Alleged discriminatory policy leads to Greek boycott of first Tailgate

Joshua Ceballos/News Director

 

This weekend was the University’s first tailgate of the year — but no one was there.

Lot 4 and 5 remained mostly empty of tailgaters, a clear sign of Greek Life’s decision to boycott the first tailgate of the year in a show of civil disobedience against the Student Government Association for allegedly discriminating against Greeks with its policies.

Below is a live tweet from PantherNOW during the tailgate that shows the tailgating lots mostly empty during the festivities.


The boycott occurred even after an emergency meeting was held hours before the game Saturday, Sept. 1, with leaders of the four Greek councils, the presidents of SGA and University administrators– such as President Mark B. Rosenberg– in hopes of addressing these concerns.

During the meeting, most of the Greeks said that the new 2018 Room Rental Agreement would get in the way of their ability to recruit new members and raise money for philanthropies.

The new agreement would no longer allow members of the Interfraternity Council, the Multicultural Greek Council, the Panhellenic Council, and the National Panhellenic Council to rent rooms on campus free of charge without registering with SGA.

The agreement was signed by the presidents and comptrollers of both Student Government Councils as well as the directors of the Graham Center and the Wolfe University Center.

The agreement wasn’t the only reason for the boycott, but it was the tipping point, according to the two council presidents Student Media spoke with on Friday, Aug. 31, a day before the Panthers played against the Indiana Hoosiers.

At the start of the meeting, Jose Sirven, president of the Student Government Council at the Modesto Maidique campus, said he had done a phone conversation with the Greek council heads and Rosenberg around 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, to resolve the issues with the new agreement.

As of this academic year, Sirven said, room rentals for the Greek organizations to host their philanthropic events will be paid by a discretionary fund raised by Rosenberg.

Javier Ortiz, SGC-MMC senator and member of IFC, questioned if the discretionary fund would be a permanent fix for the Greeks or if they would have this problem again in the future.

Rosenberg responded that he would be reviewing the Graham and Wolfe University Centers’ operations budgets to see how this issue could be more permanently handled in the future.

“I’m not sure exactly how much is in the fund at the moment or how much we’ll need, but we will raise the money,” said Rosenberg to Student Media at the meeting.

President Rosenberg speaking to several fraternity members in attendance at the meeting before it began.

Sirven also addressed his own mistakes in not being transparent with the Greek community, and what things would look like going forward. Jefferson Noel, SGC-BBC president, did not make any comments during the meeting, despite also signing the 2018 Room Rental Agreement.

“We’re here to tell you we’ve heard you and that this is the starting point of something new. This is not the last conversation, this will be a continuing dialogue,” said Sirven. “I understand that some of my decisions haven’t been so popular, and I could’ve done a better job executing them.”

Sirven and the administration explained the reason for the change in the rental agreement by citing Florida statute 1009.24 (10)(b), which states that “The [student activity and services] fund may not benefit activities for which an admission fee is charged to students, except for student-government-association-sponsored concerts.”

The Greeks in attendance also questioned Sirven as to why the new rental agreement and its policies were not brought before the Senate so that they would be aware of the changes affecting Greeks. Sirven replied that the agreement was written in the summer and not enough senators showed up to meet quorum.

Ortiz rebutted Sirven by saying that reports can be made without quorum, and that this was important enough that it should have been brought to Senate attention.

Beside room rentals, Greeks also spoke up about the lack of trust between the administration and their community and said they hadn’t been given a chance to prove they could be trusted following the University’s pause on all Greek life back in Spring 2018

The pause came after organizations such as Tau Kappa Epsilon violated the University’s Code of Conduct, requiring each organization to go through a reinstatement process.

Christianne Medrano, the associate director for Fraternity and Sorority life, said that “trust is a two way street,” and that Greeks still have to prove themselves, even if they’ve already “purged toxic members” from the community.

“Trust has to be built back up. It can’t happen all at once… you have to hold your members accountable if they do something wrong,” said Medrano.

However, Medrano also said she was moved by the unity shown by this movement as this was one of the first times that all of the Greek councils have come together with one voice to take action.

Elizabeth Bejar, the senior vice president for Academic and Student Affairs, was also at the meeting and asked the Greeks to change their mind about the boycott because it would hurt the football team and FIU, a sentiment repeated by Alec Dominguez representing the Athletics department.

“I feel compelled to talk about the boycott because of our student athletes and staff,” said Bejar. “This game will be broadcast on CBS, and three years from now people will see that the stands are empty, and that will reflect poorly on our community.”

Still, a majority of Greeks continued to boycott.

       The “alcohol free” zone of the tailgate, meant to attract more attendees looking not to drink, mostly empty before the game.

Sirven also invited the presidents of the four Greek councils to his weekly Presidents Round Table meeting to be included in conversations going forward and said that he’s working to create a Greek committee within SGA based on the University of Central Florida model, so Greeks will have a better voice in Student Government.

The meeting lasted for over an hour and was comprised of the presidents of the four Greek Councils, members of these councils, SGC-MMC President Jose Sirven, SGC-BBC President Jefferson Noel, University President Mark B. Rosenberg, Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Elizabeth Bejar, Campus Life Director Jose Toscano, and Associate Director for Fraternity and Sorority Life Christianne Medrano.

 

Additional reporting and media by Gerard Albert III/Assistant News Director

1 Comment on "Alleged discriminatory policy leads to Greek boycott of first Tailgate"

  1. But, what was accomplished by this meeting? The SGA and the Greeks have a lot of taking to do, but, will the ban on alcohol, and music continue and if so will the geek organizations still boy coot? These are questions needing to be addressed asap.

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