Coverage of the Greek community and Campus Police

The recent coverage of the Greek community and Campus Police outlined in the front-page news story as well as an editorial in the September 7th edition of the Technician prompted me to write this letter. For years, the Greek community has only received coverage when it is convenient for the newspaper or when there is a major controversy involving fraternities and sororities. In the time since I began attending NC State, countless opportunities to highlight the projects, initiatives, and community service achievements of our collective Greek community have been noticeably absent from the pages of the newspaper.

The most important aspect that the recent coverage of the Greek community lacked was outlining the great working relationship that Campus Police and fraternities/sororities have developed over the last several years. This working relationship has allowed us to open a discussion between Greek leaders and Campus Police in order to find better ways to report incidents occurring on Greek Village, especially when not related to organizations residing on fraternity court. With one conversation, Campus Police said they would amend their policy regarding the issue. We all agreed “fraternity court” would be ideal for unrelated incidents, but if an incident is directly related it would be reported in the original format citing the chapter name. This solution was developed together in a seamless fashion within days of the original concerns being raised, making the outlined points of controversy in the newspaper void due to the cooperation of all involved organizations including Interfraternity Council (IFC), Greek Life, Delta Delta Delta, and Campus Police, to name a few. This cooperation has been possible by the communication channels developed from organizations collaborating on projects, like the Responsible Behavior Initiative.

Several years ago, the “Responsible Behavior Initiative” or RBI Program began as a response to the severed ties between fraternities and the Campus Police. The RBI Program is a joint program between Campus Police and the Interfraternity Council (IFC) to educate students on what it means to be a responsible community member by encouraging positive experiences with Campus Police. This program provides an opportunity for fraternities and Campus Police to work together and establish an open line of communication. This relationship has produced positive results for both parties by creating an open channel to discuss infractions, good deeds, organize education programs but most importantly preventing issues from escalating. This program has flourished from day one in the form of joint service projects, initiatives, safety programs, social events, and athletics. Today chapter presidents regularly converse with leaders in the police department in order to create a safer environment on-campus. Any controversy that has risen from the police blotter is unfounded and frankly disturbing. The promptness of public safety to update policy effectively protects students and the campus community as a whole.

This year we furthered our efforts with our partnership with campus police; we started getting our members along with the campus community to sign RBI pledges. With these pledges, students agreed to continually to strive to be responsible to themselves and others and to the core values of North Carolina State University. The University and Student Media continue to overlook these positive efforts. The fraternities that we all see in mainstream media are only a small percentage of our organizations and do not represent our membership as a whole. My discontent with the Technician does not stem from those minority members, they come from the broader efforts of our community that are continually over looked.

As fraternities and sororities continue working to hold their members to higher standards in academics, behavior, community/campus involvement, and leadership, we know that we are under scrutiny from every perspective that judge the entire community from the actions of one person. Our current discussions are meant to curb these stereotypes. We want the campus community to highlight our positive achievements and hold us accountable when we make poor decisions and do not maintain a high standard of excellence.  

We are not challenging the merits of the article printed on Monday, but rather would like to highlight the positive conversation that IFC and Campus Police are having and the benefits that it has provided to the University as a whole. I invite the Technician to help us highlight the projects, initiatives, and community service achievements of our collective Greek community with the same vigor that you hold us accountable for our shortcomings.

Regards,

Peter Barnes

senior, political science

President, Interfraternity Council at North Carolina State University