Brendan Downes
News Editor
In the Torian Room, 15 people crowd together at a single table. It’s an intimate scene, where students and alumni alike have come to voice dissatisfaction. “What do you expect Greeks to do? We want this to be a safe environment, but there are no resources to help us,” said Moses Vincent III (C’25). Vincent, who serves as vice president of SGA, pointed out the danger of a policy that is not supported by the infrastructure in place at Sewanee. Sewanee’s Debate Union and the Student Government Association hosted a forum where students were invited to share their opinions on the Social Host Policy and its application on campus this semester. During the forum, students and alumni raised questions about how the policy could be improved and discussed where the policy’s effects are visible and invisible on campus.
Vincent called for students to be more discerning about what they want from another revised policy, but also noted that students need better communication and resources if they are expected to accept and adopt the new policy within a semester. “If we had a policy that was more inline with what, not just Greeks, but all student organizations can agree on then we are more in favor of following the policy. So if we are supposed to do wristbands, I would love it if, instead of forcing organizations to buy them, we were provided with them for the semester.” McClain Brooks (C’25), president of SGA, noted that students were not consulted when the policy was written.
According to Betsy Baker (C’27), who moderated the forum, some students were told by staff of the Office of Student Involvement that Student Involvement would provide wristbands and any other resources that the policy would require but according to Vincent and other members of Greek groups in attendance, said Sewanee’s Greek Life office has not provided wristbands or any other kind of support regarding the policy since the first month of the semester.
Greek Life director Donald Abels did not respond to The Sewanee Purple’s requests for comment.
Vincent noted that the social host policy should emphasize ways that student organizations can protect students from alcohol poisoning and other dangerous situations should something of that nature occur at a party. “[The policy} should offer support for organizations… to curate a [safer] environment. You can’t stop students from drinking, but you can [offer better] training. That communication and effort would transcend [the policy and into] campus.”
While most students used the forum to clarify what they would want from another revised policy, others were critical of the existence of any kind of policy. Students expressed the belief that the regulation of alcohol at a tight-knit school where party culture is so important would be ineffective given that students have no incentive to follow a policy that is not strictly enforced. The overwhelming consensus was that students, regardless of Greek affiliation, do not follow the guidelines set within the new policy. Others noted that despite the noticeable police presence at some social events, police officers do not administer the policy. Many students said that the policy has not changed their experience at Sewanee in any meaningful way, noting that the use of wristbands has not been enforced. “I haven’t seen a wristband since September,” said Nolan Griggs (C’27), a member of Greek Life. “If it gets stricter, people still aren’t going to follow it, I’m just confused about the true direction that we’re going in.”
“There should be a system in place where people are encouraged to care about each other,” said Eleanor Dean (C’27) in response to the notion that there should be no policy. Some students suggested more comprehensive training or classes about alcohol abuse required for freshmen. “This policy has no plan for enforcement and is really just a way for the university to [protect itself] legally, but we should have something in place so that people have to take care of each other or else [students] could get into really dangerous situations,” said Dean. “I think… the policy is a back up for [the university], a way to get out of trouble and point to someone else and say ‘well they weren’t following the policy’ [should anything go wrong]. This hurts the whole community, it sows distrust, suspicion, and an unwillingness to lean on each other,” said Betsy Baker, who moderated the forum.
Jimmy Wilson (C ’69), who has served on the Greek Alumni Council, noted potential flaws in the policy that could be exploited by students. “The onus falls directly on the [student] to ID every person that comes into your location through [the main entrance]. There are [at least] four ways to come into the Chi Psi lodge without entering through the front door and I know the fire marshal wouldn’t allow you to lock those at a party.”
Margaret Barton, C’78, a former regent and trustee who advises Theta Kappa Phi and is current president of Sewanee’s Greek alumni advisory council, said the council’s members regretted not being consulted before a revised social host policy was developed over the summer and rolled out to students in August. “In response to our concerns, a member of the student life staff reached out to me and a couple of other advisors, and we were able to offer practical input that helped make the policy more workable,” said Barton, who did not attend the forum. “We look forward to advising on any future policy changes that impact our Greek community. We want to ensure the Sewanee’s Greek organizations continue serving as vibrant and positive centers of Sewanee’s student life.”
When looking at the event policies of other universities it becomes apparent that many of Sewanee’s policies are actually relatively moderate, but students expressed that the implementation of the social host policy has lacked clarity and respect for student organizations. Tulane, for example, requires student organizations to register events with alcohol three weeks in advance.
Although some students at the forum expressed annoyance with the restrictions enforced by the policy, it seems that the majority of students are more concerned with the amount of responsibility put on students and the lack of actionability supported by the new rules.
Sewanee has similar policies to these colleges, but other institutions utilize technology that makes hosting these events safer while also potentially taking some potential liability off of students. Sewanee students and parents have voiced their concerns about the liability that is placed on student monitors since the policy was introduced in August. Centre College and Vanderbilt utilize a system where students scan their student IDs with a university-provided scanning device to enter a party. Centre’s scanner system was developed internally and uses physical scanning systems and Centre’s data organization software. This system also keeps a log of all students who enter and leave each registered event.
Wayne Kreis, Director of Student Activities and Greek Life at Centre College, spoke with the Purple about their system. “When a Greek organization registers an event with our office, we first need to approve it. Once approved, we coordinate with IT to set up the event in our database system, CentreNet…only students who have completed our Greek 101 program are eligible to attend these events.” Regarding the possibility of a student using another student’s ID to get into an event they are not approved to attend, Kreis said “when an ID is scanned it shows the photo of the student and our monitors are supposed to double check. Plus we are a small campus so you get to know everyone pretty quickly.”
It may come as a surprise that the adoption of this system was relatively inexpensive. According to Kreis, Centre purchased “16 scanners at approximately $45 each and 8 tablets at around $50 each” when they began implementing the system in 2021. The total initial cost was only
About $1,120–Centre plans on upgrading the system at the end of the academic year with the purchase of new scanners that will total about $1,056 ($66 per scanner).
Current students and alumni believe that the new policy does not do enough to protect student event monitors (Previous Social Host Policy Article). According to Kreis, students involved with Greek Life at Centre “are all supportive of the system” as it helps student organizations with risk management. It also presumably takes pressure off of the students responsible for monitoring the event and protects the organizations they represent as there is no need to worry about being held accountable for letting in a student with a fake ID. Kreis noted that “UCLA, Clemson, U of Montana” and other colleges are beginning to implement similar ID scanner systems at their Greek life events. “The national [Greek organizations] that I have spoken with have praised our system and commitment to safety at Greek events.”