The InterFraternity Council's Judicial Inquiry Board, which has long had a reputation for inactivity and inefficiency, has begun taking action against several fraternities for violating University policies, Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski said. After a backlog of violation reports earlier this semester, JIB is catching up with handling the reports and has placed "about six" chapters on social probation, IFC President Matt Baker said. The College and Engineering senior refused to identify the chapters. OFSA Assistant Director and JIB advisor Tom Carroll also refused to release this information. "The IFC does not want to name specific chapters because it would be unfair to those chapters for recruitment," he explained. Violations include charging door fees, serving drinks out of kegs at parties, holding unregistered events, refusing to admit graduate student observers and holding events during freshmen move-in weekend. Chapters on social probation cannot host social events during a set period of time, which varies between three to 10 weeks depending on the severity of the violation, Baker said. A few of the chapters also received fines ranging from $100 to $400. IFC Judicial Manager and Delta Kappa Epsilon brother Mike Steib said the judicial board -- whose other members are Baker, Pi Kappa Phi brother and College junior Adam Goldstein, Alpha Chi Rho brother and Wharton junior Jason Moment and Sigma Alpha Epsilon and College junior John Zurawski -- bases its decisions on reports by the graduate student observers who visit parties several times a night. Observers make sure fraternity brothers check identification, enforce OFSA and University policies such as the BYOB rule and ensure that parties aren't charging door fees. OFSA Director Scott Reikofski said the observers' reports only "provide feedback" to the office and JIB, but do not actually determine the punishments, which is solely the responsibility of the JIB. Judicial boards at some other universities, by contrast, are composed of both administrators and students. Peter Hasenkamp, president of Dartmouth College's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter, said the judicial committee at his school consists of representatives from the IFC, the Panhellenic Council and the administration. This collaborative board helps to avoid any "conflicts of interest." But Steib said he does not expect JIB members to encounter such problems because their "punishments are grounded in precedents." And Reikofski stressed that board members cannot participate in any discussions or decisions involving their own chapters. OFSA directors also review both observers' reports and the JIB rulings, Baker said. If they suspect JIB of being too lenient or "incompetent," the University administration may step in and review the case. Some fraternity presidents say this potential threat biases JIB's decisions. Theta Xi President Dustin Hausladen, for example, said that although JIB is moving in the right direction, it is still "not as effective as it can be" in punishing chapters. Because the administrators would most likely impose harsher punishments if they step in, "JIB wants to appease the University" by paying closer attention to policies that the University deems more important, the Engineering senior added.
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