The ASUO Senate meeting was crowded enough Wednesday to necessitate a location change. Members of UO Fraternity and Sorority Life packed the EMU Gumwood room to address the senate resolution to stop the expansion of greek life, which the senate voted to table and address again next week.
After three special requests Senate got to the main event: should the ASUO urge the president’s office to halt the expansion of new fraternity chapters? The answer, after about three hours, was to bring it up again next week.
Before the discussion started Rebecca Rhodes, senate president, reminded senate and the audience that all resolutions are non-binding. Resolutions are just statements from the ASUO.
The resolution originally was to, “call on University of Oregon President Scott Coltrane to immediately suspend the expansion of Fraternity and Sorority Life until an official campus climate survey indicates that FSL no longer contributes disproportionately to the number of sexual assaults occurring at the University of Oregon.”
Before discussion began Andrew Lubash, the author of the resolution, amended the resolution to apply not to all FSL but specifically to new fraternities.
Dozens of students, both members and non-members of FSL spoke about the resolution. Some members of FSL supported the resolution while others felt that it would not effectively address sexual assault.
“It’s not about not supporting FSL, it’s about supporting survivors and supporting survivors first,” said Morgan Snook, the ASUO academic affairs director.
But if the university followed the recommendations, fraternities and sororities could be chartered without the approval of the university, according to Rebecca Brennan, president of the Panhellenic Council.
“Consider the implications and the outcomes associated with approving this resolution, because they really are dire,” Brennan said.
After heated discussion, the majority of senators voted to address the resolution again at next week’s senate meeting and kick it to the working group for edits in the meantime. Anyone interested in working on the resolution can contact Lubash at [email protected] and for a blow by blow check out the live blog here.