The Coed Fraternity Sorority Council voted last week to revise a policy that punishes Greek houses for leaving garbage and party debris on their lawns so that the punishment fits the severity of the transgression.
The original clean grounds policy, passed one year ago, was widely considered unreasonable by members of the Greek system because it made little distinction between major and minor violations.
The old policy judged violations strictly by the number of items of trash on the grounds, CFSC President Marty Dengler '97 said.
"It really tied the hands of the judiciary committee," he said. "There was no difference between three cups and three garbage cans
of trash."
Under the new revisions, there are three levels of transgression, which the CFSC's judiciary committee has more power to adjudicate.
According to the new policy, house grounds must be clean by 10 a.m. every day, when an official from the Office of Residential Life will survey each house for violations of the policy. Houses will receive "warnings" over e-mail for their first few violations, according to the minutes of the CFSC.
After "numerous warnings," the house achieves "reprimand" status. The president of an offending house must appear before the committee, which will determine if a house should be fined.
Judiciary Committee Chair Steve Sugarman '97 said the "reprimand stage" is where fines "come into effect."
A house must elect two of its members to oversee the cleaning of its grounds, he said.
After committing between one and five violations, in addition to a reprimand, a house moves to the "discipline" stage.
The judiciary committee can levy fines up to $150 and can sentence a house to three weeks of community service picking up other houses' lawns.
If the problem persists, the organization can be put on social probation.
Sugarman said the CFSC deliberately left the new policy's language vague "to allow the JC to use its own best judgment."
Dengler said, "Instead of trying to spell out every possible violation, we opted to leave that up the judiciary committee. They're intelligent and we trust their judgment."
Assistant Director of Residential Operations Bernard Haskell said the clean grounds policy was a joint initiative of the College and the CFSC.
He said the College put pressure on the CFSC to make houses keep grounds clean after Hanover residents complained, but he added that the CFSC gladly complied.
Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deb Reinders said CFSC leaders conceived the policy idea at a retreat last year.
Sugarman said the CFSC realized the problems with the old policy at the beginning of the term.
"This spring, the first sunny weekend, most of the houses weren't prepared to comply with" the old policy, he said. Unseemly lawns are not usually a problem Winter term because trash stays inside with the party-goers, he said.
On that first weekend, 12 houses received a total of 19 citations, but only two or three of the violations were "serious," Sugarman said.
Dengler, a Bones Gate brother, said the CFSC's interest in keeping grounds clean is twofold. Clean grounds "build accountability in the outside community," but they also help houses feel good about themselves, he said.
"If you take care as a person about how you dress, it reflects on yourself. If your house looks good on the outside, you feel good about yourselves as a house," Dengler said.
Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority President Joanna Whitley '97 said the rules of the clean grounds policy are stringent, but necessary for good community relations.
"Obviously, it's hard to implement, [with the deadline] being so early each day," she said. "But if that will make the Hanover community happy, it's not too much to ask."
KDE received a warning two weeks ago when they had fewer than 10 cups on their front lawn, the morning after a party, said Sugarman. At a meeting on yesterday, the judiciary committee decided not to issue a fine.
Sugarman said KDE had no previous violations this year and they were cited for only a few cups. KDE also promised to assign a sister to make sure the grounds are clean in the future.
Under the new policy, the most important factors are the house's history followed by the extent of the violation, he said.
Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity House Manager Aaron Larson '97 said he believes the new policy is more reasonable because houses have a chance to justify the infractions before the judiciary committee.
"If you're going to have people walking by, you need to have your lawn cleaned up," he said. "But it's tough, especially in the middle of the week."
"For the most part the ground is clean, but it's that one evening a brother goes out drinking late with buddies and leaves a few cups on the lawn," he said. "You get up for a [9 a.m.] class and the last thing you're thinking about is working on the house."
