The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/ifc/)
The IFC president and the director of sorority and fraternity life sent an email lifting the ban on social events while implementing new measures for students’ healthy and safety.
On Wednesday morning, IFC announced that the ban on social events would last through the Fall semester.
Following the release of a police report citing incidences of drugging and possible sexual assault at frat houses associated with Cornell University, Cornell IFC has temporarily suspended all frat-affiliated events.
After a surge of COVID-19 cases which the University linked to “informal off-campus gatherings”, Cornell is discouraging fraternities from hosting social events.
Due to investigations of misconduct, the administration has banned four Interfraternity Council chapters from recruiting new members during this semester’s rush process.
Greek life is one of the oldest and most controversial systems at Cornell. The current structure of Greek life that we’re familiar with has been decades in the making, and in this week’s Solar Flashback, we wanted to take a look back at some of the most significant policy changes involving social Greek organizations. As Greek life reforms come into the spotlight once again, it’s important to understand its history in order to gain insights for future change.
The changes attempt to reform many of fraternities’ traditional spring recruitment practices, which the Interfraternity Council president called “laissez-faire.”
Pollack said she appreciated the temporary steps made by the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils — which included a pause on social events and some reforms — but that she would fulfill her responsibility to protect student health and safety.
The family has taken out three days of full-page advertisements in The Sun publicizing an award for $10,000 and has hired an Ithaca-based private investigator in their search for information for the Cornell first-year who was found dead in an Ithaca gorge.
The Interfraternity Council’s most recent resolution targets “dirty rushing,” or the unpermitted recruitment of first-year students. In the past, most houses did partake in dirty rushing, IFC president Cristian Gonzalez ’20 said.