Student Senate 3/17: OSAGL Proposes Changes to Student Club Organization and First-Year Greek Life Recruitment
Students at the Senate meeting on March 3, 2025. (Grace Jurchak/The Gettysburgian)
By Brandon Fey, News Editor
Officer Reports
President Michael Woods ’25 announced that the applications for Senate President, Vice President and Inclusion Officer have been sent to students.
Vice President Abby Ruggerio ’26 stated that committee attendance is mandatory this week, and that there will be six remaining meetings this semester.
Parliamentarian Carl DeMarco ’25 said that the Senate meeting was only over quorum by two people, and that it was therefore important that all present senators remain for the duration of the meeting so that the body could still vote.
Treasurer Jack Thompson ’27 reported that the Senate has over $25,000 remaining in this year’s budget.
Secretary Olivia Taylor ’25 said that the Senate tabling will take place on Friday, March 31, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and asked for volunteers to help.
Inclusion Officer Oliver Eckloff ’27 announced that Inclusion & Belonging Peer Educators will be co-hosting its second annual “Human Library Event” with Musselman Library on Wednesday, March 19, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at the Library Apse.
Advisor Report
Senate Advisor and Director of the Office of Student Activities and Greek Life Jon Allen stated that student organization leaders have received an email about reserving spots for the tailgate on Saturday, and that only half the spots are remaining.
Guest Speaker
Allen addressed the Senate about potential changes to student organization designations, and the possibility of first-year recruitment for Greek life.
Allen said that OSAGL is considering changing the categories by which it classifies different campus organizations to better represent the different things they do. He explained that his office currently recognizes 10 categories, while the Senate recognizes only seven, which complicates the creation of affinity groups.
He also said that the current “Special Interest” category essentially works as an “other” category, by which several groups have chosen to self-define.
Some of the new categories could include: Academic and Professional Development (beyond the current “academic,”) Advocacy and Awareness, Arts and Music, Culture and Identity (beyond the current “Culture,”) Media and Publications, Politics and Government (beyond the current “Politics,”) Religion and Spirituality (beyond current “Religious,”) Social and Hobbies (intending to constitute most of the groups self-identifying as “Special Interest,”) Service and Philanthropy (beyond current “Service,”) and Wellness and Recreation, the current title of which, “Sports and Recreation,” has created confusion with club sports.
Parliamentarian DeMarco stated that the Rules Committee has been considering potential reform of affinity groups, in which separate group leaders could be replaced with more senator positions, so these categorization changes would not affect the Senate.
Allen then presented on the next proposal to create a tiered model for different student organizations.
The new model would divide student groups into three distinct tiers with different obligations and privileges based on the nature of the group.
He explained that organizations marked “Tier 3” would require only minimal structure, would need little to no resources to operate. These organizations would typically be smaller, special interest groups, the main need of which would be to reserve spaces and advertise. He mentioned a former group called “Hacky-Sackers Unite” as an example. Groups such as these would no longer require a constitution with an executive board and faculty advisor. They would instead only be required to have a president as a person of contact.
“Tier 2” organizations would be more standard clubs that have regular meetings open to the campus. These organizations would require more structure with a constitution, executive board, and faculty advisor in addition to online student organization training models. He said that groups such as these would have extended privileges including a bank account, fundraising and use of College vehicles.
Those marked “Tier 1” would have the same responsibilities and privileges as “Tier 2” organizations, with the addition of their own group-specific requirements and eligibility for special budgets allocated by the College. This would include The Gettysburgian, the WZBT 91.1 FM radio station, Greek life organizations and the Student Senate, as these organizations require a higher level of responsibility given their role in publication and the allotment of College funds.
Allen’s final item was the proposition to extend fraternity and sorority recruitment to first year students during their spring semester.
He stated that the College transitioned to Sophomore recruitment between 1999 and 2002 due to issues with academic performance and poor behavior as the result of an extensive party culture on campus.
Now that these issues are said to have been rectified, the College is considering allowing first-year recruitment in an effort to boost College enrollment, per demonstrated interest in Greek life by prospective students according to the Admissions Office.
He also stated that students affiliated with Greek life have a retainment level of over 99% of the current class years. The College believes that early recruitment would improve the 84% sophomore retention rate, which has been attributed to the “waiting period” in which first-year students, particularly men, withdraw due to the lack of a social network while awaiting recruitment their next year. Allen believes that first-year recruitment will allow those who did not receive a bid to join an organization to return to their first-year residence hall, where they will have a community and support network of residential advisors.
The College believes that the recruitment of first-year students will greatly benefit Greek organizations on campus by helping them meet occupancy requirements, and by closing the “leadership gap” in which sophomore recruitment and study abroad semesters limit the exposure that seniors have to their organizations before being expected to assume leadership roles.
Allen also acknowledged the potential negatives of this decision in which it could lead students to focus primarily on their Greek organizations as opposed to other extra curricular activities, provide earlier access to alcohol and create a re-emergence of previous issues with first-year recruitment. It is for these reasons that the College, now equipped with new anti-hazing legislation and campus safety resources, can pursue a 2-year pilot program for 2025 and 2026, with the first first-year recruitment taking place in Spring 2026.
The College will determine the success of this transition by measuring academic success, extra curricular involvement, student conduct, and institutional enrollment.
First years who choose to pursue recruitment must have at least a 2.5 GPA (the minimum will remain 2.2 for other class years) and undergo mandatory time-management education.
Some senators raised concerns over the impact that early recruitment will have on social life for first-year students who choose not to pursue Greek life, stating that it will limit opportunities for first-years to create friendships before they join different organizations.
Secretary Taylor said that from her tour guide experience, several families were pleased to learn that recruitment is deferred to the sophomore year, as it would allow their prospective students the opportunity to socialize with other first-years and focus on acclimating to college.
One senator suggested that the change could eliminate “dirty rushing” in which a first-year student is illegally recruited to a Greek organization, while also allowing more opportunities to join organizations if initially rejected.
Loss of Quorum
Parliamentarian DeMarco announced that during Allen’s presentation, a few senators had apparently left the meeting without receiving permission or informing the Senate floor, so the quorum of 20 voting members was lost. He explained that because of this, the Senate was unable to vote, and could only hear student concerns for the remainder of the meeting.
Student Concerns
President Woods commented on the progress that has been made on previous student concerns:
Dining Services currently serves American cheese omelets in Servo on Mondays and Fridays with Cheddar for most of the remainder of the week. Woods reported that per last week’s concern, they will try to offer both types of cheese everyday. Some senators then mentioned that they would actually like to have the option to choose their own toppings every day, and opposed to just a few days of the week as is the current option.
Issues with Wi-Fi meshing between campus buildings can be addressed with an appointment with IT, which has been holding office hours in the CUB.
Facilities Services is working to address concerns about heating in residence halls.
A meat alternative option for vegetable bowls in the Bullet Hole is being considered.
The floor was then opened for students to voice new concerns.
Roaches were reported in three different rooms on the third floor of Stevens Hall. Facilities Services reportedly dispatched a custodian whose solution was to step on the insects.
Musselman and Huber Halls were reported to be too hot.
There was a request that chicken tenders be served on multiple days of the week during Lent as opposed to just Friday so observing students could buy them at the Bullet Bar.
There was an issue with trying to transfer money into a school account through Apple Pay in Paul Hall.
Advisor Jon Allen answered a question about the stock ticker outside of CUB 212, which is there to draw attention to room as it will become a new finance lab to support the new major.
Before dismissal due to failure to meet quorum, Treasurer Thompson reported that the Senate will provide $10,000 to Campus Recreation for two stairmaster machines in the Jaeger Center, for which Campus Recreation will pay the upkeep costs in the future.
