Fraternity life at the College of William and Mary has many traditions — fall rush, community service and life in the units.

One of those traditions was disrupted this year when four fraternities moved out of their special interest housing, ending over 30 years of occupancy.

“It was a numbers issue,” Chairman of the Council for Fraternity Affairs David Cooper ’10 said. “The units were built twenty-odd years ago. They were designed for bigger fraternities of 36 brothers. Smaller fraternities couldn’t manage the 36.”

According to Associate Director of Student Activities Anne Arseneau ’89, the changes in Greek housing are not as remarkable as many students believe.

Seventy-seven percent of fraternity members lived in on-campus housing last year, and 71 percent live on campus this year, but not all of them are in special interest housing.

“We have always had groups that are not housed,” Arseneau said. “The perception [is] that this is a dramatic change. It is not as if we haven’t had groups before that weren’t housed.”

Originally, Residence Life required fraternities to have 29 brothers live in on-campus housing and to fill 33 of 36 spots to retain the unit.

For the past four years, the other three spots could be excused through a buy-out program that accounted for half of a double room.

The program ended last year, requiring fraternities to fill every spot in their unit or be forced to move off campus.

“The buyout policy changed,” Cooper said. “It had been for four years that Res Life would split the difference [50-50] … But the College is [now] getting more students, who take up more beds, and they’re dealing with budget cuts.”

Sigma Pi’s Journey

The change in the buyout policy hurt many fraternities’ prospects of maintaining special interest housing. Organizations that struggled to fill vacancies under the old policy found the new standards unattainable.

“Sigma Pi anticipated a membership review, [and the] anticipation was that they would not have enough members to fill the space,” Arseneau said. “[They] didn’t think they would have enough members to be lease-compliant … so they didn’t turn in a lease in March.”

For Sigma Pi, the loss of on-campus housing was one more setback in an already tumultuous year.

“We had a lot of stuff we wish hadn’t gone on,” Sigma Pi President Brian Apkarian ’11 said. “We got in a lot of trouble; we had a lot of sanctions go against us [and] we owed a lot of money to Res Life. We had a
membership review that kicked out about 12 people. The only place we really had to go was up.”

While the decision to give up on-campus housing was difficult, fraternity members are doing their best to make the transition a smooth one by renting homes off campus and coordinating their on-campus living situations.

“We have some off-campus housing, which definitely helped,” Apkarian said. “All of our members who live on campus live near each other, and that helps in terms of everything. If I need to talk to one of them or all of them, they’re right there.”

Cooper said fraternity brothers have consistently used the block-housing option in the past to maintain the sense of community created in a fraternity house.

“I think the best thing about fraternity life is living with your brothers,” Cooper said.
The move off campus has created other complications for fraternities. Members who once had friendly interactions with familiar William and Mary Police Department officers must now create new connections
with a different police force.

“The truth of the matter is you’re dealing with a different police presence,” Apkarian said. “We didn’t mind [William and Mary] police because we had a good relationship with most of them. They always seemed civil.
It’s rougher now because we’re in an environment where we don’t know the police.”

In addition to tenuous relationships with the Williamsburg Police Department and new neighbors, many fraternities also face the possibility of declining membership. Without easily accessible on-campus housing to display their fraternities, members are finding rush more difficult than in previous years.

“Recruitment has definitely been affected,” Apkarian said. “It’s a lot different. You don’t have the unit anymore, which is where a lot of the freshmen flock to, so you have to create a different environment. When you’re off campus, you’re shortening your rush list.”

A Move On Campus

Not all of the College’s fraternities are facing problems with recruitment and housing, however. In the confusion that struck many Greek organizations last year, one fraternity, Delta Chi, actually moved on campus for the first time in their history at the College.

“We’ve never had special interest housing on campus since we were chartered in 2005,” Delta Chi President Alex Guzman ’11 said. “We’re in unit G with Kappa Alpha … [Sharing a unit] hasn’t been done before.”

Their agreement came out of necessity — Kappa Alpha did not have enough resident members to keep their housing, and Delta Chi wanted to move on campus. Guzman said the two fraternities decided to share housing to satisfy both of their needs.

“Being off campus, we kind of started exploring on-campus [housing] in November, but realized we wouldn’t have enough members for a unit,” Guzman said. “Kappa Alpha didn’t have the members to fill a unit either, but they wanted to keep their housing. They’ve been on campus since they were founded, when the units were constructed.”

Guzman said that, while Delta Chi functioned well off campus, the opportunity to occupy a unit could not be ignored.

“There’s a prestige about having a house chapter on campus,” Guzman said. “It helps with recruitment … It helped us meet a lot of new guys that we might not have met otherwise.”

New Policies, New Problems

While the units may help increase fraternity membership by facilitating events like rush and dance parties, some fraternity members say the units could actually inhibit the growth and health of the College’s Greek system. Members also see a double standard in the enforcement of the College’s alcohol policy.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” Apkarian said. “The administration says the units are the best place for the fraternities. The truth is, policies they set up hurt the frats. It looks like they’re trying to catch you for stuff everyone does. It doesn’t help the frats.”

Guzman said that the units cannot provide the resources fraternities need to achieve their goals of scholarship, service and brotherhood.

“We have to worry about things fraternities on other campuses don’t have to worry about,” Guzman said.
“To be in debt to Res Life — what good does that do? That’s what we constantly have to worry about.”
Apkarian said the expansion of fraternities at the College and the continued colonization by new Greek organizations on campus dilutes the strength of existing fraternities and prevent many from fulfilling membership requirements for special interest housing.

“The number of fraternities continues to grow, and it’s just going to stretch out the Greek population,” Apkarian said. “It makes it harder for frats to meet their residency requirements in the house. For a frat like mine, we can’t meet those requirements.”

New Housing Plans

The disadvantages of the units have led many members of the College’s administration to explore new options for fraternity housing.

“We have square pegs [for] round holes,” Arseneau said. “We have 36-man facilities that were built 20 years ago to fit a chapter size of 90 to 100. But, nationally, chapter sizes for frats aren’t 90 to 100 anymore.”

Fraternity members see new housing options as a possible solution to the units’ inadequacies.

“This shows that the [College’s] one-size-fits-all policy doesn’t fly,” Cooper said. “The Council [for Fraternity Affairs] has been working with Res Life for solutions. Some of the lodges have been discussed, so have locations in Ludwell and Randolph.”

The possibility of fraternities occupying the College-owned homes along Jamestown Road is unlikely and impractical, according to Cooper.

“A lot of brothers want to use the houses along Jamestown Road, but that’s not feasible to renovate them and make them liveable for brothers — it would be too expensive,” he said.

Cooper said that the Council for Fraternity Affairs had spoken with Director of Residence Life Deb Boykin and other members of the College’s administration about the possibility of building a new Greek housing community resembling Sorority Court.

“In the far-term, we’re looking into new Greek housing,” Cooper said. “But it’s far too preliminary for a location or number of buildings. More students makes it obvious that we need housing, [and] Res Life has been receptive for more Greek housing.”

In the interim, Arseneau said that the College administration is looking for practical solutions to the Greek housing issue.

“We are trying to identify viable solutions,” Arseneau said. “The short-term solution requires groups that are willing to look at … a block in Jamestown, or we will take a lodge.”

The future of fraternities at the College remains unclear. At least one fraternity would consider moving back on-campus, but not without reservations.

“I’d like to see what happens this semester,” Apkarian said. “I heard about independent RA’s writing people up. Hopefully we can look at moving back, but I’ll have to see what happens. To say we don’t want to move back would be false.”

Guzman hopes the College and the fraternities can work out an agreement that would bring the fraternities back on campus. Until then, some fraternities must reconcile being on-campus organizations with off-campus facilities.

“The City of Williamsburg is not going to support us,” Guzman said. “The College has the only resource we can look towards in helping us with our mission.”

_Ellie Kaufman contributed reporting to this article._

*College saves thousands through sustainability*

Through grants from the Committee on Sustainability, students have saved the College of William and Mary thousands of dollars through their efforts to improve environmental sustainability on campus.
The Committee on Sustainability is a competitive grant program supported by funds from the Green Fee that was initiated in the spring of last year.

The grants are intended to provide graduate and undergraduate students with summer research opportunities that directly serve the College’s sustainability needs.

“As an undergraduate student, to be given the opportunity to conduct meaningful research as part of the College’s commitment to sustainability has been exciting, unique and both personally and professionally rewarding,” intern for the Committee on Sustainability Tyler Koontz ’09 said.

The College will save $40,000 annually, thanks to the work done by the committee this summer.

*College makes jump in Washington Monthly listing*

The Washington Monthly has named the College eighth on its list of schools, ranked according to the contributions their students make to society.The Washington Monthly ranks schools based on community service, research and social mobility. The College has jumped from its previous position as 23rd in 2007.

The magazine looks at the percentage of graduates who go on to serve in the Peace Corps, student participation in the ROTC, faculty awards and honors, annual research spending, the performance of low-income students and the number of students who move on from a bachelor’s degree to eventually earn a Ph. D.

*Two receive Muscarelle’s Cheek Medal*

David Alan Brown, a curator of Italian Renaissance artwork at the National Gallery of Art, and Fred Wilson, a conceptual artist, are this year’s recipients of the Cheek Medal from the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary. A dinner and ceremony at the Lake Matoaka Amphitheater will be held in their honor Sept. 18.

The Cheek Medal was created to recognize individuals who have impacted the fields of visual, performing and museum arts.

The award is named after Leslie Cheek, Jr., who created an endowment for an award to celebrate “excellence in and outstanding presentation of the arts.”

The College of William and Mary has joined a growing number of universities offering medical amnesty for both drugs and alcohol.

At the start of the school year, students seeking help for medical emergencies caused by illegal drug use no longer face disciplinary consequences from the Dean of Students Office for violating the College’s alcoholic beverage or drug policies.

While students at the College will not face disciplinary action if they invoke medical amnesty, they may still suffer consequences including required counseling and drug and alcohol education. Similar to the College’s alcohol amnesty policy, students must invoke amnesty “proactively,” according to the language of the policy. Students cannot ask for amnesty after having been caught. The policy does not apply to the William and Mary and Williamsburg Police Departments.

Medical amnesty policies for drugs and alcohol have been implemented on college campuses throughout the United States. Other universities offering full drug and alcohol amnesty include the University of Ohio, Brown University, Vanderbilt University and the California Institute of Technology.

The University of Virginia and Duke University provide medical amnesty solely for cases involving alcohol use.

Achieving full drug amnesty has been a long-term goal of student government at the College, according to Student Assembly Vice President Ryan Ruzic J.D. ’11.

“It’s something that the Student Assembly’s been pushing for a long time,” Ruzic said. “It’s a really great idea because otherwise students wouldn’t get the medical help they need for fear of being punished by the university.”

Ruzic believes that drug amnesty makes sense for the same reason as alcohol amnesty — student safety.

“It’s a very common sense expansion of the alcohol amnesty,” he said.

According to Ruzic, there was little opposition to full drug amnesty in the SA, though some senators asked if full medical amnesty might send the wrong message. “There were some in the SA who were reluctant to extend amnesty because they viewed it as condoning that sort of behavior,” Ruzic said. Nevertheless, the SA legislation urging the administration to adopt full medical amnesty passed unanimously this April.

This most recent, successful initiative was passed after discussions between SA members and the Dean of Students office. Sen. Ben Brown ’10 and SA Undersecretary of College Policy for Drug and Alcohol Reform
Will Sinnott ’11, developed a proposal for the new policy, which they presented to the Dean of Students office in the winter of 2008. The idea was then seized upon by Associate Dean of Students Dave Gilbert.

According to Brown, Gilbert would rather see [students] seek medical attention than not do so for fear of a student conduct violation. Brown was pleased with the role the SA played in updating the College’s medical amnesty policy.

“I don’t think [full medical amnesty] would have been enacted this year or in coming years without the SA,” Brown said. “[Dean Gilbert] hadn’t been thinking about it until we came to him.”

The new policy is something of a triumph for the SA. According to Brown, the SA is often handicapped by its lack of influence in the administration.

“It’s really frustrating not having any authority to change things at the school,” he said. “Most of the bills like that don’t actually change the policy because we don’t have authority over student conduct.”
Neither Ruzic nor Brown foresee the policy having an immediate effect.

According to Ruzic, a student at the College has not died of a drug overdose in at least the past two years.
The policy is nevertheless a significant achievement.

“We’ve done all we can in the policy because it’s extended to where it covers pretty much everything,” Ruzic said. “Going to full amnesty from limited amnesty certainly puts William and Mary on the forefront of drug policy.”

Dean Gilbert could not be reached for comment.

The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran have called for crackdowns on the country’s universities.

After the June 12 Iranian presidential election, many students took to the streets in protest of what they felt to be an impossible result. The protestors demanded a re-vote, but the supreme leader refused their petitions and called for an end to the protests. Protests continued for weeks, leaving the country divided.
Khamenei has recently blamed the civil unrest on the social science and humanities teachings of Iran’s universities. He recently called for evaluations of departments that he believes undermine Islam.

According to the Mehr news agency, a presidential panel has already met to begin reviewing curricula.

The panel, although formed over a year ago, did not begin work until there were recent calls to remove elements deemed “un-Islamic” from universities, due to the fear that the teaching of secular concepts helped fuel the unrest that followed the June election.

Political pressure to further “Islamize” Iranian higher education has strengthened in recent days as a response to the perceived threat from the teaching of secular ideas.

Many schools have started punishing students who participate in presidential election protests.
Islamic Azad University has been a significant target of several clerics and high-ranking officials, according to the New York Times.

“This university must once again be purified,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s spiritual advisor Ayatollah Muhammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi said. “This purification must occur at the management level and other levels. You see just how many who do not believe in religion, Islam and God have attended and graduated from this university.”

Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former rival of Ahmadinejad, established Islamic Azad University. Hard-liners have long wanted to come after the university as a possible tool of undermining Rafsanjani, who has served as a cautious but essential supporter of the opposition to Ahmadinejad’s administration.

The Ministry of Intelligence and National Security of Iran has allegedly forwarded the names of politically active students of several universities in major cities to campus authorities, facilitating to the questioning of hundreds of students.

The Iranian government has not threatened to close any of the country’s universities, but the government’s crackdown is likely to continue.

Fifty students living in the University of Tehran’s dormitories were questioned for hours by a disciplinary committee, according to Advar News, a student-run website. Politically active students in Iran have grown to expect disciplinary measures or bans from universities, but both have become more common in the past three years.

The College of William and Mary’s new Cohen Career Center doesn’t open until fall 2010, but some alumni are taking advantage of their career center now.

College alumni, jobless or in transition, have been returning in increasing numbers to their alma mater, seeking career advice, and the College has answered their calls.

“There absolutely are more alums using our services and it’s a trend across the country,” Career Center Director Mary Shilling said. “So many people are in transition or have lost their positions in this tough job market, and who do they think of first — their alma mater.”

The Career Center has partnered with the William and Mary Alumni Association to provide a variety of services to graduates including special personalized consulting and networking events around the country.

Shilling estimates several hundred alums have used the center in the last year and she predicts the number will only go up from now on.

One networking event, hosted by a JP Morgan Chase managing director and co-sponsored by the Career Center, the Alumni Association and the Mason School of Business, was held in New York City over the summer and drew more than 70 students and alumni in the financial field.

D.R. Hildebrand ’03 found himself in a similar situation as a writer looking for advice and support for the publication of his novel.

The most valuable resource the College offered Hildebrand, along with other graduates, was networking opportunities. School ties are proving stronger than ever amidst various other resources among impersonal job fairs, internet resources and newspaper postings.

“The Career Center has a far more extensive network available to alumni than I realized,” Hildebrand said.
“They are equally as prepared, and willing, to assist graduates as they are to assist the College’s current students.”

The struggle to find a job, faced by many College graduates, is not uncommon.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country’s unemployment rate has reached 9.7 percent, the highest in 26 years.

“Some people come to us and say ‘I’ve worked so hard, I got the right grades, I got the internship, I made use of my leadership opportunities, so I would have thought I would have a job by now,’” Shilling said. “And in a normal market they would, but this is not a normal market.”

Despite an economic downturn that has called for tremendous budget cuts, helping alumni find jobs could prove to be a great fundraising boost for the College.

The administration believes that the more help these alumni receive, the more they will want to give back.

“The research shows that those alums who have been helped by the College, even as an alum, are more likely to give back to the College, whether it be serving on a panel or program, offering an internship or [a] job or making a contribution to the alumni fund,” Shilling said.

Once construction is finished, the Cohen Career Center will be instrumental in providing support to both undergraduates and graduates in addition to unemployed alumni.

The center, made possible through a $6 million donation from Sherman Cohen ’38, could double the amount of traffic the services receive. Shilling has hope for the future of the College’s alumni.

“They’re just caught right now,” Shilling said. “And they’ll come out of it and life will go on.”