Miami Student

Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Campus

Sophomore Jena Gambaccini studies in Hamilton Hall Tuesday night. Next year's first-year class will be the first required to live on campus their sophomore year.

Miami University's plan to enact a new housing policy for sophomores is well on its way to being put into place.

Administrators and students have been smoothing out the initiative, and so far, plans have been on schedule. Next year's freshmen class will be the first class required to live on campus during their sophomore year.

There may, however, be an exemption to this
new policy.

"We have been working closely with the Cliff Alexander Office to come up with an exemption for the fraternities' (houses)," said Richard Nault, vice president of student affairs.

According to this proposed exemption, sophomore brothers would be allowed to live in a fraternity house if they comply by a number of regulations.

These proposed regulations include a cumulative 2.6 grade point average, attendance and completion of alcohol education and sexual assault prevention educations and a clean record with no Code One violations at the university.

April Robles, interim director of the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership, believes that the fraternities will have little trouble abiding by what could be the new regulations.

"Fraternities will have to work with a second-year curriculum coordinator," Robles explained. "They will also have to have a campus adviser and a house director or community assistant."

Fraternities have always been required to have a campus adviser, but, according to Robles, it has not been too strongly enforced. The new proposed plan states that the advisers must be officially affiliated with the university. The second-year curriculum coordinator and house director would be new requirements.

While nothing has been made official with the exemption, fraternities will most likely have to apply for this exemption by April 15, 2008.

Robles believes fraternities will react positively to this new plan.

"I think to them it is an improvement to the previous recommendation from the fraternity waiver community, which was to have all the houses be completely alcohol free," Robles said. "Now, common spaces (anything besides their own personal bedrooms) are alcohol free but people over 21 are allowed to drink in the privacy of their own rooms."

Continued...

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