INTERFRATERNITY COUNCIL PRESIDENTS—

The following is our declaration to once again serve as a mechanism for growth and positive change within the members of the IFC and Denison community as a whole. 

As members of the Denison fraternity and sorority community, the Interfraternity Council strives to be a model of excellence through the development of individuals and chapters that perpetually strive for congruence in work and deed, with the prescribed and shared values of fraternity. 

In its truest form, a fraternity is a group of individuals who believe in the cultivation of intellect, development of leadership, fulfillment of civic and social responsibility, and at its core, friendship. With the hopes of rekindling this form of fraternity within the IFC at Denison, the Interfraternity Council, along with the following member fraternities, pledge to work toward this end over the coming years. 

To begin, together we have identified two areas of focus and improvement that our council and chapter members will commit to over the course of the next two years.

Community Safety

The Interfraternity Council aims to help improve the overall safety of students and the community at Denison through the implementation of infrastructure at fraternity spaces, formation of a foundational knowledge base regarding sexual respect and safe hosting, and ultimately, rigorous and targeted membership education to develop community oriented leaders and educated upstanders. 

Through collection of feedback from community and campus partners, other members of the Denison student body, and administrators, the following action items will be prioritized to promote overall safety: 

1) Collaborate with Fraternity & Sorority Life and Facilities Services to provide increased lighting outside of fraternities spaces and at fraternity sponsored events.

2) All fraternities will be required to recruit and select a DCSR trained sexual respect chair, who will be trained on Denison’s Title IX policies, reporting structures, and support.

3) All members of IFC chapters will be required to be safe host trained in order to create safer environments at social events with or without alcohol.

4) Begin developing a series of educational programs that will be facilitated within fraternities, by selected members, in collaboration with relevant organizations on campus. Educational topics will include sexual respect, diversity, equity and inclusion, anti-hazing and hazing prevention, and the hosting of safe and inclusive events. 

5) Providing training and resources to chapters on how to manage safe events and crowds big and small.

Fraternity Accountability

This goal directs the fraternity community towards becoming self-sufficient by holding community members accountable for their actions. Self-governance would allow for the community and the council to hold each other accountable for both successes and challenges. Goals within this area include building a structure to support this level of accountability and provide students the tools and skills needed to effectively govern themselves. 

1) Establish an anonymous reporting structure, accessible to all members of Denison community, for all incidents that violate the integrity of IFC values and its mission. 

2) Creation and implementation of response protocol for reported incidents, along with identification of which incidents will be processed through the IFC or Student Conduct. 

3) Create a working committee of IFC members, Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life, and Office of Community Values and Student Conduct, to establish a formalized structure of self-governance within the IFC community. 

4) Collaboration with the Office of Community Values and Student Conduct to create and/or provide various training to foster self-governance, including behind closed-doors, liability training, risk management training, and enhanced accountability training for chapter executive officers. 

5) Recruit and select IFC Judicial Board officers and provide hearing board training to those selected. 

The chapter and council signatures below represent the commitment of IFC Council and member fraternities to the above statements. These signatures also represent the member’s dedication to the completion of these action items by the end of the 2023 calendar year. 

SIGNED:

Henry Burnett – Phi Kappa Psi 

Trevor Seitz –  Sigma Chi

Zack Johnston – Beta Theta Pi 

Ben Green – Lambda Chi Alpha 

Burke McLaughlin –  Kappa Sigma

James Whitney –  Delta Chi