Petition Concerning Sorority Council Joint Resolution

Regarding Fraternity Philanthropy

            Sorority Council Joint Resolution

            As Voted on October 31^st, 2011

Member sororities of the USC Sorority Council have resolved to support, and have our members attend, fraternity philanthropy events that conform to the following guidelines.

1.       Event will be alcohol-free

2.       Event will not be held in a bar or venue that supplies alcohol

3.       Event may not include a scavenger hunt or dances that may result in degradation of our sorority members

4.       There can not be more than two competitive events within a philanthropy week

5.       There will be no sign-ins at events for sorority members; philanthropy chairs of each sorority can choose to be responsible for taking attendance for their own chapter’s point system

6.       Events must be judged by judges who are not members of the fraternity to prevent bias

7.       Fraternity must show how event will support philanthropy; i.e. how much event will raise money for or is beneficial to philanthropy

8.       Fraternities must be willing to participate in sorority philanthropy events

If the above guidelines are not followed, our sororities have voted to not participate in the philanthropy event until the fraternity has met with Sorority Council and made a proposal to fix the event according to the above guidelines. The event will need two-thirds vote of the Sorority Council before sororities will participate.

A recent resolution passed by the Sorority Council regarding fraternity philanthropy has raised concerns among some in our Greek community about organizations ability to raise money for our philanthropies.  The legislation, stated above, would eliminate many traditional fundraising sources for multiple organizations that would ultimately impact the philanthropies we support together. 

While we agree with the right of the sorority council to approve every philanthropy, they participate, we feel the new rules unnecessarily hinder our capacity to raise money.  It would seem more effective to consider each philanthropy on a case-by-case basis. 

Limiting sorority participation to two competitive events eliminates overall options for sorority participation as well as limits the ability of sororities to emphasize their different strengths and weaknesses.  Participation has always been voluntary so overly broad rules created through a blanket resolution are unnecessary.  Additionally, many benefits and most professional fundraisers allow alcohol to be served to legal adults so we feel it would better to create guidelines for circumstances in which alcohol is permissible rather than eliminate it entirely.