall
recruitment
of
freshmen, Student 1 explained
he
believes
some
male-
identifying students rely more
heavily on the fraternity and
sorority system.
“Guys need Greek life, but
I feel like for girls it’s more of
an accessory,” Student 1 said.
“Girls I feel like in general
have stronger support systems,
stronger friendships by default,
and they can get into parties.
Guys don’t have strong friends,
guys don’t get into parties. It
matters a lot less for girls.”
Similarly to Student 1, Student
2 feels fraternities determine
much of his social scene.
“Now, as a non-fraternity
affiliated guy, my weekends are
pretty desperate,” Student 2
said.
“It is an easy way to make
connections”
To Student 3, being a part
of a fraternity has been more
beneficial than detrimental to
his college transition. He said
it’s helped him build both a
social and professional network.
“Being
on
campus,
just
overall, I see so many familiar
faces around and whenever I
want to be in a social setting or
be around the brothers, I know
I can just go to the house,”
Student 3 said. “But also the
connections to alumni of the
fraternity, and overall there is
a professional side of it, you are
able to benefit from that wider
network. Also, academically, it’s
nice to have older brothers who
are doing the same major as me,
if I have questions.”
Student 3 said he hasn’t
personally felt overwhelmed by
his fraternity. However, he said
he agrees with the University’s
decision to defer rush, as he
believes it can be a large time
commitment
and
a
high-
pressure environment to join
other fraternities.
“I haven’t felt like I couldn’t
balance it, but I know other
fraternities that probably have
more hazing… So I think leaving
it up to the student’s discretion
is probably not the best thing to
do, if you just look at the entire
student population as a whole,”
Student 3 said.
Though Student 3 mentioned
hazing, The Daily has not
confirmed
that
any
hazing
occurred during recruitment for
any IFC-affiliated fraternity on
campus this semester.
Student 2 said he ultimately
decided not to accept his bid
because he thought pledging
would make it more difficult
to build friendships outside
of the fraternity and keep up
with academics as a freshman.
Because of this, Student 2 said
he understands the University’s
regulations despite disagreeing
with them.
“I think (freshmen) should
(join a fraternity) if they want
to, but I do understand the
merits of winter rush,” Student
2 said. “I think it’s definitely a
good idea to give time to settle
into University life. Because if
you’ve been here three weeks
and you’re already thrown into
this rat race, it’s very tolling.
Just a lot on your mind, and a lot
of time spent, and it could be to
no avail.”
In
contrast,
Student
1
explained he has found his
fraternity to be strong system of
support in his college transition.
“It is an easy way to make
connections,” Student 1 said.
“There are a lot of things when
you first come in that end up
being harder than you think
they’re going to be, and I think
making friends is one of those…
Greek life is in many ways a
mental health tool that many
people don’t realize is a mental
health tool.”
Similar to Student 1, Student
5 said he believes freshmen
should be allowed to participate
in fraternity and sorority life
during their first semester on
campus.
“As a freshman in college,
you are old enough to choose for
yourself what you want to do,”
Student 5 said.
Student 6 is a freshman who
attended several rush events
before deciding not to continue
with the process to join other
organizations instead. Though
Student 6 said he found the
recruitment process to be time-
consuming, he thinks it should
be up to the student to decide if
they want to join a fraternity.
“It’s
not
necessarily
unreasonable for students to do,
if you manage your course load
well,” Student 6 said. “Obviously
it’s a lot of time but I think it’s
still very manageable rushing
a fraternity at the same time. I
know some people drop their
fraternities, if they decide upon
other things they wanted to
pursue… So I mean that’s always
a thing people can do.”
“A culture of dirty rushing”
Student 1 said he believes the
University’s regulations and the
resulting unsanctioned rush has
a negative impact overall.
“I think it’s probably a bad
thing, just because everything is
under the radar,” Student 1 said.
“The University tried to clamp
down on that, they went too far,
and now they have overall less
control because of it.”
Student 3 also said he thinks
there are going to be people
who break the rules regardless.
As a result, the University’s
regulations
ultimately
result
in “a culture of dirty rushing,”
where rush is less regulated and
pledges do not get the training
they need, Student 3 explained.
However, Student 2 said he
thinks less regulation does not
necessarily mean a harsher
pledging process.
“I guess they could if they
wanted to do more weird shit,
because
it’s
not
regulated,”
Student 2 said. “But there’s
an incentive for frats not to
destroy their pledges. The topic
is so sensitive today anyway, if
anything were to come out the
entire system would be shut
down. There’s not much faith
in Greek life from the public’s
perspective anymore.”