As groups across campus struggle to find signatures for their Special Fees petitions, one group faces a more esoteric dilemma: Sigma Nu has discovered that, according to the ASSU Elections Commission, their fraternity is not an ordinary student group – and is thus ineligible to receive Special Fees.
On Sunday evening, ASSU Elections Commissioner Quinn Slack ’11 sent Andrew Beck ’10, Sigma Nu’s Financial Manager, an email informing him that the fraternity does not qualify for Special Fees.
The Frat Cave
In reaching their decision, the Commission focused on the question of whether or not Sigma Nu, as an IFC fraternity, falls under the statutory definition of a VSO, or Voluntary Student Organization. As laid out in the ASSU’s Joint Bylaws, only two types of student groups – VSOs and Chartered Organizations – may place Special Fees requests on the ballot.
However, because it is their student members, and not the University, that govern fraternities and sororities, Greek organizations are not Chartered Organizations. Therefore, Sigma Nu must be considered a VSO in order to appear on the ballot.
The statutory description of VSOs is found in Appendix I, section 4(E)1(a) of the ASSU Joint Bylaws; as defined there, they are
organizations which are intended to be (and actually are) primarily composed of student members, require no student to join, are recognized by the University, and are either open to all students or open to only those students meeting certain criteria which are established and evaluated in an objective manner by the organization. In order to qualify under this provision, the ultimate constitutional, budgetary, and policy-making authority of the organization must be vested entirely in its student members. (emphasis added)
Ultimately, the Elections Commission felt that Sigma Nu did not meet the condition in bold, above.
In his email, Slack referred Sigma Nu to the Student Activities and Leadership (SAL, formerly OSA) website, highlighting a distinction between Greek groups and non-Greek groups as the justification for this decision. While the SAL requires Non-Greek Groups to limit membership only “when necessary and using objective criteria,” Greek groups are under no such obligation.
According to Zachary Johnson ’10, ASSU Senator and Sigma Nu Social Chair, the fraternity intends to appeal the decision to the Constitutional Council.
Stay tuned for my take in Part 2: That Depends on How Subjective the Meaning of ‘Subjective’ Is.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Marissa, thanks for your work covering this issue. We (the ASSU Elections Commission) didn’t try to define “subjective.” We just deferred to the SAL’s definition. The condition they did not meet is that of being a VSO, which is right before the text you quoted and bolded. Below is the full text of our determination (sent to the Senate list). Thank you again for writing about this.
Quinn Slack, ASSU Elections Commissioner
sqs@elections.stanford.edu
ASSU Joint Bylaws, Appx II, Sec 4(E)1(a)
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1. In order for its Special Fee request to be placed on the ballot, a student organization must qualify under one of the following provisions:
a. Voluntary Student Organizations: organizations which are intended to be (and actually are) primarily composed of student members, require no student to join, are recognized by the University, and are either open to all students or open to only those students meeting certain criteria which are established and evaluated in an objective manner by the organization. In order to qualify under this provision, the ultimate constitutional, budgetary, and policy-making authority of the organization must be vested entirely in its student members.
b. (not applicable)
>>
Sigma Nu is not a Voluntary Student Organization; it’s a Greek Organization. The key difference between VSOs and Greek Orgs is that VSOs must have objective criteria for membership, while Greek Orgs are the only type of group that may have subjective criteria. We deferred to the SAL’s classification of Sigma Nu and their criteria for student group classifications to make this determination. http://sal.stanford.edu/new_student_leaders#expectations http://sal.stanford.edu/start_new_group http://sal.stanford.edu/policy#university
(I’m generally opposed to commenting on my own pieces, but since The Review doesn’t consider this inappropriate, here goes!)
Hey Quinn,
Thanks for the quick response! I think this is probably just a case of me not knowing where to look for the correct information, but — based on the links you passed along — you gave the impression that the decision was based on the distinction I mention in my piece.
What you were probably referring to were the following passages:
“As the only recognized ‘subjectively selective’ student groups on campus, fraternities and sororities must…”
http://sal.stanford.edu/policy#chapter
and
“Unlike voluntary student organizations and residences, Greek organizations have the privilege of choosing their own members.”
http://sal.stanford.edu/policy#collective
which make it fairly clear that the Greek organizations are considered neither VSOs nor as possessing objective criteria for member selection.
I would encourage you to send an updated email to the members of EN with the correct links, so that they are fully informed as they prepare for their appeal.
Best!
Marissa
Hey guys,
While I think that this piece is rather enthralling, I just want to point out a few MAJOR conflicts of interest.
1) Alex Katz – both a Senator and the editor of the Review. He is also in Sigma Nu.
2) Marissa – You are greek. Hence, you probably would be in favor of getting more money for greek organizations.
3) Zach Johnson – Also a Senator and a Sigma Nu.
Does anyone else see any problems with this? or is it just me?
Hey Roxie!
Thanks for your concern, but I’m actually the only one of those three who poses what could be called a conflict of interest. Rest assured, Alex Katz and Zachary Johnson had nothing to do with the writing of this story, other than providing me with necessary background information. And of course, going to sources for information isn’t poor journalistic practice — it’s just reporting!
However, you’re absolutely right in that I, as the former VP of Chi Omega, may be in favor of more funding for Greek Organizations. I admit that I am. Luckily, I serve as a columnist for the Review, which means my job is to express my opinions to the public. In fact, Part 1 is only meant as a bit of background information for Part 2, which will present my own, very personal thoughts on the matter.
Does that help?
<3 Marissa
I just find it interesting that this is a top news story in a partisan newspaper controlled mostly by a Sigma Nu/Senator, Alex Katz. I also find it funny that you turned to a Sigma Nu Social Chair/Senator, Zach Johnson, for facts versus the Sigma Nu president.
I also find it interesting that Sigma Nu is deciding to do this now, when a number of their own members are on the undergraduate Senate.
I would be interested to see how much money Sigma Nu actually has in their savings account at Wells Fargo. As you probably know, most Greek Organizations tend to have a separate account from their SSE account. Maybe you can include their savings in part 2 of your article.
I feel like this is only fair because the Senate normally bases much of its funding decisions on the amount of reserves each group has. If Sigma Nu wants Special Fees, I hope the fraternity would be willing to do banking only with the SSE as other groups are required to and I hope they’d be willing to share the total amount of funds that they have in their bank accounts outside of their SSE account.
Until Sigma Nu’s agrees to fully disclose total amount of money they have in other accounts and until they agree to only do banking at the SSE like all other VSOs, I fully agree with the Election Commission’s decision.
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