New policy for IFC recruitment

IFC will enforce alcohol-free recruitment events starting this semester.

By Colleen Boyle and Jourdan Cole, Collegian Staff Writers

The Interfraternity Council (IFC) announced Sunday all spring recruitment events will be alcohol-free, which comes on the heels of a two-month-old social policy tightening the rules for all social events.

IFC President Max Wendkos (senior-marketing and psychology) said one goal of the “values-based” recruitment strategy is to provide for the safety of all participating in the recruitment process, which begins next Monday.
“With this new recruitment program, we are looking to, one, ensure safety of our recruits, and two, provide for our fraternities a recruitment of students that would reflect the values that our organizations were founded upon,” he said.
IFC officials believe the new policy will not deter potential recruits for the spring semester. But spring recruits who violate the policy will be disqualified from recruitment, Wendkos said.
“We have developed a system of fines and social repercussions to discourage our chapters from violating the new policy,” he said.
Fraternities will be penalized with a $1,000 fine if found in violation of the policy, IFC Vice President for Membership Mark Mixon said.
He said that at no point should alcohol and new members be in the same place at the same time during recruitment. A third party will monitor the formal recruitment events, he said, and IFC officials will be spot-checking fraternities during regular social events to ensure the policy is being upheld.
Wendkos said he also plans to continue the policy into the fall 2010 semester, tweaking the policy as IFC leaders identify ways to improve it.
“While this semester is definitely going to serve as a test run, we do intend to maintain that part of the policy,” he said.
The council hopes with these new regulations chapters will be able to “increase the exposure of
potential new members to the core values in fraternity life,” including brotherhood and virtue, according to an IFC press release issued Sunday night.
Dan Cartwright, IFC vice president of communications, said he is unsure of what the effects of the policy will be in the immediate future but is hopeful about the long-lasting effects.
“We predict that these changes in policy will have a positive effect on the community,” Cartwright (junior- energy, business and finance) said.
Mendkos and Cartwright both emphasized the importance of maintaining the ideals of their organizations and how this policy will assist in that goal.
“It’s incredibly important in our community to have members who carry these values with them day to day,” Wendkos said.
University Park Undergraduate Association President Gavin Keirans supported the new policy, which he said will affect the campus as a whole.
“I think the focus is on negatives when there is a laundry list of good within the greek community,” Keirans (senior-business management) said. “Away from alcohol is a positive. It’s important that the IFC and the community as a whole is focused on improvement.”