Shit Going Down in the Greek Community (SJA vs. Judicial Committee, Phi Tau vs. Pi Kapp, IFC vs. the University, plus a new Greek Social Code in the Works)
1. Judicial Committee is a body of the Intra-Fraternity Council responsible for enforcing the rules of the Greek Social Code. Recently, the Judicial Committee has been punishing Greek houses, and then those same houses have been brought in front of OSL's Student Judicial Affairs, and prosecuted again for the same offense based on it also being a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. Due to this apparent double jeopardy, the Judicial Committee voted overwhelmingly to stop hearing cases until an agreement with SJA is reached to prevent cases from being heard twice, a member of JCommittee told me. That meeting, with Neal Rajmara, the head of SJA, is planned for Thursday. Also, the chair of the Judicial Committee is currently facing impeachment charges on Thursday. The chair informed me this was due to a misunderstanding he had with a member of IFC.

2. There was a recent fight involving members of Phi Tau and Pi Kapp that ended up with partipipants receiving minor injuries such as stiches or a broken nose. *Update* Someone in comments claims that it was only a single member of Pi Kappa Phi, involved in the altercation.** A member of Phi Tau was arrested for a violation of Penal Code Section 243(d), battery that leads to serious bodily injury. The arrest report is the fifth one listed in this PDF report of police citations.

3. IFC is currently trying to rewrite the Greek Social Code, in order to come up with regulations to govern the Greek Community so that there will be some chance Greek houses can actually follow the rules (as opposed to the present situation, where holding legal parties is cost prohibitive). I will have more information on that proposal after the meeting tonight, where it will be discussed. At the moment, my previous concern about a major showdown between the University and Greeks seems likely to occur, and members of Fraternities at Berkeley have continually acted in an irresponsible manner, helping to bring about this crackdown. That being said, I still think the University has been acting in an overly punitive manner, and ignored constructive ways to manage alcohol in the Greek Community.

P.S. I know this post is long... just pretend it's three separate, posts instead of one. Also, expect more information about these three stories in the coming days. Finally, I think that there is a distinct lack of transparency and information about the Greek Community available to its members. I think blogs are a powerful way to facilitate discussion and help get out information to interested community members. Regarding that, I will begin posting over at Frat Life within the week, as we engage in a discussion of these and other issues, targeted at bringing about positive improvements in the Greek Community.Email This Post!