No fraternity can hold an event with alcohol for tonight’s Bid Night festivities, changing a years-long tradition for the Greek community. This change, which was decided with input from neither the Interfraternity Council (IFC) nor Undergraduate Student Life, appeared sudden to fraternities and effectively limits the number of social events happening today.
Bid Night, a semesterly event that ceremoniously launches the start of the new member process for Stevens fraternities, occurs near the start of each Fall and Spring semester. The night is when students accept their bids — a fraternity’s offers of admission into their organization — and celebrate with social events, which historically have involved alcohol.
Malcolm McDaniel, Assistant Director for Fraternity and Sorority Life, confirmed in an email interview that if a chapter intends on having a new member class for a particular semester, “the chapter is not permitted to host any events with alcohol on the scheduled Bid Night.” McDaniel also added that this policy was “stated in the FIPG Risk Management Guidelines*, and most recently in the NIC alcohol and other drug guidelines.”
The NIC, the North-American Interfraternity Council, was founded in 1910 as a governing body for collegiate men’s fraternities. FIPG, or the Fraternity Insurance Purchasing Group, was formed in in 1987 to promote accountability in Greek social life.
While some fraternities at Stevens said that this change was not properly communicated to them and that no input was solicited for this change, McDaniel reaffirmed that “this policy is not new and the decision is made at the national level.”
There was a President’s Retreat on September 8 that held all chapter and council presidents. (Stevens is home to 20 social Greek organizations, organized into four overlapping, governing councils.) This meeting is where McDaniel “introduced the new NIC alcohol and drug guidelines,” he said. “[I] gave a physical copy of the guidelines to all attendees, and gave them time to review it as well as ask any questions.”
Malcolm made sure to state that if a chapter wanted to have a dry social event on Bid Night, it would be approved. Alcohol is one of the major limits or “no-no’s” for hosting a social event on Bid Night; however, do not be discouraged in thinking that any social after Bid Night is completely banned.
When asked if this rule would be changed in the upcoming semester, Malcolm simply stated that “no social events with alcohol on Bid Night is a policy that will be carried into future semesters.”
Joey Kuhn, President of Kappa Sigma fraternity, said that their fraternity’s Bid Night event was denied, despite it being held in previous semesters. “It was a very short notice decision that has caused us to change our plans for Friday night.” Kuhn said. “We expected the event to be approved as it was last semester.”
Kappa Sigma is not happy with the lack of communication, nor the short notice. “There was not even so much as a discussion about it, despite every Greek president being together for the President’s Retreat on September 8th,” Kuhn claims. The fraternity has been shaken by the recent events, and confirms that they “were not included in the decision whatsoever.”
* An April 17, 2019, press release from the Fraternity Executives Association claims that “all national organizations and colleges and universities are asked to no longer refer to FIPG policies when discussing alcohol, drug, and safety policies with fraternities or sororities.”
Be First to Comment