Student Body Vice President Patrick Kobler brought up a discussion in Tuesday’s Student Senate meeting about expanding a current rule to all campus organizations.
The rule pertains to Greek recruitment and mandates that all IFC pledges must have a 2.25 GPA, as well as no disciplinary probations.
Kobler said the rule was “unfair,” and it should apply to all organizations or it should be removed from the Student Code of Conduct.
“My biggest thing is to make sure it is fair,” he said, explaining that “every organization has a discrimination clause,” but it was unfair to put restrictions on Greek organizations and not other organizations on campus. “I don’t see how you can bring communities together if there are different standards.”
Several senators disagreed with Kobler’s proposal.
Sen. Whitney Stenger noted that fraternities and sororities are social organizations, unlike many of the other groups on campus.
Kobler responded by saying everyone has the same access to social activities and that the Greek organizations weren’t pushing them on students.
Sen. Barret Matthews said students should be able to be a part of any organization. Matthews also said that members of an organization can sometimes identify problems with other members and lend a helping hand.
Sen. Sarah Acosta said that organizations provide a social outlet for students that can’t or don’t join a fraternity or sorority and expanding the recruitment rule would discourage students from becoming active on campus.
Sen. Marc Bullock argued that fraternities and sororities don’t have the same rights as other campus organizations because, they are not chartered by the university and are governed by a national organization. He compared the two groups to apples and oranges.
Kobler responded by saying it wasn’t so much about charters, as a campus-wide standard.
“Everyone on campus should have equal rules that they have to follow,” Kobler said. “It’s a matter of fairness.”
Other senators liked the proposal.
Sen. Andrew Robinson said the change would offer “congruency” because all organizations are required to have a mandatory organization meeting and are governed by the party registration policy.
Sen. Jakin Vela suggested the GPA might be lowered to 2.0 as a compromise.
Student Senate also approved the recommendation for Brian Crouch as engineering senator and passed a resolution honoring Rosie McSweeny.
McSweeny is the current head of the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. She is leaving SMU this Friday.
