by Erica Ivins ’21, Staff Writer
Hamilton’s newly-formed Blue Ribbon Committee, which works with students and faculty to solve issues regarding Greek life on campus, met for the first time on Sept. 19. After a Fraternity and Sorority Life external review took place last spring, the subsequent report suggested that Hamilton create such a group to address its recommended changes.
The professional team behind the report stressed the importance of addressing the recurring, systematic problems discovered within Hamilton’s Greek life.
“I shared with the Inter-Society Council (ISC) that we weren’t meeting basic stan- dards for Greek life. After the co-chairs ran group research into Hamilton’s sororities and fraternities, I decided that we would ask professionals to come to campus to do a review,” said Dean of Students Terry Mar- tinez. “The external review team strongly recommended that we put together a Blue Ribbon Committee as quickly possible to renovate our standards.”
Many of the problems found with Hamilton’s sororities and fraternities involve the College’s Greek life system not measuring up to essential standards of common practice within Greek life systems at a national level.
“We are an outlier, not just amongst the NESCACs, but even with other bigger institutions,” said Martinez.
Martinez further stressed these concerns when discussing the future of the Blue Ribbon Committee at the Student Assembly meeting on Sept. 24.
“When you take a look at fraternity or sorority functions across the nation,” said Martinez, “not many of our [NESCAC] peers have fraternities and sororities, but you look at like institutions or unlike institutions, there are standards that are set […] and we don’t meet even some of the minimum things that are there.”
This new Blue Ribbon committee contains sub-committees that will meet approximately twice a month and then report their discussions to the larger committee as a whole periodically.
“The Committee is divided into two sub-committees: Education, Programming, and PR and Policies and Best Practices,” said Director of Student Activities Noelle Niznik. “Dean Martinez has asked for the prioritized list and first steps by early February so we can implement the initial changes before the next recruitment cycle.”
Martinez prioritized her concerns with risk management, followed by educational issues. “My goal is not to eliminate Greek life, and I know a lot of the sororities especially feel scared of this and these upcoming changes, but my goal is to make sure that we have clearly articulated standards and currently we don’t,” said Martinez. “Right now one of the things that is most concerning to me is that our Greek groups do not have required certificates of insurance in case something happens to a student. And I bet if parents understood what that meant, they would be very concerned because that liability would fall on the parents’ insurances.”
20 percent of the College’s student body partakes in Greek life on campus. The Blue Ribbon Committee hopes to create a more positive and safe experience for those who decide to join.
“Our responsibility as an institution, and in my role as Director of Student Activities, is to ensure that we provide meaningful, healthy, and safe ways for our diverse population to engage with our community,” said Niznik. “As the report indicates, there is much work for us to do to ensure our fraternities and sororities function in ways that align with standards of operations and community values.”
Administration plans to work closely with students to hear and voice their concerns and suggestions to enhance student Greek life on campus.
Niznik said, “While there is a lot of work that lies ahead of the Blue Ribbon Committee, as co-chair I am very excited to partner with students, faculty, administrators, and alumni to prioritize the recommendations from the Fraternity and Sorority Life External Review.”
Ultimately, Dean Martinez hopes that the Blue Ribbon Committee will promote the accountability and transparency of sororities and fraternities so that future classes of students understand what partaking in Greek life means.
“If someone starts to look at becoming involved with a sorority or fraternity, they and their parents know where they stand in the community,” said Martinez.
