Guy Reschenthaler, Newswire Editor William and Mary acts to stop affairs between professors and students by Philip Walzer The Virginian-Pilot A year after a former instructor dissected his re lationship with a College of William and Mary stu dent in a national magazine, the school's board has voted to prohibit affairs between professors and undergraduates. The college's provost, Gillian T. Cell, called it "an important statement of professional ethics. Students are more hurt by these kind of relationships than faculty members are, and I think we have the re sponsibility to try to protect our students." William P. Barr, the chairman of the board's Aca demic Affairs Committee, agreed. "The new policy clearly reflects my views as to how this should be properly handled," said Barr, a former U.S. attorney general. It reinforces "the im permissibility of relationships between faculty and undergraduates, while giving greater flexibility to graduate. students." The policy, which was passed unanimously late last week, bans "consensual amorous relations" be tween professors and undergraduates. It also applies to graduate students "for whom the faculty member has direct professional responsibility." The college's deans may "grant exemptions ... in exceptional circumstances." Faculty members who violate the rule could face dismissal. William and Mary's policy is among the farthest reaching at Virginia colleges. Norfolk State and Old Dominion universities dis courage, but do not prohibit, sex between profes sors and students they supervise. Virginia Wesleyan College has no written policy, but it also urges pro fessors to steer clear of such relationships, spokes womanßetsy Hnath said. The University of Virginia prohibits relationships ,kiimween pnAwiwwwand4tudents "over whom the are in a position of authority." William and Mary's previous policy required pro fessors to tell their bosses if they were involved with a student they were teaching or supervising. Col lege spokesman William T. Walker Jr. said six vio lations have been reported since it was adopted in 1991. In the fall of 2000, GQ magazine published an article by former writing instructor Sam Kashner detailing his affair with a married student. The woman's husband later committed suicide, he wrote. His article also suggested it wasn't unusual for fe male students at the college to make sexual advances toward male professors. Administrators and students vigorously disputed his portrayal, but the article pro voked a review of the policy. The college's Faculty Assembly drafted the new policy. The group's president, Colleen S. Kennedy, said professors decided it wasn't enough to prohibit relationships between faculty and students in their departments. "We're,small, and our students don't declare their concentrations (majors) until their junior or senior years," said Kennedy, an associate professor of En glish. "We encourage them to take classes bmadly. Freshmen and sophomores don't always know where they're going to concentrate." William and Mary has about 5,500 undergradu ates and graduate students. Kennedy said she didn't think the policy would discourage professors from working closely with students: "We clearly delineate what relationships are prohibited to make professors more comfortable with other kinds of relationships that are important to the college." Kent Willis, executive clixtctor of the ACLU of Virginia, say the issue teetered between protecting adults' rights to "private associakon" and sparing students from abuse in "power r elationships," Willis said he wasn't sure a ban on relationships between all students and:professors at a school could withstand a legal challenge. The policy, he said, "goes too far. The bottom line is that these are adults and the college is preventing them from engaging in consensual relationships. To ban all such relationships, they cast the net too broadly." But Joan Murphy, a lawyer in the state. Attorney General's Office, told board members last week that the policy is "cleruly legally defensible." At the Oliva* Penter, undergraduates said stu dent-prOfessor relationships are virtually unheard of. Still, many wekomed the change to avoid the pos- Sibility :of getting plesseted !)y pmfessors. tYou don't want what a prhfessor feels abtiTtt you ... to get in the way of• your grades," sophomore Helen Mallard said. University of Michigan delays fall 'rush' by Maryanne George Knight Ridder Newspapers Marc Hustvedt is at the front lines of an effort to improve the image of 63 fraternities and sororities at the University of Michigan. As U-M's first Greek Affairs adviser, Hustvedt lives in Markley Hall - home to more than 1,100 freshmen. He tries to help them avoid the dark side of Greek life, such as binge drinking, as they de cide whether to join a group that could also offer them lifetime friendships. Problems with the Greek system at U-M resur faced when two freshmen pledges at the Delta Delta Delta sorority told police they were drugged and raped at a Beta Theta Pi fraternity party on Oct. 25. The fraternity, which was placed on probation in 1998 for alcohol violations, has been suspended and the sorority has placed itself on probation while po lice, U-M officials and the national organizations investigate. No charges have been filed. But the alleged incident renews debate about what to do with a system that can be so good, and yet so bad, for students. In the last 10 years, 10 U-M fraternities have closed because of violations related to alcohol and hazing, and 10 more have closed because of low membership. Four sororities have closed because of low membership, and two have closed as a re sult of hazing violations in the same period, accord ing to U-M data. "We need to re-evaluate where our social envi ronment is going," said Hustvedt, president of U- M's Interfraternity Council and a member of Theta Chi fraternity, which will become the fifth alcohol free chapter on campus in January. But Hustvedt, 22, of Concord, Mass., knows it's not easy to change a decades-old tradition. A 1999 study by U-M's Substance Abuse Re search Center found that 76 percent of U-M stu dents living in fraternity or sorority houses had en gaged in binge drinking within a two-week period, compared to 62 percent of students living in resi dence halls. Two solutions have come to the forefront of cam pus debates: moving freshman rush to the spring, when students aren't as anxious about mak- ing friends and fitting in, and moving par ties out of fraternity houses and into pri vate party facilities where adults with li quor licenses, insurance and security guards can monitor who is drinking and how much. Delaying rush from September until at least the end of the freshman year was re cently recommended by a task force com missioned by U-M President Lee Bollinger to improve the undergraduate experience. "The first six weeks at college are very, very stressful," said Marsha Benz, U-M's Alcohol and Other Drug health educator. "It may be a student's first real taste of independence. There is sexual pressure. They think everyone's having sex, there is a lot of academic stress, and the stress of pledging could be another factor. It's all about wanting to fit in a group," she said. However, national studies show grade point averages actually go down if fresh men delay rush participation, according to Richard McKaig, executive director of the Center for the Study of the College Frater nity and vice chancellor for student affairs at Indiana University in Bloomington. At U-M, freshmen in sororities have a mean grade point average of 3.25, com pared to 3.06 for freshman women campus wide. Freshman fraternity members aver age a 3.05 mark, compared with the fresh man men's campus average of 3.01. Atli:other problem with delaying rush is that the high demand for housing in Ann Arbor means freshmen usually must sign leases for their sophomore year by the end of the fall semester, according to U-M offi cials. Deciding whether to go Greek is part of the housing decision-making process. It could also threaten the stability of fra ternities and sororities if they couldn't count on sophomores to fill their large houses. Two-thirds of students living in houses are sophomores, according to U-M statistics. Casey Bourke, a freshman pledge at Pi Kappa Alpha, said going through fall rush "destroyed the 'Animal House' concept of fraternities for me." "I never intended to pledge," said Bourke, 18, of Nashville, Tenn. "The interview with the brothers defined the group as socially conscious, a group that reflected all the val ues I was taught as a child." Delaying the freshman rush period is to be studied by a steering committee as one of many recommendations made to the un- Friday, November 30, 2001 dergraduate task force. Beyond the question of rush events is how to make Greek parties more safe, and less dependent on al cohol. Mary Beth Seiler, U-M's director of ( ;reek .itc•. said fraternities and sororities have a self-imposed policy that bans kegs and requires groups to check identification, designate sober monitors and regis ter and limit the size of parties. Sororities and fra ternities also offer alcohol education to members. "What this campus has needed for a long time is to get parties out of the houses to licensed places where they have control of alcohol," she said. Part of the problem, according to experts and stu dents, is that regulating a large party and enforcing unpopular alcohol policies typically falls to students who are the same age as the revelers. "It's very difficult at parties. I'm always con cerned that everything is running safely, - said Evan Chopp, 20, a U-M junior from Dearborn I leights, Mich., who is president of Chi Phi fraternity. He supports moving parties out to private venues. "We have an older house with big windows and lots of fire escapes. There are lots of places for people to come in, and it's not possible to have someone at every access point," he said. "We're throwing a party, but we're not enjoying ourselves if we're walking around checking everything." U-M Regent David Brandon agreed: "Leaders of ten have one year in the job and don't want to be the one to sit their buddies down and say, 'Clean up your act.' Leaders are often sophomores. so you have a 19-year-old elected by their peers in charge of 90 kids. That's not going to work." Brandon said alcohol and hazing violations at fra ternities and sororities obscure the philanthropy that Greek organizations sponsor - last year, they raised more than $44,000 for charity - and threaten the houses' future. During the last decade, U-M fraternity and so rority membership has dropped from 4,6(X) to 4,200, mirroring a national trend, according to Mc Kaig of Indiana University. The slide has been even greater at Michigan State University, where membership in 36 fraternities and 21 sororities has dropped from 6,000 in 1990 to 0., . ' 11 'it. , :i; : : --, ; . •.:.ft', , t.,!,..::q-,.1 . •:. ii. 40V\ 111V6 s(ou NOT A it A/AWOL (11-_NIuS rs 4/0T q (:)/Cytt/ 0 .4 . 1/4' lics‘ t ...,,,. -:*1- M'c , ,': : •:, .1.0, ,;;;.,,,t.:1,';',i.:i0.4, •';.!:. : •., . • .; ; •-". „ .1”.;?4,•,...11'.•.,, '• :. .. .. • • . ; :,..i ~:;•,14,4£ ~..,,, , .., ' .•": , .3 £ ~....,,..", ..,:A.•:,,,,-.,,!..!.,-,. -.....•.A.”. ~..,.t..44.•, ,,1 1..,....-..- ~. ~,;., .-- f7z -.....:.; . f:.,..,,f.,-;...ii--1. .....?„,11,...,,,.,.....„: i••••£ ? ~ ••'''7 ' ... i.• i , f tt.- 4 ,.- :. • •f.k•••,:,4 •• ~....£,££ , : t•-. '. I'. ' . ‘,.:. • •£ ;', :. „ £•.•,.':*. 4.41 :...., , •t. 'Y..; ; #•nt t • :,...::' !•,,,:.,.• , • 1 , • !...". 3,200 this fall, according to MSU data. McKaig said students are concerned about the cost of joining, the effect on their grades and negative associations with the Greek life such as alcohol abuse and date rape. "Sororities party too much. - said Rachel Pa . xson. 18, a U-M freshman from Hartford. Mich., who said she does not plan to join a sorority. - They are more focused on, the social aspect of college rather than academics. It's not right to have to pay to meet people. I want to meet them on my ow n. - McKaig said many colleges natiomiv ide are w ,)rk ing to de-emphasize alcohol and return fraternities and sororities to their core values, such as scholar ship and leadership. He surveys 700 sororities and fraternities every two years. Some, like the University of Maryland in ( 'ol lege Park, ended fall freshman rush in 19%. Others. like MSU, have taken a greater oversight role MSI hired a fulltime staff person in 1997 to \\ ork with the 43 Greek organizations and set standard poll Living at U-M's Markley Hall. Ilustvcdt tries 1, , help freshmen sort through the issues surionndim.! Greek life and eliminate the problems that give the organizations a had name. He has meals xvith stu dents, attends staff and student meetings and is avail able to talk to students individuall y. So far his work has earned high praise from Hill Zeller, U-M's director of housing, and other staff at Markley. This year there were 35 allegations of al cohol violations at the hall compared with SO last year between September and Nov. R. according to U-M data. Part of the credit goes to I lustvedes ef forts, Zeller said. Mike Camalo, a freshman at Markley, said his con versations with Hustvedt convinced him to wait to pledge even though he had been asked to join Hustvedt's fraternity, Theta Chi. "1 had a three-hour discussion with him in his room, and he told me it was all about my personal comfort and my ability to manage class work and my time," said Camalo, 18, from Ann Arbor, Mich. "I did not feel pressured. Marc helped me under stand the issues and the time commitment." The Behrend Beacon Page 5
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