The Office of the Alcohol and Other Drug Program Initiatives and the Interfraternity Council are taking steps towards forging a more amicable relationship.
On April 10, a group of fraternity chapter presidents met with the AOD in an effort to promote better relationships between chapter presidents and AOD monitors, so that the first point of interaction between the two parties would not be disciplinary in nature.
President of the IFC and College junior Bradley Freeman said that in the past there was a lack of communication between the IFC chapter presidents and the AOD monitors.
“There was not much communication up until an event was getting shut down,” Freeman said. “Our goals were to form a relationship and better understanding between monitors and presidents.”
The AOD has not responded to request for comment.
IFC executive board member and College junior Tobias Milligan was in charge of organizing the meeting, which marked the first time a formal discussion has taken place between AOD monitors and chapter presidents.
“I think chapter presidents left the meeting being able to put a face to the name of the AOD monitors,” Milligan said.
“Hopefully, we can have one of these every year or every semester to improve the relationship between monitors and presidents,” he added.
Freeman echoed Milligan’s sentiment, noting that he thought the meeting had positive impacts for building a relationship with AOD monitors.
“I thought it went pretty well,” Freeman said. “Hopefully meeting people outside the situation of a party can help when trying to build relationships with them.”
Director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life Eddie Banks-Crosson said the meeting with the AOD was initiated by the IFC.
“It was really to give folks the room to talk about best practices,” Banks-Crosson said. “I think that meeting was a great opportunity for relationship building, for folks to put names with faces, so that, as we’re working together, it’s a smoother partnership.”
The meeting also provided a space for the organization to review their policies regarding registered parties that take place on and off-campus.
The AOD requires all student groups to register any planned events with them. Without AOD approval, student organizations may not publicize or host any events. Social chairs of fraternity chapters are required to submit event-management forms 10 days prior to the event they would like to register. Freeman said they are subsequently required to meet with their chapter advisor and an AOD representative to go over the form line by line, in order “to meet your needs while still meeting the safety and risk requirements of the school.”
While these requirements may seem too extensive for some, Freeman said he recognizes the importance of the detailed nature of the registration process.
“The items that they have [to submit on the registration form] are really to contextualize the event for University administration to make sure they go smoothly,” Freeman said. “It’s very understandable why they would seek that detail.”
Freeman added that the meeting with the AOD is something the IFC executive board would like to see carry on with future generations of board members.
“It’s something that we would like to continue in the future when the new cycle of presidents come into office,” Freeman said. “The whole point is keeping the relationship because we don’t have regular meetings with the AOD as IFC exec board.”
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