Four years after a falling out, relations with CU and the Interfraternity Council, also known as the IFC, fraternities are being addressed.
In 2005 CU presented the fraternities with the Regulatory Fraternity Organization Agreement, also known as the RFOA, which the IFC community voted unanimously against. The RFOA has three main provisions: delay rush until spring, live with adult supervision and a ban on hazing. Still, the agreement has yet to be signed by the IFC.
Recently elected Tri-executives, Christine Thai, Daniel Ramos and Thomas Higginbotham have begun to deal with the issue. Higginbotham, a senior economics major, says he plans on the discussions taking place soon.
“We’re still waiting to sit down with them. We’re trying to help [the IFC] with their services just like we do with all other organizations and communities,” Higginbotham said.
According to Marc Stine, the Greek advocate, fraternity membership has grown by two-thirds, budget increased 50 percent, overall student grades are higher and there has been less petty crime violation compared to dormitories, all in the past four years.
“Any way you look at it, we’re doing good,” Stine said. “But at some point we’d like to make an amicable collaborative relationship with the university, we are not looking to go back to four years ago because we’ve progressed since then. The university is a different organization as well.”
Bronson Hilliard, CU spokesman advocates the need for the RFOA to be signed by the IFC frats. One main concern voiced by Hilliard is the guarantee of student safety in IFC housing; if the agreement is signed he says it will create “a stronger organization” and “provide confidence which we can relate to parents.”
One condition of the RFOA, the delay of rush, allows new students time to adjust to campus life without facing pressures of involvement with Greek recruitment, according to Hilliard. Panhellenic sororities signed the agreement in 2005 and have since delayed rush eight weeks.
“The schools stance has not changed [on the RFOA],” Hilliard said. “We are pleased with the measures the IFC organization has taken; we’re asking them to take the next logical step and sign the RFOA agreement as the Panhellenic sororities have.”
Recently, no measures have been taken in reaching an agreement between the IFC and university. There has been talk from both parties on meeting to discuss the issue but so far nothing has happened.
“We’re certainly open to having dialogue with them. But until that happens, no progress will be generated,“ Hilliard said.
And that is one proposal both parties agree on. The lack of dialogue has left IFC members reading a one-sided conversation through newspapers, which Higginbotham and Stine both observed.
“Everything we’ve heard about the new Tri-executive plans was in the newspaper,” Stine said. “They would like to see the fraternity community reconcile with the university, but they’ve had no talks together and that’s how they need to reconcile that.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Adrian Kun at Adrian.Kun@colorado.edu
