Brown and White Vol. 130 no. 17

              The Brown and White Vol. 130 No. 17
Friday, April 15, 2016 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Rearing, tearing, up the Hill Petition
demands
changes to
parking policy
Social policy pilot encourages parties in Greek houses
By REBECCA WILKIN
Assistant News Editor
A petition demanding changes to
the campus parking policies is cir-culating
online. As of Wednesday,
the petition had been signed by
844 supporters, and over 150 indi-viduals
had left comments voicing
their concerns and frustrations
with Parking Services.
The petition, addressed to
President John Simon, requests
the election of a student board
to discuss and modify parking
regulations on a regular basis to
create more practical policies and
to restructure parking violation
fines. It also requests full disclo-sure
of the financial information
related to Parking Services.
Katie Kiewel, ’15, created the
petition after meeting the found-er
of change.org, the website
through which the petition was
organized. Kiewel said she would
not have created the petition as a
student because of possible retali-ation
from the administration.
“It was fear from the admin-istration
that inhibited me from
doing something to better the
community,” Kiewel said. “My
goal is to unite the voice of stu-dents
and alumni who believe in
making positive change on cam-pus
by amending Lehigh’s park-ing
policies to support the needs
of students, staff and visitors.”
Although there are both under-graduate
and graduate students
serving on the Parking Appeals
Committee, there is no student-se-lected
board to assist in creating
or amending parking policies.
“We are looking at expanding
the conversation to including
parking with the Transportation
Committee of Student Senate,”
wrote Sharon Field, the manager
of Parking Services, in an email.
Field had planned a meeting
with Student Senate this week to
review the themes of the petition,
listen to their concerns and dis-cuss
ideas for Parking Services.
An on-campus, student-park-ing
permit is $400, and Garrett
Santini, ’18, who signed the peti-tion,
said parking remains limited
on campus. He said there are few
spaces that do not require spend-ing
additional money because
they have meters.
“If they can’t make parking
more available, they could make
parking permits cheaper,” Santini
said. “The permit was $350 last
Elissa Miolene, Margaret Burnett, Lisa Ulker/B&W Staff
TOP: (from left to right) Theta Chi, Chi Phi; BOTTOM: (from left to right) Pi Kappa Alpha, Kappa Sigma;
These four fraternities held parties in their houses on the Hill on Saturday as part of a pilot program to
change the social policy on campus.
By CATE PETERSON
Associate News Editor
When Lehigh students go to a
party on a Saturday night, they
typically cram into off-campus
houses, dance and socialize in
kitchens and basements. Up the
mountain on top of the Hill are
much larger houses where parties
can be held. Although they are on
campus and more spacious, these
Greek chapter houses are rarely
used for parties.
After months of conversation,
four fraternities hosted registered
parties on the Hill on Saturday.
Chi Phi, Pi Kappa Alpha and
Theta Chi hosted open parties,
while Kappa Sigma hosted a
closed party. All members of the
campus community were allowed
to attend the open parties, while
only members of a specific soror-ity
or fraternity were allowed to
attend the closed party. These
parties were part of a pilot pro-gram
which aims to revamp the
social policy on campus.
Matthew Bay, ’16, the
Interfraternity Council president,
said the Office of Student Conduct
& Community Expectations, the
Social Policy Committee, the
Office of Sorority and Fraternity
Affairs, the Panhellenic Council,
the Interfraternity Council and
the Lehigh University Police
Department were involved with
the process.
“This isn’t just an (Office of
Sorority and Fraternity Affairs)
thing, it’s bigger than that,” said
Ashley Baudouin, the assistant
dean and director of the Office of
Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.
Baudouin said the goal was to
create a pilot program that would
encourage students to hang out
on campus, foster inclusivity and
cultivate a healthy social scene.
Parties were held primarily on
campus in Greek chapter houses
until a few years ago. Baudouin
said the social policy itself did not
change, but a shift in perception
may have occurred.
“If you ask me, I think per-ception
changed,” Baudouin said.
“Perception around where was
freedom — In terms of where
do I not have to manage some-thing?
Where can I serve what
I want? Where can I do what I
want? Where can things be a little
crazy? That was considered East
Fifth, Hillside.”
She said the current social pol-icy
can be restrictive and strips
most of the responsibility from
students. The new pilot policy
aims to put more responsibility
for managing the event on the
host.
One of the biggest differences
between the pilot policy and the
current social policy is the shift in
responsibility of monitoring par-ties
from event staff to students.
In years past, event staff, who are
people hired by the university to
monitor events, had a large role
See PARTIES Page 2 See PARKING Page 3