One year after calling on fraternities to improve their resource management skills, today the University's Board of Visitors will listen to the findings of the fraternity working group, a group of fraternity members, alumni and administrators.
Headed by Dean of Students Penny Rue, the fraternity working group aims to strengthen and stabilize the University's fraternity system, which recently has felt financial strains amid conflicts with administrators over the timing of formal rush.
Items in the proposal include increased administrative resources, improved alumni interaction and long-term housing improvements for fraternity members.
"The recommendations focus on developing the relationship between the University and the fraternity system," said Inter-Fraternity Council President Justin Saunders, a member of the fraternity working group.
"It is not surprising that when students have complete freedom there will be short-term thinking," Rue said.
Rue also wants to improve the conditions within the fraternity lifestyle and help the fraternities foster a more positive academic environment.
"The stated fraternity ideals are absolutely consistent with the ideals of the University," Rue said. "However, fraternities have been drifting and enjoying a lively social life. This sometimes means they are living in a way not conducive to learning."
Upperclassmen have turned away from living in fraternity houses because of an atmosphere that impedes studying, Rue said.
Rue also said she has concerns relating to unsafe conditions found in many fraternity houses -- particularly in light of the electrical fire in the Phi Kappa Psi house in October.
Some fraternity members have claimed that they are placed in a difficult financial situation after former Dean of Students Robert T. Canevari moved rush from the fall to the spring in 1998. But Rue has in the past and continues to disagree with this opinion.
The fraternities' "poor management of facilities and finance" caused monetary strains on the houses, rather than spring rush as many have assumed, she said.
Even though the parties involved come from very different standpoints, both Saunders and Rue agree the group has made step in the right direction toward fostering better relations between the fraternity system and the administration.
The fraternity working group "has been an open forum of communication between many different aspects of the University community, allowing us to collaborate in mutual interest of strengthening the system," Saunders said. "The working group itself is representative of the changing relations between fraternity leadership and the University."
President John T. Casteen formed the fraternity working group in February 2000 in response to a Board of Visitors resolution asking the administration to form a plan assisting fraternities both fiscally and operationally.
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