In response to higher sexual assault rates in Fraternity and Sorority Life, ASUO senators Andrew Lubash and Samantha Cohen created a working group last week in hopes to suspend the growth of FSL at the University of Oregon.

A working group is a necessary step within ASUO before presenting a resolution, according to Lubash.

According to the official senate resolution, the ASUO will ask Interim President Scott Coltrane to immediately suspend FSL until rates of sexual assault drop.

“The Associated Students of the University of Oregon call on University of Oregon President Scott Coltrane to immediately suspend the expansion of Fraternity and Sorority Life until an official campus climate survey indicates that FSL no longer contributes disproportionately to the number of sexual assaults occurring at the University of Oregon,” the resolution said.

Lubash believes this approach will be more effective because it calls on opinion of the student body representatives, as opposed to the Senate Task Force recommending to suspend the growth of FSL.

For this resolution to pass, 4/5 of the senate must vote to approve it. If approved, the results will be presented to Coltrane, and then decision will remain entirely in his hands.

ASUO senators will vote on this resolution Wednesday, February 11, 2015

UO student reported yesterday symptoms similar to those of the first UO student who contracted Neisseria Meningococcemia, commonly known as meningitis.

Oregon female, whose name is not being disclosed, lived in close proximity to the first patient in Earl Hall. Students who lived near the first patient were encouraged to report any flu like symptoms for further investigation.

Two students have now been diagnosed with the illness, but the third student has been clear for 24 hours with no sign of Neisseria Meningococcemia according to Jason Davis, Lane County Public Heath official.

Davis said that the illness is extremely hard to contract, so although students should be cautious, it’s extremely unlikely that the illness will spread.

In efforts to show the University of Oregon the positive side of Fraternity and Sororiry Life, Oregon Fraternity and Sorority Life teamed up with CommUniversity for its first Day of Service project.

UO student leaders who wanted to get involved in CommUniversity’s Day of Service had the opportunity to donate their time to a variety of service projects around the university. These included places such as: Alton Baker Park, Amazon Park, Hendricks Park, West University neighborhoods and Oregon Hillel.

Maximizing the number of students involved, Fraternity and Sorority Life was a huge contribution to the event’s success.

Vice President of Civic Engagement, Jason Selby, who is a part of Interfraternity Council, expected a large number of people for the event, but never expected the massive number of people who expressed interest in being involved.

“We figured about 300 people is the max, but we expected about 240 people. We sent out the link and the Facebook page to mainly Greek Life people because that’s basically what we thought was going to be most of the people coming to the event,” Selby said. “Two days in, we were over 400 people signed up.”

Immediately, Fraternity and Sorority Life shocked the community with its willingness to serve the others around them.

The numbers were so overwhelming, coordinators for the group had to reconfigure catering and food sponsors for the event to match the number of people participating. In addition, coordinators turned down additional volunteers for lack of work.

“It’s honestly a good problem to have though,” Selby said.

FSL being under the spotlight right now is hard on the community, but this event was the perfect way to show the community’s positive involvement.

“Yeah we’re going through a tough time in Greek Life right now, and this event goes to show that we’re not bad people. Our motto is ‘choose letters, choose responsibility,’ and we’re here to live up to that each and every day,” Selby said.

FSL has always been committed to service, but never took the time to display that for all to see.

“Greek Life has been doing good impacts in the community for a long time, but we haven’t been doing a good job of promoting that,” Andrew Weiss Interfraternity Council Vice President of Community Programs said.

Service has always been a value of FSL, and this event was the perfect opportunity to show that.

According to a press release sent out for the event, Kelsey Fuson, Panhellenic Council Vice President of Community Programming said, “We are proud to leverage our shared value of a commitment to service and partner with our fellow student organizations to really make an impact on our community.”

The overwhelming amount of support was never to prove a point, but rather to uphold FSL’s values.

“We’re not doing this as a response to a negative feeling that people have about us,” Selby said. “We’re doing this because this is what we want to do.”

Who stands for six straight hours with no break and dances until their legs are in agony? University of Oregon students.

The national non-profit organization Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals allows people to raise funds for local hospitals across the U.S. UO Miracle, a dance marathon taking place in the EMU ballroom on Jan. 24, will benefit children at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene. Students stand or dance for six hours, while also raising money through donation portals online for an ongoing period of time.

This year, UO Miracle pushed awareness of the event to gain a variety of participants in the hopes of raising more money for the cause. Although FSL is a big part of the event, all students from UO and outside community members have the opportunity to participate.

“We don’t want it to necessarily be a Greek event, because it’s actually not,” said UO Miracle Morale Captain Chair, Jamie Falcone.

Susan Burton, Assistant Director of Student and Alumni Relations, said that students outside of the Greek community looking to join a team were encouraged to join the Student Alumni Association team.

“I think we probably have the most diverse group of participants this year,” said Anetra Brown, SAA Director of Philanthropy.

UO senior and Miracle Executive Director, Amanda Merrill, said that although UO Miracle is a high energy event, the standing represents how a parent would feel standing over their child’s bed in the hospital.

After registering online, different groups of students or “teams” can start raising money before, during, and after the event. Although the top teams are usually the UO Miracle’s Exec Team and Morale Captain Team, high energy leaders and volunteers for the event, sororities Gamma Phi Beta, Delta Delta Delta and Kappa Alpha Theta are ranked top three for Fraternity and Sorority Life in terms of money raised.

Sara Lensing, Gamma Phi Beta freshman, said that UO Miracle helped a family member of one of the sisters in her sorority.

“I feel like we have people who are more passionate about the cause because they’ve seen how it’s helped sisters and we support our sisters as much as we can,” Lensing said. “We see the direct effects of UO Miracle in everyday life and we’re all rallying together with each other in order to support the kids.”

In addition to making UO Miracle’s presence more known to a variety of groups, changes were made to include all groups participating.

“We have awards for most spirited and most fundraised, and those go out to any team really. In the past it used to only be Greek Life,” Falcone said.

Even with a push to add more variety to its participants, Fraternity and Sorority Life is an important aspect of the event due to the amount of money that the Greek community brings.

“There are so many ways people can get involved in something so much bigger than themselves,” Merrill said. “It’s a crazy thing, raising all this money, doing good for the world, and having a great time.”

As of now, there are 172 participants registered, who have already raised $14,079 between their 12 teams.

The Association of American Universities (AAU) announced today that 28 universities will be participating in the survey regarding sexual assault. The University of Oregon is one of them.

The survey will take place in April. Comprised of over 800,000 student participants, it will be conducted and analyzed by Westat, one of the nations most respected research companies.

Westat and a team of experts from universities are creating the survey based on an instrument developed by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.

It will document the frequency and characteristics of campus sexual assault and sexual harassment. The information will then be assessed in a way that allows the universities to compare their results while still maintaining confidentiality with the respondents.

At the end of the survey, each university will receive its own set of data and from there, each university will decide how the information will be disseminated.

“Our primary purpose in conducting this survey is to help our institutions gain a better understanding of this complex problem on their own campuses as well as nationally,” AAU President Hunter Rawlings said.

The AAU encourages universities to share all of their data.

Following a seven-year suspension and a four-year period of non-existence at the University of Oregon, Theta Chi is officially recolonized on Oregon’s campus.

Four years ago, Theta Chi was officially kicked off campus for multiple illegal and destructive incidents. Now that the fraternity is back, it’s up to their new sophomore president, Noah Daniels, and the rest of the colony to combat the negative stereotypes that the fraternity may have and ensure long lasting success.

Starting a fraternity from scratch isn’t easy, especially for a sophomore who is double majoring in computer science and business. He has held various other leadership roles throughout his education, but never saw himself as a fraternity man – let alone the president of a fraternity.

After learning about Theta Chi and being persuaded by a fellow roommate last year, Daniels was the second person to accept a bid for Theta Chi.

Daniels has a lot of work ahead of him for the future of his fraternity as he began as a college student uninterested in fraternity and sorority life, to becoming the president of a recolonizing chapter in such a short amount of time.

“I think for any colony president it’s going to be tough, you’re starting a whole new fraternity from scratch,” Daniels said.

Daniels is in charge without field executives to help with this new process, but believes they will be successful, regardless.

“We expect to fail, but we learn from those mistakes,” Daniels said. “I believe that’s how we’re going to succeed.”

The weight of the fraternity is not completely on the back of Daniels, however. He has the help of his brothers, who he praises for their dedication to the group.

“We all have the same mindset, we’re getting the same goals, and we’re all acting to be a better fraternity,” Daniels said.

Even with a large agenda for Daniels, his fellow brothers have no doubt that he is the perfect man for the job.

“I think Noah is a perfect fit because he’s such an organized person and is able to handle any situation that comes his way,” junior Theta Chi member Mario Saldana said. “He has a maturity level beyond his years in terms of being a sophomore in college.”

Even fellow executive board members see high potential for his success.

“I saw leadership qualities in him before I even got to know him,” Theta Chi rush chair AJ Garcia said. “He is perfect for the first Theta Chi president.”

Although Theta Chi originally left Oregon’s campus on bad terms, the fraternity has no doubt in their mind that they can keep that from happening again.

“It’s been four or five years and we’re a whole new group of guys,” Daniels said. “I think the issue last time was just a little bit of fearlessness.”

In addition, the chapter has a plan to ensure success.

According to Garcia they are keeping close contact and good relationships with upper management in Fraternity and Sorority life. In addition, the chapter is keeping on good terms with the university community as a whole.

“Theta Chi should be coming back not as a party fraternity, but as a fraternity that everybody is going to look at and say ‘I want to be like them,’” Daniels said.

Men who are interested in joining Theta Chi are encouraged to contact either president Noah Daniels 661-755-1827 or rush chair AJ Garcia 408-596-1527

In 2012, Phi Delta Theta’s nationals came to the Oregon Alpha chapter to ensure that the fraternity was abiding by it’s values. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the house was not and a shockingly small number of men remained. Now, the current men of the Oregon Alpha chapter must work diligently to recruit men and keep their charter.

Phi Delta Theta is one of Oregon’s smallest chartered fraternities with 39 official members. This winter, the fraternity is taking advantage of the opportunity to expand their organization by recruiting more members.

Phi Delt, as it is commonly known, has so few members because, in 2012, the chapter went under membership reviews, said junior rush chair Taran Hughes . As a result of the membership review, the fraternity was left with 12 members, a very small number of members compared to most chapters.

Membership reviews are when a chapter’s national leaders visit and ensure that members of that organization are sticking to the fraternity’s values and abiding by the fraternity’s policies. For Phi Delt in 2012, members were forced to no longer be a part of the organization due to lack of recruiting and members not sticking to the fraternities values which are sound learning, more rectitude and friendship.

Always keeping in mind that growth is a priority, members of the organization do their best to recruit members of different ages.

“It can be scary for the chapter if too many members are in one grade and graduate at the same time,” Hughes said. “It puts more of an emphasis on recruiting lots of different types of men.”

With growth as a basic need to continue existing, the fraternity can face challenges.

“It’s definitely more of a challenge (having fewer members), but it allows you to sell other things,” Hughes said.

The fraternity sells the idea of close relationships with brothers, and a more personal feel overall to potential new members.

Freshman Trevyn Vermilyer is one of these new members who likes the idea of a smaller group of brothers.

“Keeps it really close knit,” Vermilyer said.

The fraternity does not see winter recruitment as a negative thing, but rather as another opportunity to find quality men on campus.

Phi Delta Theta’s new member goal this term is five men, but the organization won’t accept just anyone.
According to their rush chair, they are looking for “well-rounded men who will be good brothers.”

Recruiting members in the winter can have negative stigmas and can give the stereotype that a fraternity is not successful. But Phi Delta Theta has proven that it can constantly grow and, by taking advantage of more recruitment opportunities, they can find more quality men.

President of Phi Delta Theta Alexander Davis said, “It’s a time to capitalize on a lot of guys making the decision to go through recruitment, and having the extra time to show those guys our fraternity and what we’re about.”

The University of Oregon is cutting fraternity and sorority members out of the process of enforcing the student conduct code.

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life informed its members of the change via email on Tuesday.

The FSL judicial board, a body composed of fraternity and sorority members advised by Director of Fraternity Life Justin Shukas, was originally granted authority to investigate conduct code violations up to probation. The board will now only deal with with council violations.

The Judicial Board was created in 2010. Its primary function is to deal with violations within the Panhellenic and Interfraternity councils.

These councils are national governing boards that regulate activities within Fraternity and Sorority Life.

The Division of Student Life in the Dean of Students Office has always dealt with the process of removing a chapter. The judicial board has never had that authority, said Sandy Weintraub, director of Student Conduct & Community Standards.

The Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards will now investigate, charge, and sanction chapters for violations of the University of Oregon Student Conduct Code.

Shukas said the change will decrease the possibility of a conflict of interest. He also said that these policy updates have been in the works for a few years.

Recent recommendations from University of Oregon Faculty Senate and the President’s Review Panel on sexual assault have led to the process being expedited.

With the possibility of a one year suspension looming, University of Oregon’s Fraternity and Sorority Life has built a student team to show its dedication to preventing sexual assault.

Justin Shukas, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said that this program was initiated by a couple of students within FSL and then voted on by Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council.

“The students wanted to get together and talk about the issue and what they could do to fix that, but there wasn’t much direction, so we tried to connect them with the right staff members that could help them out,” Shukas said.

From there, the curriculum for the task force will come from Kerry Frazee, director of sexual assault prevention and education in the dean of students office.

Kerry has made curriculum specifically for this task force in order to best suit the needs of the FSL community.

This program consists of one member from each chapter who will act as a liaison between the program and their chapter. These elected members will meet weekly, learning different aspects of how to be better educated on preventing sexual violence.

According to Kerry Frazee, the chapters will be learning about bystander intervention, consent statements surrounding rape culture and peer-to-peer mentoring of the sexual violence efforts.

Although Kerry will be the main source of education for this program, guest speakers who are also experts on this topic will come and speak at some of the sessions. This will include trauma response from the counseling center and other representatives from the dean of students office.

Members of this task force, although new to the program, have started planning ways that they can best implement their new skills.

Henry Korman, representative from Delta Upsilon, said that he will take a proactive approach within his chapter to ensure the success of the program. This will come in the form of relaying information during chapter meetings and making sure he understands the needs of his brothers by knowing what they want and need to learn about

Knowing how to best use the skills taught through this program will be imperative to making the task force successful. In addition, FSL has over 2,000 members, and when they come together, they can do a lot of good for the community.

“We have a big, powerful group on campus, that has a very focused voice that we can actually use to educate people,” Korman said.

If the task force is successful within Oregon’s FSL, this program could be implemented to fraternities and sororities at universities nationwide.

The hope among individuals involved with this program is that it will be successful within the Greek community, and in turn can be beneficial to all Oregon students.

“It’s stuff that we can bring back to our chapters, and then educate everyone,” Korman said.