There’s a new law on the Indiana University campus that has all of Greek Life running a muck, and it’s name is the “Agreement For Housed Greek Organizations”.
Plain and simple, the document states that even though the national headquarters of each chapter might own the houses, not the universities, it is in the best nature of each student to have said rules in place: every chapter house or organization must have a “Live-In Resident Advisor”, as well as a strict banning of hard alcohol. On top of this, the university reserves its right to enter into each chapter housing facility without a warrant, if there is probable cause.
Needless to say, I am shocked. Though I’m proud that the university is taking a stand against harsh topics like hazing, rising use of alcohol and drugs on college campuses, and a zero-tolerance for abusing the law, this is quite a violation of privacy here. Even in the document, the university itself states that even though they are aware that each of these houses are privately owned by independent organizations, they reserve the right to come into your house, for the sole reasoning of that it will “strengthen the university”.
With Indiana University having 20% of its 40,000 member student body within Greek Life, this new law doesn’t effect just a few people.
It’s no shocker that fraternity houses throw parties. We’ve come to the point in our lives where we can fully establish the notion that certain fraternity houses have certain gatherings on certain Friday evenings. However, this law might even be dangerous for college students. For example, if a non-Greek member of Indiana University is aware of this law and comes into the house with a bag of cocaine instead of a handle of Rubinoff, this is a serious offense, not only on himself, but for the entire organization. The whole point of this law is to get students to be more safe about their actions. However, when is it time to start thinking that sometimes these rules can backfire on us all?
