Student affairs proposes Greek fee
Funds would be used to clean up houses and improve neighborhood
Tulane has proposed preliminary plans to implement an extra fee for all Greek students.
The idea behind the fee stems from complaints the university has received regarding the condition of Greek houses and Broadway Street. Complaints include poor maintenance, trash on the street and uncut lawns. Mike Hogg, interim vice president for student affairs, said all plans are still preliminary, and his office is open to other suggestions. He said that no fee would be put in place without the approval of the Greek organizations.
“It’s a solution to a problem,” Hogg said. “Is it the only solution? No. But it’s to start a discussion about what to do about some problems that I think the Greek community faces.”
If a fee were instituted, it would be tacked on to tuition similar to the student activities fee to allow financial aid to cover the fee.
The fee would be instituted on a sliding scale. Greek organizations with houses would be charged more than Greek organizations without houses. The Panhellenic Council and the Interfraternity Council would manage this fund.
“What we are most concerned about is improving the exterior appearance of those structures and trying to help them maintain those structures,” Hogg said. “All of the funds would be controlled by the Greek organizations themselves.”
Though the houses are not Tulane property, Hogg said neighbors still see them as Tulane’s responsibility.
“The neighbors don’t always make such a fine distinction,” Hogg said. “They view it as Tulane property so they are going to call and complain to us.”
Both the Panhellenic Council and the IFC said they would like a chance to address the neighborhood relations problem before resorting to a flat fee.
“I can pretty much guarantee you that Greeks as a whole do not want to be assessed a fee to do things like that,” IFC President Taylor Conrad said. “We obviously have some opposition to the plan, but we want to work together as a community to try and solve these problems and come up with our own solutions to it, essentially empowering ourselves.”
He said that though the Greek community has been aware of neighborhood relations problems, this proposal marks the first time the university has come to them with a concrete plan.
“This is the first time during my time at Tulane that they have actually come to us [with a plan],” Conrad said. “For a long time the Greek community has known that we don’t really get along with the neighbors just because that’s the nature of the beast. We have their interests, we have our interests and they don’t match.”
Panhellenic Council President Anne Smazal said she would like to see the Greek community do more neighborhood outreach programs. Greeks currently participate in the “Beautify Broadway” program, in which Greek organizations pick up trash along the street from St. Charles Avenue to Willow Street. She said this program could be expanded.
“It would be no problem for us to increase that,” Smazal said. “That would be a way for us to take care of the problem without paying a fee. This is not the best time to be asking people for money. We are trying to come up with other ideas that could solve the same problems without costing our members more money.”
She said by paying to put up trash cans on Broadway Street and hosting open houses for the community, Greeks could work to improve relationships with neighbors.
“I hope it can open up some discussion as to how to work thought this problem,” Smazal said. “I’m really pleased that Mike Hogg came to us and spoke to us to get our feedback instead of just submitting it.”