Fraternities may have violated the Orientation "blackout" policy due to a lack of clear guidelines and supervision.
Prior to Orientation, chapters of the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) were notified that the week would be considered a "blackout" period, during which fraternities could not host events involving both alcohol and freshmen.
According to Stephen Schatzman, IFC president and member of Alpha Delta Phi, the difficulty for many fraternities was that the policy was unclear.
"It wasn't anyone's fault," Schatzman said, "but the [beginning of the year] is a difficult time to facilitate communication between the IFC and fraternities because not everyone is on campus yet."
On Aug. 26, Coordinator of Greek Life Rob Turning sent an e-mail to chapter presidents conveying the agreement to not host such events from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.
However, the extent to which these policies were followed has been unclear to administrators on campus.
On the evening of Aug. 29, after the second freshman move-in day, Turning, along with Student/Community Liaison Caroline Bennett, drove around the neighborhood surrounding the university, visiting several fraternity houses. According to Turning, of the few fraternities he visited that evening, none were violating the blackout. He reported seeing some houses turning away freshmen at the door, and seeing mostly the faces of older students whom he recognized at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house that evening.
Freshmen were present, however, at parties during Orientation week that were thrown by Pi Kappa Alpha and Sigma Phi Epsilon during Orientation week, according to a sophomore student who wished to remain anonymous due to concerns of retribution from fraternity members.
Bennett noted that it was difficult to tell which students were freshmen at the parties.
"I don't think that the social groups who had parties were prepared to turn away freshmen," Bennett said, referring to the difficulty of checking birthdates on J-cards before letting an individual enter the party.
Bennett also acknowledged that she and Turning were only at each venue for a short period of time, during which they noticed no evidence of fraternities failing to comply with the blackout.
According to Turning, the blackout period had been established for several years before he began working at Hopkins in the fall of 2004.
"It was never explicitly codified," Turning said, "but it was an understanding that in order for freshmen to have the full Orientation experience, we should eliminate the pressure of fraternities and alcohol."
However, during orientations in 2007 and 2008, IFC presidents did not mandate the blackout policy. Last fall, Turning said that although some freshmen were hospitalized, these incidents may or may not have been attributed to fraternities.
Turning acknowledged that some fraternity leaders were caught off-guard since the blackout has not been enforced in the past few years.
Schatzman commented that some fraternities did take negatively to the blackout period. "Some fraternities conveyed that it was unfortunate that freshman can't visit our houses during this great time," Schatzman said. "Orientation is a time to welcome them to the school and show them what Greek Life is all about. "
Schatzman acknowledged the difficulty of quantifying the effect of the blackout on fraternity and freshman interactions. Other opportunities existed throughout Orientation for freshmen to meet Hopkins Greeks although parties were limited.
"I wouldn't say that [Orientation parties] are important rush events," Charles Han, president of Beta Theta Pi, said, "but they are useful to get freshmen acclimated to what social life in college can be like."
Both Schatzman and Han commented that they do not disagree with the idea behind the blackout.
"I do understand the overall idea of such a period," Schatzman said. "Coming in as a freshman can be overwhelming with all of the Orientation activities."
Although Schatzman acknowledged some positive prospects of the blackout period, he hopes to work with administration on behalf of fraternities to establish that fraternity parties do not involve pressuring guests to drink.
Turning also plans on encouraging the IFC to establish a policy for Orientation 2010, to be decided and agreed upon before the end of the current academic year.
"I would encourage the IFC to establish a policy that creates a 'dead period' where absolutely nothing happens," Turning wrote in an e-mail to the News-Letter.
"This would eliminate any gray areas; either a group did not host any event and was in compliance, or hosts an event and is not in compliance."
According to Turning, the gray area was a reoccurring feature of this years' blackout period.
The only fraternities in the IFC that hosted no parties of any kind during the blackout period were Phi Kappa Psi and Phi Delta Theta, Turning added.
"It is true that Phi Psi did not allow freshmen in our house during the blackout period," Jonathan Charny, president of Phi Kappa Psi, wrote in an e-mail to the News-Letter. "We respect the school's decision to have a blackout period and we understand their motivation. We still had people over at our house, [but] we just kept it to brothers and their guests."
Charny declined to comment about his feelings about the policy and how strictly other fraternities should have followed the guidelines.
Bennett did not receive any complaints from the community regarding noise from parties at fraternity houses that would imply that those groups were violating the blackout.
Of the complaints she did receive, one came from music being played loudly from the balcony of the Alpha Delta Phi (Wawa) house, and another involved a party held at the Northway Apartments on Friday, Sept. 4.
Turning said that the blackout only applied to parties hosted at fraternity houses.
"If someone wants to open up their own apartment, then they are taking on the personal risk associated with alcohol laws," Turning said.
If any chapters did fail to comply with the blackout, another chapter in the IFC can report them to the judicial board of the IFC. The board will then hold a trial to address the complaint, according to the IFC constitution. The penalties for such a violation could include fines or chapter probation.
As of Wednesday, no fraternity chapters had been turned in to the board. The first meeting of the IFC will be held this Monday, at which Shatzman hopes to discuss the blackout in more detail with chapter presidents.
Schatzman also hopes to sit down with the IFC this year and have an open forum to allow fraternity leaders to discuss the specifics of a policy for a blackout period with the administration.
"I am not in a position to decide [on my own] any policies that should be enacted," Shatzman said.
He instead sees himself as a facilitator between fraternities and the University to promote a conversation about the blackout.
