Seven lines. A paragraph. Precisely 80 words. In the Brandeis Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, a document of 75 pages, the mention of fraternities and sororities measures roughly the same length as a research paper footnote. For the casual reader, it would appear as if Greek life plays a middling role in student life at Brandeis, if any role at all. This is the point of those 80 words; they act as a blindfold to cover our eyes, to pretend. Regardless of the good they do, the existence of these influential but officially unrecognized organizations creates a sea of liability and potential for abuse. 

Brandeis only regulates student-to-student conduct. As a group, fraternities and sororities are not beholden to the school in any way. There are no means for the school to discourage unacceptable conduct by way of collective punishment and culpability. This lack of accountability, lack of reporting structure and laughable dearth of communication produces the awkward, and often dangerous, situation present today. The lack of an official relationship between Brandeis and its Greek life is useful for both parties. A childish, “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you” stance helps both dodge accountability. Recognition, and therefore regulation, is a must. 

Short of violating laws or University policy and being caught doing so, the Greek life at Brandeis is under no obligation to share internal information or maintain any accountability to the University. 

Greek institutions at the University have insisted that their own self-regulation is sufficient. However, the inclination of some Greek life at Brandeis has shown otherwise.

For example, after a member of Zeta Beta Tau was accused of sexual assault in 2013, an officer of the Greek Awareness Council — preoccupied with the reputation of the implicated fraternity — urged Greek members not to discuss the situation, according to a Feb. 1, 2013 Brandeis Hoot article. 

The GAC officer placed little emphasis on finding the truth, despite stating that one of his top priorities was “to show that the trust the administration and student body have put in our self-regulation is well-deserved.” 

Well deserved? Trusting an organization that had just fielded allegations of sexual assault is convenient, not well deserved.  

It is convenient for Greek life to have no accountability. Without the threat of administrative moderation, it would be easy for these legally ambiguous organizations to violate many University policies, not to mention State and Federal Laws. It is convenient for the University Administration to stick their fingers in their ears, howl loudly and officially pretend that the fraternities and sororities don’t exist, despite their obvious existence. Like a “Swim at Your Own Risk” sign at a public lake, doing so eliminates most of the effort and responsibility on the part of the University to inquire into what happens at off-campus fraternities and sororities. In a Sept. 14 email to the Justice, Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel noted that, though the University tracks off-campus incidents with Waltham Police, “the university does not have any formal tracking system for unrecognized groups or organizations.”

The problem extends outside of campus. A lack of University oversight can damage the school’s relationship with the City of Waltham. Noise complaints are a frequent irritation to the people of Waltham and to the Waltham Police Department, who spend countless nights diverting their energies and resources to deal with off-campus parties. This is a source of much needless paperwork, time, money and effort that could better be spent elsewhere. In 2013, Waltham Police sent a letter to local college students, listing common complaints of the community of Waltham against students here. One of the key listed complaints was “loud and disruptive parties.” 

This time last year, according to a Sept. 11 Hoot article, the Waltham Police Department sent a uniformed officer to warn students of the consequences if they held parties at their residences. A former Brandeis student and member of Phi Kappa Psi is quoted saying that the officer “made it very clear that should we engage in any external social behaviors at that house, they ... would immediately come to our house” and that anyone present should be prepared to be charged with “disturbing the peace, distributing to minors if you’re 21 and older, possession of alcohol if you’re under 21.”   

The police should be left to do more urgent work. The jurisdiction of the more student-friendly Brandeis Police ends at the edge of campus, leaving Waltham Police to clean up the messes of what should be a strictly on-campus problem. In the same Sept. 14 email to the Justice, Flagel confirmed that the University does “work with Waltham Police to track incidents at off campus addresses.” Whether this help is significant enough to counteract the additional paperwork for Waltham Police remains to be seen. 

Another point, mentioned by Gabriel Del Carmen in a March 21 piece for the Odyssey Online, is that the resources that Brandeis has on campus are far more geared toward student use in case of emergency. Off campus, Brandeis Medical Corps and Brandeis Police have no jurisdiction. In a Sept. 17 email to the Justice, BEMCo Director Carolyn Sabini said, “BEMCo only responds to calls on Brandeis property.”  This has enormous implications. If a student at an off-campus party needs medical attention, it can cost them hundreds of dollars, if not more, to receive many of the same services that BEMCo will cover for free. However, if recognized, Greek life could officially host events on campus, allowing better access to BEMCo and other services. Rather than pay fines or hundreds of dollars for an unnecessary ambulance ride, students at on-campus parties would interact with BranPo and BEMCo.   

These are just a few of the benefits of recognizing Greek life. Recognition could also include many advantages for Greek life itself. Potentially having money from the school, spaces to hold events and the use of the Brandeis name could be just a few of the upsides to official recognition by the University.

Where does Brandeis go from here in terms of recognizing Greek life? According to Flagel’s email, “any such consideration would have to start with our Greek organizations undertaking the kind of fundamental changes that would bring them into alignment with Brandeis student organization values of openness on the basis of competency or interests.” 

This official trope about Greek life being selective and therefore not in line with Brandeis values is somewhat misleading. For example, most performance-based groups on campus are also quite selective in terms of membership yet still are recognized by the University. 

Even if the University’s ideological argument for not recognizing Greek life were not so hypocritical, a significant clash of values still exists. Either the school can cling to its abstract system of ethics, or it can adequately protect its student body. Those dismissive seven lines  do neither.