With the start of the spring semester, the Interfraternity Council is in a transition period that includes new executive boards, creating a new set of goals and planning the upcoming events.
Chip Ray, IFC president, said that because it is early in the semester, the IFC is just getting started on implementing its goals.
Ray (senior-industrial engineering) reviewed the old executive board positions and saw that some positions were being under-utilized or overworked.
A new programming position was created “to get the work load off some old positions,” Ray said.
Winter break consisted of the preparation for spring recruitment, IFC Executive Vice President Lorenzo Massaro said.
Massaro (senior-crime, law and justice) said the IFC is trying to make the spring recruitment more informative, as it is known for being traditionally more relaxed than the fall season.
A continuing goal for the IFC is to improve its relationship with the State College Borough, Massaro said.
The State College Borough has a point system for violations that can range from noise complaints to snow removal, he said. According to the State College Pennsylvania Rental Housing Permit Suspension website, a violation can receive one to three points. At 10 or more points, the permit suspension process starts, according to the website.
Currently, the State College Borough Council is debating whether to lower the number of points to nine instead of 10, Massaro said.
“It is a whole community problem,” he said.
Massaro said he believes there is no cause for this change, and it seems to target the greek system. Massaro said the IFC wants to understand the reasoning behind lowering the points.
State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham said “[The point system] keeps people aware of their impact on their community.”
She said she did not feel that greek life was being targeted by the change and that there is a meeting with IFC to talk about issues that the IFC has with the State College Borough.
The IFC also wants to improve the relationship between students involved in greek life and the remainder of the Penn State student body, Massaro said, noting that it has “already improved.”
Ray said the vice president of programming is planning to promote events and reach out to other organizations on campus, including multicultural groups.
Some of the IFC events that are in the preparation stages are Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon and Greek Week.
Greek Week includes the Multicultural Greek Council, along with Panhellenic Council and IFC. Greek Week’s main purpose is to improve and cement the relationships between the Greek Councils.
The IFC has not made any specific partnerships with multicultural organizations in the wake of a photo of members of the Chi Omega sorority that surfaced at the end of the fall semester that prompted action from several organizations. But Ray said he is working with the University Park Undergraduate Association’s newly formed diversity task force, which has had one formal meeting since its formation.
Ray, who advocated for diversity education at the diversity task force meeting, said the IFC is working toward adding a diversity education section into either its new member orientation sessions or its information sessions at the beginning of spring rush.
Education within the IFC is not the only place Ray is considering, as he said he would like to work with multicultural organizations to add more programs for education. Creating events with such organizations would fall under the vice president of programming.
