Fraternity presidents voted unanimously this week to appoint a student counsel representative to give legal advice for fraternities that find themselves in trouble with Northwestern.
Following recent incidents including hazing and unregistered parties, Interfraternity Council president and Weinberg senior Mitch Holzrichter said the student counsel would assist when fraternity leaders are forced to meet with Res Life officials.
“The counsel will be there to assist you in assessing where your (infraction) falls in the spectrum of severity and how to proceed,” Holzrichter told the presidents at the Tuesday meeting.
Holzrichter told The Daily that fraternities see between 30 to 40 chapter violations in a school year. The majority are conciliated before trial, but between five and 10 each year result in a university hearing. Holzrichter added that he hopes the counsel will be a junior or senior who has some legal experience. Being a former member of the IFC Executive Board would be a plus, he said.
“The (counsel) will be involved from step one,” said Holzrichter, who is The Daily’s business manager. “As soon as a chapter president knows there’s been a violation, they can turn to the counsel for advice on how to handle the situation judicially.”
But the extent of the counsel’s involvement is limited.
Although the counsel — who will serve a one-year term — will not be allowed to speak for a fraternity during a university hearing, he or she will be able to advise the chapter’s members about their legal rights and strategies. Holzrichter said the counsel’s aim is to give fraternities that might have no legal experience a fighting chance in an IFC hearing.
“It’s not fair when a chapter has to come against an experienced field of IFC officers that handle dozens of cases a year,” Holzrichter said.
Although all of the chapter presidents agreed with Holzrichter that a student counsel was necessary, there was some debate over how much he or she would be compensated.
Holzrichter originally proposed $200 a quarter, but several presidents said they believed the salary was too high for what they said would probably be just a few cases a quarter.
Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Mark Manderino said the student counsel position might not be demanding enough to warrant $600 per year.
The presidents decided to pay the student counsel a fixed rate per case, with a cap at $200 a quarter.
“I think the (counsel) will be very helpful,” said Beta Theta Pi president and McCormick senior Ray Bourdeau. “The more information that fraternity presidents have about the IFC judicial process the better, and it can’t hurt to have someone helping us out.”
Holzrichter said he is excited about the position, which he hopes to appoint in two or three weeks.
“This position will give students a sense of calm and make the (judicial process) a little fairer,” he said.
Reach Julia Neyman at [email protected].
