By Sarah SumadiThe Daily Northwestern
A conflict between sorority recruitment events and night classes has forced some students to choose between school and extracurricular activities.
At least 15 Medill freshmen enrolled in the Editing and Writing the News class had a tough decision to make Tuesday night: Go to their regularly scheduled lab or attend Preference Night, the last opportunity for potential new members to visit sorority chapters.
Although Medill made arrangements with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life to ensure the students could attend both lab and part of Pref Night, many students still are unsatisfied.
On Jan. 9, 10 female students co-signed an e-mail to their lab instructor, Lecturer Clarence Waldron, suggesting ways to resolve the conflict, including attending a different lab or meeting at another time. Waldron forwarded the students’ request to Medill Prof. Michele Weldon, who leads the course. Weldon wrote in a response to the students that allowing them to miss their usual lab would be “unfair.”
“You are asking the instructor to create another class for your convenience, and that is not practical or possible,” Weldon wrote.
Weldon said students would miss out on “instruction, feedback and direction,” but didn’t mention particular consequences of being absent.
“I strongly disagree with the choice to miss lab because of a sorority event,” Weldon wrote. “I would consider how you would feel about the fairness of the choice if, as your instructor, I chose not to attend lecture because of a commitment to an organization I belong to.”
Assistant Dean Michele Bitoun contacted the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, which arranged a meeting with the affected students and excused them from Pref Night activities.
Lisa Juarez, the president of the Panhellenic Association, which governs NU’s 11 sororities, said in an e-mail that sororities do not penalize recruits for missing events because of class.
“We try to make it as clear as possible that they will never be penalized for having a previous commitment, especially not for having class,” Juarez wrote.
An e-mail sent to Bitoun on Sunday had not been returned by Tuesday night. Waldron declined to comment when approached before his class Tuesday night. No students missed his lab.
Three other labs, including one taught by Lecturer Suzanne Cosgrove, took place on Tuesday. Cosgrove, who had three students participating in sorority recruitment in her section, said it wasn’t a valid excuse for missing class.
“I don’t think rush is on the same level as missing class because of illness,” Cosgrove said. “No one chooses to be sick, but rushing a sorority is a choice, so I think the final verdict was fair.”
The students involved in the controversy would not speak on the record because they feared they would be treated unfairly in class as a result. Several students involved in recruitment said they were frustrated by Weldon’s e-mail because it didn’t explain the consequences for missing class. A few also planned to miss lab in order to attend all of Pref Night despite assurances that missing Pref Night would not affect their final invitation.
SESP Prof. Jerry Stermer, who teaches another night class, Introduction to Social Policy, allowed one student to miss class to attend recruitment events. The student will make up missed work on a different day.
“We get that people can’t be in two places at once, and things can be worked out,” Stermer said. “It’s important that students learn to juggle their commitments.”
Reach Sarah Sumadi at [email protected].
