The Office of the Dean of Students is coordinating an effort to create a fourth governing council for fraternities and sororities.
The proposed new council is an attempt to accommodate those fraternities and sororities that do not necessarily fall under existing fraternal councils, Asst. Dean of Students Aaron Laushway said.
The council - which will be known as the Fraternity and Sorority Council- still must be approved by Student Council as a Contracted Independent Organization, Laushway said.
Jamey Thompson, Student Council vice president for organizations, said he does not foresee any problems with the FSC's approval as a CIO.
Though Student Council has not voted on making the FSC a CIO, the FSC does have office space in Newcomb Hall.
"They were not a CIO when they received office space - it did not go through the Appropriations Committee," Council Chief Financial Officer John Finely said. "The decision was not made as it should have been made - it did not go through the appropriate channels. The decision was made in conjunction with the move from Peabody."
The current three fraternal governing organizations: the Inter-Fraternity Council, the Inter-Sorority Council and the Black Fraternal Council, all said they support the creation of the FSC.
Since every fraternity and sorority operates under different guidelines, certain organizations would be better situated as members of the FSC rather than the IFC, ISC or BFC, IFC President Wes Kaupinen said.
Two representatives from the IFC, ISC and BFC will compose the FSC's first members, after which other fraternities or sororities that do not fall under those councils' jurisdiction will be added, Laushway said.
"These groups have formed as culturally or ethnically based fraternal organizations promoting sisterhood and brotherhood with ethnic appreciation," he said.
"In the very near future two new sororities will be announced," he added. "Currently two interest groups of men are investigating bringing two fraternities to the University through the FSC."
Laushway appointed Kasara Davidson, a fourth-year College student and Delta Sigma Theta sorority member, as FSC president, while fourth-year College students Heather Perry and Eric Laborde will serve as vice president for judiciary and secretary, respectively.
Davidson said she hopes people will not consider the FSC as "the other" council, but rather a group that will facilitate the addition of new student organizations.
"The IFC and ISC are so swamped with their existing organizations, so the FSC was created to allow [Greek] organizations to join the University in a timely fashion," she said.
The respective members of the IFC, ISC, BFC and the FSC are not divided along racial lines, Davidson said.
"We are separated basically by the dates on which [each fraternity or sorority] was founded and the specific needs of each organization as opposed to racial guidelines," she said.
BFC Co-President Michael McPheeters said he supports the endeavor.
"It is a necessary addition to provide a comfortable home to those organization that wouldn't feel comfortable" in the present fraternal governing councils, McPheeters said.
Asst. Dean of Students Pablo Davis, who is helping an interest group seeking creation of a sorority under the FSC, said the new council will facilitate the addition of new fraternities and sororities.
"It creates another kind of space for students to be involved in," Davis said. "There are more flowers in the field"
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