ST. ANTHONY Hall has been the locus of recent controversy stemming from an errant e-mail complete with a purported schedule of hazing activities. But will any punishment of force, not the usual flimsy set of community service or probation sanctions, be enforced against the fraternity?
Based on past Inter-Fraternity Council decisions, it is likely that St. Anthony Hall will suffer no more than a slap on the wrist in the form of some type of social probation or community service requirement. But who is to blame for this type of lackadaisical decision? The IFC.
While the IFC's Judiciary Committee certainly does represent a noble cause, its power is undermined by a veil of dubious checks and balances, a deleterious privilege reserved for the IFC itself. Last year, for example, the Zeta Psi fraternity faced charges for a serious alcohol-related incident. This culminated with the IFC President's Council overriding the IFCJC's recommendation of expelling Zeta Psi from the IFC, and instead, opting for lesser punishments for Zeta Psi.
Particularly irksome about this verdict was the fact that, as The Cavalier Daily reported, Zeta Psi was investigated not too long ago for, among other reasons, charges dealing with racial insensitivity at a party in which several people painted their faces black in order that they depict black figures ("National chapters suspend two fraternities," Nov. 19, 2002). Insofar as actual punishments were concerned, Andrew Paradis, IFC president, could not comment on the Zeta Psi incident. This begs the question of whether, in Zeta Psi's case, the punishments they received last semester were sufficient warning if suspension -- a far worse punishment -- failed to mitigate future acts of recklessness.
Once the IFC launches its own inquiry into potential misconduct at the Hall, the IFC will likely encounter a similar situation in this case. If by any means, the IFCJC recommends the Hall's expulsion from the IFC -- which seems to be a remote possibility -- then it is likely that the IFC has the ability to reduce the suggested punishments, as they did with Zeta Psi.
Frankly, it would be absurd to consider the e-mail insubstantial proof of hazing at the Hall. The excuse that the e-mail was a "joke" is dismissible on several points. To begin with, if the e-mail was a joke to trick the pledge into believing that he was going to be hazed, for example, then it would first have to begin with a confirmation the fact that it was a joke for the other brothers in the fraternity, unless it was the case that the pledge was also sent the e-mail. More importantly, though, it was by no means funny. But there are other factors that might portend such an outcome.
The IFC has ingrained within it a reluctance to punish fraternities. The reasoning behind this is complex; many IFC members are friends, and most importantly, its members have a group mentality. This group mentality is an inextricable feature from a council of fraternities because the member fraternities themselves stress group unity so heavily. Because of this, one person's actions can affect the image of the entire fraternity. Each member is in a far more precarious situation than is a non-fraternity student simply because there is a higher probability of potential risk. Empathy on both the larger scheme of fraternity affairs and the more intimate level of friendship renders professionalism, namely partiality, more difficult than would be ideally expected.
Finally, fraternities deal frequently with legal issues like underage drinking, making many of the organizations susceptible to the punishments they approve in the IFC. Again, this would make members of the IFC reticent in dealing strict punishments to offenders of IFC standards of conduct. Otherwise, it is likely that their punishments, if too severe, could hurt their own fraternities.
Paradis mentions that "the people in the IFCJC know what punishments will have the most impact." Unfortunately, it is irrelevant whether they know this because the IFC provides the ultimate decision. Even if the IFC acted in a similar fashion, it is curious why Zeta Psi violated IFC regulations again after the 2002 controversy. Apparently, whatever punishments they gave had little impact, if any, on Zeta Psi's conduct in subsequent years.
It has become increasingly evident that the IFC must increase the potency of the IFCJC by abolishing the IFC's system of checks and balances or at least its ability to override the suggestions of the IFCJC. Paradis provides the objection that "the IFCJC is much more well equipped to handle cases of hazing because they're better able to recognize hazing than a non-Greek student." Though this might be true, it is also true that some of their members are the likely to haze, thereby making them less inclined to punishing hazers.Partiality runs far too deep in the IFC's veins to give any sanction any real force worthy of jurisprudence in the context of student self-governance.
In making the IFCJC a more respectable arm of student self-governance, it is wise to transfer the power to deal with cases dealing strictly with hazing, a clear violation of UJC as well as state regulations, thereby removing it from the partiality of the IFC. The essence of self-governance has been hampered in the past by IFC verdicts which did not give fraternities punishments of correspondent severity to the acts the organizations committed. If the IFC continues to manipulate the IFCJC's existence into a mechanism for protecting fraternity interests at the stake of a student-run judiciary system, then something has gone terribly awry within the University's Greek community. Despite what the IFC might believe, the heart of this University is responsible student self-governance.
Charles Lee is a Cavalier Daily Viewpoint writer.
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