UVM TIGHTENS CONTROL OVER FRATS
Burlington Free Press
February 7, 1998
Anne Geggis, Free Press Staff Writer

The University of Vermont is moving to take more control of its Greek system. Officials, however, say it´s unrelated to recent, disruptive incidents at two fraternities.

Under a draft proposal presented Friday to the board of trustees, fraternities and sororities would be recognized through the university itself, rather than the student-run councils, as has been the custom. They would also be held to new requirements concerning grade-point averages, community activities and number of members.

These rules, effective in March, come on the heels of two high-profile incidents that embarrassed UVM last semester. In early December it was discovered members of Lambda Iota fraternity had cut down a 22-foot blue spruce estimated to be worth $5,000 from the chapel yard of the Mount St. Mary Convent.

Earlier, more than 300 students faculty and staff protested in front of the Acacia fraternity. They were incensed over a photo of fraternity pledges making an obscene gesture to a minority student. Included in the new requirements, Greek organizations must:

Achieve a grade-point average equal to the campus average.
Maintain a membership of at least 15.
Sponsor at least three educational programs and one community service project each year.
Risk losing recognition if reports of hazing occur or if the organization is punished twice in the same academic year for unacceptable behavior.

Patrick Brown, director of student life at UVM, emphasized that the new rules were not prompted by those incidents. Similar rules were drafted 31/2 years ago but went nowhere, he said. Dean Batt, vice president for UVM's student affairs, said this is being done to preserve the Greek system, which has seen its membership slip from 11 to 6 percent of the student body in the past 15 years. "Frankly, I´m worried about the Greek system," Batt said. Some fraternity members believe these rules will drive a nail through the heart of the Greek system at UVM.

"I think these rules are going to make it awfully tough for the Greek society to survive here," said Tyler Osmond, a sophomore biology major from Waterbury Center who is also a member of the Sigma Phi Society.

"The university obviously doesn´t want us here. This way, they can still look good while moving it out slowly."

Osmond cited the rules about grade-point averages as an example of the punitive nature of the new requirements. "Whatever the campus average is, it shouldn´t have anything to do with it," Osmond said.

The student trustee who sits on the committee, however, didn´t think the rules were harsh enough.

"It´s long overdue," said Ainsley Rose, a student trustee from Wellesley, Mass. "We need to make up for lost time and be strict."

Students of color vented their frustrations about inaction to the Student Activities Committee. They lamented how discriminatory incidents against them persist and that no one has led the Office of Multicultural Affairs permanently since Anthony Chavez was fired in 1995.

" There is no one to hold accountable," said Catalina Villa, a senior from Bogota, Colombia. "Morally, your school is going to look really bad."

Enrique Corredero, director of UVM public relations, said the leader of the Office of Multicultural Affairs would be in place by September 1999 and the administration had started publicly reporting all incidents of bias against students of color in order to discourage it.

"The reality is that a lot has happened in the last few years," Corredero said. "Maybe it´s not to the level where it meets all the expectations."

Trustees paused from the round of meetings Friday to honor George Washington Henderson, an 1877 UVM graduate who was the first African-American elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a collegiate academic honor society. A portrait of Henderson was unveiled in the Memorial Lounge.

Richard Dennis, chairman of UVM´s board of trustees who graduated from the institution in 1957, said Henderson´s story might inspire future students of color.

"When I first came to UVM in 1953, I was scared to death," said Dennis, an African-American. "First, I didn´t know whether I belonged here. Second, I didn´t know if I would survive."

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