In 2014 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day last year, Arizona State University fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon was kicked off campus because of a party that was deemed racist after the theme went viral via Instagram posts and hashtags.

Fraternity and Sorority Life at University of Oregon uses these situations to evaluate social media for members. There is potential for an individual’s actions to reflect poorly on the whole community due to what they are posting, Director of FSL Justin Shukas said.

“A lot of times, situations like that will go viral, and then the university will step in because there is some type of policy violation that is discovered that way,” Shukas said.

FSL does not have a set social media policy, but some chapters have specific policies to follow, according to Assistant Director of FSL Mallory Wehage.

“I hope that in having a social media policy it makes students think twice not only about making the post, but about the action as well. I think our chapters are trying to instill better decision making by having those policies,” Wehage said.

However, if the situation became harmful, FSL would step in.

“If there would be any sort of evidence of hazing or excessive alcohol consumption through social media and it was linked back to a chapter, so it looks like a chapter was participating in something like that. It goes against our policies,” Wehage said. “Or if they’re co-sponsoring an event that isn’t an approved event, then they’re violating a student conduct code. Then an individual and a chapter can be held responsible for whatever they post on social media.”

With such a large community, social media is hard to monitor because it has so many outlets, so it’s up to individual members to realize the repercussions their actions can have, and how fast that news can spread.

One founding father of Theta Chi, Mario Saldana, realizes the importance of monitoring members on social media.

“Greek life needs social media guidelines because as a Greek life member you are representing a nationwide organization,” Saldana said. “Social media news gets around very quick and the last thing you want for your chapter is a misrepresentation of it.”

Follow Lauren Garetto on Twitter @laurengaretto

Members of Fraternity and Sorority Life use past and current brothers and sisters to keep high grade point averages in their houses.

As a whole, FSL generally sees high grade point averages within the community. According to FSL’s website, for spring term 2014 the average GPA for all Panhellenic Council sororities was a 3.21 and in the same term for all Interfraternity Council fraternities was a 2.98. In the same document it shows Delta Tau Delta with the highest cumulative GPA of 3.19, and Sigma Mu Omega (local) with a 3.31 GPA for that term.

Earning good grades in the community starts from the beginning. For some houses, possible new members need to show that they have previously had good grades whether that’s a high school GPA if they are a freshman, or their current college GPA if they’re going through recruitment later in their college career.

Rush chair for Delta Upsilon, Kyle Wizner, explains why this is a crucial step in the recruiting process.

“The number one reason we’re all here is for school, so grades are a top priority for our house. If we recruit members who have had previously bad grades, then we can’t be confident that they will get good grades while being in the fraternity and that can cause problems in the long run,” Wizner said.

Fraternity and sorority members are held to a high standard to maintain a certain GPA every term. But with high expectations also come resources within the community to keep up with the demands.

Vice Archon of Pi Kappa Phi, Erik Knaggs sees fraternities and sororities using resources such as study tables, test banks and other members to help their members maintain good grades.

“We work together in groups and study at the house using those resources, and when you join a house there’s also going to be plenty of other members in that house who share the same major as you, and basically you can use those members as resources,” Knaggs said.

One of the most important aspects to maintaining good grades in this community is the accountability that houses bring.

Cameron Marsella, Sigma Nu’s Scholarship chairman, explains that his house takes a hands on approach with their members to ensure that everyone maintains good grades even if they see members struggling academically.

“If you’re under a certain GPA, you either have to proctor a certain number of study tables or attend a certain number of study tables, and that helps with accountability when it comes to actually getting in the library and actually getting things done,” Marsella said.

If the trend continues, they take the approach further.

“Every time that there is a repeat of people showing up for not making grades, I will meet with them, or whoever is the scholarship chair will meet with them, make a study plan, kind of increase accountability by actually being there for them and trying to make sure that you’re doing everything in your power and really try to help them out as much as we can,” Marsella said. “We wanna make sure we can help guide and be as useful as we can.”

Beginning of winter term we can expect to see fall house GPA rankings released along with cumulative averages for fraternities and sororities.

Follow Lauren Garetto on Twitter @laurengaretto

As fall term comes to an end, it brings about a new turn of leadership in Fraternity and Sorority Life.

A majority of the FSL chapters have already selected, or are in the process of selecting, new officers for the 2015 school year. Many elected presidents are in their junior year, but Delta Gamma is welcoming 19-year-old Tori Ganahl, who will be the sophomore president for the incoming term.

Although it may seem as if a sophomore could not have the wisdom or maturity to be in that position, Ganahl has gone above and beyond both in and outside the FSL community to gain the necessary leadership skills to run a chapter.

Her desire to become president did not just happen recently though. Ganahl has expressed interest in leadership roles through Delta Gamma since the day she joined.

“I knew I always wanted to be president from the first day I started as a Delta Gamma, so I basically just started working my butt off in order to do so,” Ganahl said.

To do this, Ganahl participated in many activities at the school including Junior Greek Council and Victoria’s Secret Pink Street team, which gave her a chance to be more involved with the FSL community.

“I was out in the community a lot and getting to know these people in different sororities and fraternities. It was really awesome,” Ganahl said.

In addition to that, she participated in a leadership class with the director of FSL, Justin Schukas, to give her better insight as to what the position would be like.

“I worked really closely with Justin, and there were a lot of current presidents in the class. We basically just discussed problems that we may face as leaders and how to address those problems and it really opened my eyes to what being president would be like, like all the bad realities, all the good realities of the position,” Ganahl said. “It really, really opened my eyes to why I wanted this position.”

The sorority is excited to welcome Ganahl as their new president and has no doubt that her age will not affect her presidency.

“She’s up for the challenge. People respect her, upperclassmen respect her, I think that’s a huge part of it and she already has that,” Colleen Stott, said UO senior vice president of social standards for Delta Gamma. “I’m really excited for her to take this on, and I think she is going to do an amazing job.”

Ganahl has no hesitations when it comes to being president and feels as if her age will make no difference.

“I knew I wanted to be president from the beginning, but taking on all those other positions and leadership roles made me realize that I could do it earlier on,” Ganahl said. “I didn’t have to be a junior in order to do that, I felt as if all of these things prepared me enough to do it my sophomore year and that’s what I ended up doing.”

Women in Delta Gamma are looking forward to the upcoming year and the new perspective that Ganahl will bring.

“Tori will be a great asset, and I think Delta Gamma will really strive with her as president,” Lauren Diaz, vice president of foundation, said. “I think we’re all really excited to start this new chapter with her in it.”

It’s no secret that Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of Oregon has grown tremendously over the past couple of years. Justin Shukas, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, has helped facilitate that growth. He and his assistant work hard in order to ensure that each chapter is given proper guidance and structure throughout the process.

Mallory Wehage, assistant director of FSL, has been in her position for about six weeks. Her position was added to ensure that chapters had better access to upper level communication.

“We split it up so we have the ability to meet more directly with chapters and spend more time and provide more support. Before that, it was just a one person office, so trying to advise 33 or 34 chapters with just one person is just not feasible,” Shukas said.

Morgan Plew, Panhellenic Council president, believes that their positions have been helpful to the community as a whole and has provided needed support for her position.

“I really go to them for things similar to what you would go to your academic advisor for. What should I do? What pathways should I take? Whatever I question, they are always there for me,” Plew said.

In addition to this, Interfraternity Council has used these positions to assist with large, important issues within the community.

“Justin Shukas was a huge aspect in designing new social policies that went into effect last year. Overall (the social policy) lowered our transportation rate of someone that is intoxicated and needed to be transported to the hospital by 50 percent, that was huge,” said Chase Salazar, president of the Interfraternity Council.

In addition to support for existing chapters and officers, Justin realizes that there is a want among the university for a larger Greek presence, and is working on making that presence known.

“I think that there is a desire here for Greek life to grow, and when I first got here that was one of the first things that I dealt with,” Shukas said.

With this in mind, the FSL community will welcome back the sororities Sigma Kappa in fall of 2015 and Delta Zeta in 2017.

Along with that, the community will also welcome back the fraternities Theta Chi, who is currently recolonizing, and Alpha Tau Omega, who will recolonize in the winter of this academic year.

With growth of the community, comes the need to hold these chapters to a high standard. Justin does this through a “strategic plan.” This plan includes reexamining standards that they have for all chapters, making sure the proper funding is allocated to better the needs of the community, making sure they support a diverse and inclusive FSL community and focusing on prevention efforts such as sexual assault prevention, alcohol and substance abuse prevention and hazing prevention.

“I think there’s a big value in Greek life when it’s done correctly, and that’s sometimes the challenge to make sure that we are holding all of our chapters to a high standard as well as our members and making sure that it continues to be an important piece that the university expects,” Shukas said.

Being a “broke college student” is a well-known title for most young adults going to school. But what about the thousands of members that take on additional costs by being involved with Fraternity and Sorority Life?

According to the Fraternity and Sorority Life website, for the 2012-2013 year the per term average cost for fraternity live-in members is $3,906 and the average cost for sorority live-in member is $2,474.

Sorority and fraternity dues pay for a variety of different things including new member fees, badge fees and additional facility fees for both live-ins and live-outs. According to the FSL website, when all of these are added together, the sorority with the highest price of 2013-2014 for new members in the fall is Alpha Phi with $1,131. The fraternity with the highest price for new members in the fall is Sigma Chi with $640.

These fees are subject to change and can vary from chapter to chapter.

According to Sigma Phi Epsilon’s president Casey Davis, fraternity dues go to a variety of categories such as recruitment funds, house improvements, philanthropy events, the national fraternity and the International Fraternity Council.

Sierra Gamelgaard, a junior in Gamma Phi Beta, says that she knows that being a part of  FSL is expensive, but it’s worth it to her.

“In the future, when I graduate, there are going to be so many connections that come from it. I’m going to have over 100 sisters who are going to be all over the place who will always help me,” Gamelgaard said. “Nowadays I feel like connections are so much more important.”

Being in a sorority is more difficult for Gamelgaard because she pays for her school tuition, as well as her sorority dues. Therefore, she needs more help when it comes time to pay. Members can apply for a payment plan to potentially ease the stress of paying for dues and other expenses.

“They offer payment plans every term, and that’s what our financial vice president does. I obviously can’t pay it all at one time, so I’ll talk to her and pay monthly until I can pay it off,” Gamelgaard said. “They’re willing to work with you. They want to keep you in the house, but also you need to pay to be in the house cause you’re paying for a lot of things that happen.”

For some, like Gamelgaard, the cost of FSL is not important in comparison to the benefits.

“I work hard for my money, and this is what I want to spend it on,” Gamelgaard said. “I want to be a part of this community.”

For others though, the cost is not worth the community or connections that it may bring.

Junior Camille Carona went through recruitment as a sophomore. She said she dropped during the recruitment process after realizing the costs that were involved.

“I dropped out on preference night, and it was at that point that I realized that I wouldn’t be able to afford being in a sorority,” Carona said.

Some members do have the advantage that their parents will pay for their involvement in a fraternity or sorority. But for students like Carona, who pay out of state tuition, that can be more difficult.

“I knew my parents weren’t going to pay for it because Greek life wasn’t something they cared very much about and school was already so expensive,” Carona said. “Adding on house fees for something that isn’t required or necessary, there’s no way in hell and I wasn’t about to ask my parents.”

Follow Lauren Garetto on Twitter @laurengaretto

Sigma Nu is giving a new meaning to the term “no shave November.”

In hopes to raise awareness for the fraternity’s philanthropy, all members of Sigma Nu are not shaving their mustaches during the month of November.

Sigma Nu supports the Movember Foundation through their annual event “Kickball for Cancer,” and has been doing so since they chartered again at the University of Oregon in 2010. This years event will take place on Sunday, November 23.

According to Sigma Nu’s rush chair, Andrew Ashby, “The Movember Foundation is the leading global men’s health organization that raises awareness for testicular cancer, prostate cancer and men’s health in general.”

Members of the fraternity feel strongly about this cause because it is highly prevalent in men their age.

“Testicular cancer has very comparable numbers to breast cancer in that 1 in 7 men throughout their lifetime are diagnosed with testicular cancer,” Chris Puma, head of sponsorships and donations for the event, said. “Prostate cancer is most prevalent with men between the ages of 15-35, that’s everyone we know and will meet in the next couple of years.”

Members of Sigma Nu believe that it is their mission to raise awareness and funds for these diseases and do so through a kickball tournament, which is not only open to Greek life members, but the whole community as well.

“By involving the whole community we’re hoping to give Greek life a more positive image,” Ashby said.

Although no community members committed to signing up for the tournament, groups such as student athletes, MBA program and Warsaw are participating, and raising awareness for Movember on their own, according to Steve Harrison, Director of Community Outreach for the event.

Awareness for the foundation will be spread primarily through conversations with fraternity members who are not shaving their mustaches. Noticing an extravagant stache and sparking up a conversation about it will be the driving force in spreading the fraternity’s message.

“The uglier the mustache, the more conversation it drives,” Pac Moxon, member of Sigma Nu, said.

Members believe that raising awareness is highly important because men tend not to think about these specific diseases.

“It flies under the radar so much compared to other diseases,” Moxon said.

In addition to awareness, funds will be raised throughout November for the foundation in a variety of forms including registration fees for the kickball tournament, t-shirt sales, raffles and pledges for fraternity members to not shave their mustaches.

“Last year we raised a little over $5,000, and this year we’re looking to raise over $8,000. We definitely think we can do that,” Kyle Broderick, Sigma Nu new member educator, said.

Overall, the fraternity is less concerned with who participates in the events, but are more concerned about the message they are spreading and that the message is spreading to as many people as possible.

“The lack of awareness is what drives this whole foundation. That’s what I care about more than anything. We just want people talking about it and being aware of it,” Ashby said.

Follow Lauren Garetto on Twitter @laurengaretto

Friday November 21, members of fraternity and sorority life tabled outside the EMU to encourage students, faculty and staff of the University of Oregon to take a stand against sexual violence in response to high percentages of sexual assault numbers within the community.

The start of this task for fraternity and sorority life is to become advocates for the White house’s campaign, “It’s On Us.” This initiative was started by president Obama in early September to put an end to sexual assault on college campuses, according to the white house’s website.

Studies have shown that 1 in 5 women during her college years will be a victim of sexual assault, according to the white house website. But according to surveys conducted at the UO, members of the Greek community have been found to be more likely to become victims than students not involved in the Greek life. According to a study done by Jennifer Freyd, a UO psychology professor, 48.1 percent of females and 23.6 percent of males in Fraternity and Sorority Life have experienced non-consensual sexual contact. To combat this statistic, the fraternity and sorority life community are taking the first of many steps to reverse these numbers.

“What we wanted to do as IFC and PHC is make sure that our community is really taking the lead on campus as far as awareness on the issue,” Morgan Plew, current Panhellenic Council president, said. “This is really just the first step, but we wanted to raise awareness in conjunction with the white house.”

This event included FSL members encouraging by-passers – both Greeks and non-Greeks – to sign a banner, which signified their agreeing to become advocates against sexual assault within their own communities. Along with this, both current IFC and PHC presidents Morgan Plew and Chase Salazar appeared in the UOregon YouTube video, “Ducks Do Something/”It’s On Us,” to further show their support for the cause.

“This issue isn’t going to be solved by myself or any one person, it needs to come from a community effort,” Max Lehman, future Interfraternity Council president, said. “It’s a great way for everybody to know that Greek life is taking a stance against sexual assault.”

To continue efforts of minimizing sexual assault, the Greek community will also be starting a sexual assault prevention task force, which will include one member of every chapter to act as liaisons between university specialists and the chapters, according to Plew. Currently the chapters are choosing who will be a part of the task force and members will be elected by the end of this term and will start their position week one of winter term.

The prevention efforts don’t stop there though.

“Moving forward we want to have educational programs, we want to install bystander intervention programs with our sober monitor training, and making sure the community understands the problem,” Francis Howitt, IFC vice president of accountability, said.

Overall, Greek life is looking to minimize sexual assault both in and outside on their community at the university. “We’re all passionate about this and we just want the community to come together and be passionate together about this too,” Howitt said.

To take your own stand against sexual assault, visit http://itsonus.org/#top

Follow Lauren Garetto on Twitter @laurengaretto

In the peak of Fraternity and Sorority life expansion, Fraternity and Sorority Life welcomes back the fraternity Theta Chi after leaving campus in 2010.

Theta Chi is currently colonizing again on Oregon’s campus after leaving due to minor conduct violations, according to Darien Key, a Theta Chi field executive.

According to Emerald Archives, Oregon’s Theta Chi chapter was forced to leave campus in 2010 because of multiple noise complaints, multiple minor in possession citations, furnishing alcohol to minors, hazing and accumulating a bill of $10,000 worth of damages at Odell Lake Resort during a fall retreat.

Key says that he has talked with the Vice President of Student affairs who was involved with the process and says that it wasn’t anything too serious, just minor conduct violations accumulated over time. Key said he has implemented the right recruitment tactics to effectively attract new members. He said he is meeting individually with perspective members, and that all members will have to have a minimum 3.0 grade point average.

“We don’t just go and pick any student on campus we think could be a good fit. We go through multiple different meetings with them, find out what they’re involved with, what their GPA is and those things I think are going to set them apart,” Key said.

The high grade point average requirement could be what ensures the success of the fraternity this time around.

“I know that (Key) set a minimum GPA in order to even be considered for joining a colony,” Chase Salazar, President of Interfraternity Council, said. “Usually when you get people whose grades are better than average, the type of individuals that you bring in are going to be more successful at starting the chapter.”

In addition to recruiting men under stricter guidelines to ensure the longevity of the fraternity, the fraternity has also started a new initiative called “Sacred Purpose” — where the fraternity deals with minimizing problems often seen on college campuses associated with fraternity life.

This includes educating members and the community about the issues of sexual assault, mental health awareness and drug and alcohol abuse, Key said.

As of now, the colony does not have a house. However, when Theta Chi was previously on campus, members lived in the house which is currently leased to UO fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha.

“Currently we own the Lambda Chi Alpha house. They are leasing out to us and have been really good tenants,” Key said. “We’ve been really glad to have them there.”

Currently, the fraternity has no plans to take back its house, but it is possible that in the future it could experience similar dilemmas like that of Phi Gamma Delta and Alpha Epsilon Pi.

“We won’t take over this year, maybe not even next year,” Key said. “It’s really dependent on the group.”

Overall, the FSL community looks forward to the fraternity coming back and believe that it will be successful this time around.

“After meetings with their field consultant, I think that he is going to do a fine job to get the right men,” Salazar said.

Every year, Greek communities all over the country bring in millions of dollars to various charities.

Each chapter of Greek life (both sororities and fraternities) has a philanthropic cause that the house primarily supports. Usually, the philanthropy is recognized nationally.

Starting in the next week and continuing through spring term, University of Oregon fraternity and sorority life will be hosting events to raise awareness and funds for their various philanthropies.

Some of the first coming up are Alpha Phi’s new event, PHIFA, and Delta Delta Delta’s annual Delta Desserts.

This year, Alpha Phi is hosting its first annual PHIFA tournament to raise awareness for their philanthropy.

Alpha Phi’s philanthropy is the Alpha Phi Foundation which supports women’s heart health. According to their website, heart disease is the number one killer of women in North America, and the Alpha Phi Foundation thought it fitting that an organization of women help fight it.

The event will involve fraternity members and will take its course over four days and involve various events.

“It will be a four-day event, with prizes for the first, second and third place fraternities,” Brenna Drumm, Alpha Phi’s vice president of philanthropy, said.

According to Drum, the events will be a “Steal Our Hearts” competition, Facebook MVP photo competition, a Chipotle Fundraiser and a 7-on-7 soccer tournament. Through these events, participating fraternities will earn points in hopes of winning.

The tournament is one that other Alpha Phi chapters have already used, and University of Oregon’s Alpha Phi hopes to see the positive results from it that other chapters have. In the future, Alpha Phi hopes to get sorority involvement with PHIFA as well.

This will take the place of its previous philanthropy, Mr. and Mrs. Greek, and in the spring, Alpha Phi will follow up with its Phiesta fundraiser.

In addition to Alpha Phi, Delta Delta Delta will be hosting its annual Delta Desserts on November 19, 2014, which is open to members of Greek life as well as outside community members. The event this year will be Dr. Seuss themed and benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

According to Tri Delta’s website, More than 15 years ago, Tri Delta adopted St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as their national philanthropic partner. Since then, the sorority’s members have raised more than $31 million for St. Jude.

Oregon’s Tri Delta chapter has been active in adding to this total.

“Last year for Delta Desserts, we raised $5,600, and we had over 1,000 attendees in our philanthropy, and this year our goal is to raise around $6,000. Last year our chapter throughout the various philanthropy events that we held, raised 5$4,000,” Shelby Newton, Delta Delta Delta president, said.

Alpha Phi and Delta Delta Delta are not the only houses that will be organizing philanthropy events this term. If you are interested in learning more about either of these events, please contact members of the houses.

According to The Oregonian/KGW survey conducted by pollster Stuart Elway, 70 percent of the electorate on the November ballot will be 51 or older.

This survey was conducted to speculate the outcome of the measure 91 after the November.

According to The Oregonian, a recent poll conducted by Elway Research, taken on October 26-27, showed that 44 percent back the legalization of marijuana and 46 percent were opposed to legalization of the 403 survey sample.

This statistic showed different results than a poll surveyed October 8-11 taken by Oregon Public Broadcasting and Fox 12.

The Oregon Public Broadcasting and Fox 12 poll showed 52 percent support the measure and 41 percent opposed.

The change in these results can be directly correlated with the projections of age makeup of those voting, according to The Oregonian.

“It shouldn’t surprise us that if you look at the age makeup, that will have a big effect on which way the survey goes,” Ben Hansen, University of Oregon assistant economic professor said regarding the statistical makeup of each survey.

A survey taken by The Oregonian/KGW by pollster Stuart Elway, shows that 71 percent of the electorate will be aged 51 or older. This could mean that there is less of a chance for measure 91 to pass because the older the voter is the less likely they are to vote yes on the measure, according to Elway who conducted similar surveys in Washington and Colorado and saw the same dynamic.

Younger voters increase the likely hood of the measure passing for multiple reasons, but a majority of that has to do with the perceived risks with marijuana use, according to Ben Hansen.

“Many young individuals are recognizing that there are risks associated with marijuana, but there are probably far fewer than the risks associated with alcohol use,” Hansen said.

If a higher number of older voters are those who vote for the majority of  this election, voters could see the legalization of marijuana rejected.

“I think both electoral compositions suggest that we don’t know which way it’s going to go. You could have the ballot measure narrowly passing, you could have it narrowly failing and a lot of that is going to depend on who goes out to vote,” Hansen said.