Correction appended
A reform of Freshman Freeze was endorsed nearly unanimously by the Associated Student Government during its Senate meeting on Wednesday.
“We were really pleased,” Interfraternity Council President Lucas Artaiz said. “We are of the mindset that this is the right choice to make, and obviously the Senate understands that.”
The Freshman Freeze was instituted in 1989 when Northwestern was working on deferring Greek recruitment to Winter Quarter, instead of during the first weeks of Fall Quarter. During these four weeks, freshmen are not allowed to enter Greek buildings or partake in any Greek activities.
“It’s an old policy,” said Artaiz, a SESP junior. “From our knowledge, this isn’t something that’s been revisited.”
The reform proposal asked for a reduction of the Freshman Freeze from four to two weeks. It also asked to allow Greek councils to advertise themselves and their events during the Freshman Freeze, pending university approval.
“It’s not necessarily one of those issues where the administration and the student body are at odds,” Artaiz said. “At this point, we’re getting our concerns in front of the people who can make the changes.”
Despite the seemingly wide margin of approval, some students said they were wary of the consequences of a shortened Freshman Freeze. ASG Residential College Board District I Senator Hiro Kawashima said that many RCB leaders felt concerned by the implications of such changes for community building in the residential colleges.
“A shortened Freshman Freeze might hinder RCB programming — the key word being ‘might hinder it,’ but I think it will,” Kawashima said. “But what it will do is that it will put residents in a completely different situation.”
Kawashima also pointed out to what he perceived as inconsistencies in the reform.
“They’re trying to say that they want to bring all the unofficial events outside of campus back on the campus, but there’s a disconnect there, because […] all the off-campus events are events that aren’t officially approved by Student Affairs,” he said.
“There are so many unofficial events throughout the year that go off-campus because of fraternities and sororities that are on probation, so when you’re talking about improving security by bringing events back on campus, they kind of contradict themselves when they do the complete opposite throughout the rest of the year.”
Alyssa Karas contributed reporting.
Updated 5/21 11:42 a.m.: The article has been corrected for spelling. Thanks to commenter Brian Rosenthal for pointing it out.