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HARD DECISION TO MAKE: The Cook Carillon Tower and Grand Valley State University’s central campus intersection pictured from above Sunday, Jan. 15. After the GVSU chapter of Delta Upsilon Fraternity was shut down for violations against its drug and alcohol policies, members of the Greek community were instructed to speak thoughtfully about the situation. GVL | KEVIN SIELAFF
Delta Upsilon Fraternity shut down at GV Following drug, alcohol violations, university chapter closed BY HANNAH LENTZ EDITORIAL@LANTHORN.COM
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n email was sent out to various members of the Greek community Thursday, March 16, warning students to be thoughtful about how they talked about the closing of the Delta Upsilon chapter at Grand Valley State University. Since the official announcement, the decision to close down a GVSU fraternity has spread to local and state-wide media stations.
After a hearing between board of directors and chapter delegates Friday, Feb. 17, the Delta Upsilon International Fraternity Board of Directors officially announced Thursday, March 16, that they had decided to revoke the charter of the Grand Valley State Chapter. According to a press release from the Delta Upsilon International Fraternity, the Delta Upsilon fraternity violated a number of Fraternity Loss Prevention Policies regarding alcohol and drugs during the fall 2016 semester. The Board of
Directors also identified multiple reports of violations of university policies over the course of the past 18 months. According to information provided on the GVSU Greek life webpage (www.gvsu.edu/greeklife), alcohol is not allowed in any chapter facility, house, lodge or suite, chapter funds may not be used to purchase alcohol and the illegal use and abuse of alcohol and controlled substances is not tolerated by any of the National Panhellenic Conference member groups.
“The decision to close a chapter is the most difficult decision the International Fraternity makes,” said executive director Justin Kirk in an official press release. “Delta Upsilon is committed to being the premiere men’s fraternity on college campuses today. As such, we hold our members and chapters to a set a standards that, unfortunately, the Grand Valley State Chapter could not sustain.” Due to the elimination of the GVSU chapter, all fraternity operations have been immediately
shut down. Members of the chapter were given alumni status and associate members have been released from the fraternity. Fraternity members living in the chapter housing have individual leases with the third-party owner and will be able to fulfill their leases for the remainderof the school year according to the official press release. The International Fraternity will consider reinstatement of the chapSEE FRATERNITY | A2
GOVERNANCE
LECTURE SERIES
‘Meet the Candidates’
Defining a ‘True American’
Student senate event will allow students to get to know potential representatives BY JESS HODGE ASSOCIATE@LANTHORN.COM
From national and state elections, to student-governing body elections at universities, it’s important for voters to get to know their candidate and understand their platforms and what they are campaigning about. With this in mind, Grand Valley State University’s student senate is hosting a “Meet the Candidates” event Wednesday, March 22, at 9 p.m. in Kirkhof Center’s Pere Marquette Room. The event will be a meet-and-greet opportunity for students to ask candidates questions, for candidates to meet the students they will potentially be representing, and for candidates to meet each other. Sean O’Melia, executive vice president of student senate, encourages all students and all candidates to attend the event. “This event will be a great opportunity for being able to meet new people and find out what our future leadership could look like,” O’Melia said. “Students will have the opportunity to meet with different candidates and ask any questions that they might have. This also gives a good opportunity for other candidates to meet with their potential fellow senators which is important before our cabinet elections.” The event is seen to be beneficial for students, as they will be able to meet with the students who will po-
tentially be their representatives for the 2017-18 school year. Meet the Candidates will help inform students before they go out and vote. “You might know a few candidates already but you can vote up to 10 candidates,” O’Melia said, “which makes ‘Meet the Candidates’ a great event to meet the other leaders and ask them what their hopes and goals are and how they plan on achieving them.” Although candidates are not required to attend, O’Melia believes most of the people running for a position will attend, as this gives them an opportunity to make themselves available to students at GVSU. In addition to the obvious benefit of getting people to vote for them, candidates will also benefit and learn from the atmosphere of a competitive election. “This is a great way for candidates to work on their campaign pitches as they will have to reach out to new students if they want to find any success this year during elections as it will be very competitive,” O’Melia said. “This will be their first opportunity to work on how to sell themselves before campaigning gets under way.” And the biggest benefit of all would be meeting the other potential leaders on campus. “This will be a great way to interact and talk to people they could be working with for the next year,” O’Melia said. “So this is important
GV to host Anand Giridharadas for Community Reading Project BY DESTINY JONES DJONES@LANTHORN.COM
BIG OPPORTUNITY: Sean O’Melia makes a speech. Student senate is holding a “Meet the Candidates” event Wednesday, March 22, at 9 p.m. GVL | LUKE HOLMES
because obviously first impressions can last and most likely all of the leadership of the next student senate will be at this event.” O’Melia encourages all students to attend, so that they are able to meet future senators and ask them questions about their campaign and what platforms they are running on. For students who are unsure of what to ask, O’Melia suggests asking two big questions to every candidate. “ (One question) students could ask that are important to reinforce
would be ‘why do you want to be on student senate?’ as it’s important to find out what is driving them and if they have your best interest in mind,” he said. “The second question would be ‘how (do) you plan on staying dedicated and passionate about these goals,’ as I have seen many students who have a hard time staying dedicated through out the whole year and I would ask for students to really con-
As part of the Grand Valley State University Community Reading Project, the Brooks College Office of Integrative Learning and Advising (ILA) will host author and newspaper columnist Anand Giridharadas to give a lecture. Giridharadas will be covering themes from his most recent book, “The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas,” which follows a Muslim immigrant’s quest to spare from the death sentence the white supremacist who attempted to kill him. The lecture is open to the entire GVSU community and will take place Thursday, March 23, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center Grand River Room. Jennifer Getting Jameslyn, director of the ILA, said this book was chosen because of its themes and the questions it produced. “We felt like this book had really strong questions and themes that had been persistent since 9/11 when the events in the book took place and certainly since the book had been published (2014),” Jameslyn said. The book discusses immigration, what it means to be “American” and how we build understanding between people from different backgrounds and cultures.
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