DRNELL FRATERNITY SYSTEM By Thomas E. Kocovsky Cornell Venerable Dean
The fraternity system at Cornell is undergoing a period of transition. The old fashioned ideas of fraternity high-jinks and hazing are long dead. The university administration is jmore and more implementing Cornell's motto of "Freedom with Responsibility" and demand; ing that students and fraternities adapt or lose 1their place in the university community. For the sake of increasing educational continuity, I Cornell is becoming more concerned with non' classroom affairs of the student. The students are given vast freedom but in return, much responsibility must be accepted. The chapter must change with the University. Recently a faculty report that was presented to the Board of Trustees called for the university to "disengage" itself from fraternities. This was followed by the report of the university Human Rights Commission which laid down three basic conditions to which fraternities must conform. First, houses must have complete local autonomy in membership selection. Second, the one blackball, unanimous selection rule must be abolished. Finally, there should be no categorical discrimination by race or religion.
Both of these reports were reviewed by the trustees and many of their recommendations were adopted, including all those of the Human Rights Commission. However, the trustees did declare fraternities to be "an integral part of Cornell". The chapter, of course, already had local autonomy in membership selection and there are no local or na tiona I discriminatory clauses. However, the university has given all fraternities on campus an ultimatum. Remove all of the restrictive clauses, including unanimous selection from national constitutions, and receive local waivers from the constitution or lose university approval. Chapters have two years or until the next national convention to do this. Presently the chapter is refining a membership selection system based on positive evaluation rather than negative blackballs. The chapter is more concerned with how many people want a man as a brother than with how many people dislike him enough to blackball. In an effort to cut the pressure of formal rush, the Interfraternity Council instituted a new rush system this year. Instead of a strict fall term moratorium, the freshman is given a greater choice in seeing houses, through the use of lightly structured pre-rush smokers. On select Sunday afternoons, he was free to wander from house to house seeing whichever he liked for as APRIL, 1968
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