The Inter-Sorority Council voted against a measure yesterday that would have changed the group into a National Panhellenic Council governing system.
The ISC governing body consists of one member from each of the 16 sororities. In a vote requiring unanimous approval, 12 representatives voted for the change while four voted against it. The vote was conducted by silent ballot in a procedure that stressed each sorority's strict confidentiality.
"It's not a vote that can be characterized as good or bad," ISC President Christina Valencia said. "It's just a matter of deciding which system we thought would be best able to govern our community's system."
According to Valencia, some people were interested in the change because of the different resources, including programming and system support, the NPC could have offered the University's sororities and the ISC governing body. One significant difference is that, under current ISC laws, the president of each house is liable if her sorority is sued, while NPC removes this responsibility.
"I didn't think that the vote would be unanimous because that would be a big change, and many people don't like change," said Alpha Phi ISC Rep. Ashley Gorman. "But I was surprised that four houses voted no. I think a lot of people think that joining NPC would limit our self-governance."
During this process, the executive board concerned itself primarily with making sure all of its members were well educated about the vote they were about to make, Valencia said, emphasizing that the ISC was not trying to represent what each chapter felt about the switch to NPC but about the decision as a community.
"I'm glad that we've worked together as a sorority community to make this choice in a collaborative effort," Valencia said. "We're just going to work together to make sure that everyone is satisfied with our system as a whole."
Aaron Laushway, associate dean of students and director of fraternity and sorority life, said he appreciated the effort the ISC put into arriving at its decision and said the administration respects student self-governance.
"I know the women of the ISC studied the proposal thoroughly," Laushway said. "I'm sure that they thoroughly considered the pros and cons and voted accordingly. I support our students governing themselves and researching and promoting our council."
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