New IFC committee patrols fraternity parties

Junior Corbin Frye goes to fraternity parties every weekend with several others. Sometimes, they even go to parties during the week.

But they’re not there to drink. They’re there, undercover, to observe. Frye is the Interfraternity Council vice president of Risk Management.

“People often misconceive the IFC as a police force,” Frye said. “What’s unfortunate is, a lot of younger guys and girls shout, ‘IFC’s here! IFC’s here!’ We’re not there to shut down a party.”

Frye said they’re there to make sure the party is safe. Frye is part of the Social Responsibility Committee, a group the IFC created to manage fraternity parties.

Fraternity presidents vote for who is in the group, which is new this year.

It was created in reaction to incidents that occurred last year at fraternities to prevent them from happening again, Frye said. However, he said he would not discuss which specific incidents may have led to the committee’s creation.

“It’s very innovative,” Frye said. “We literally walk through parties while they’re happening.”

Keith Cash, IU police department chief,  said the IFC’s new committee has led to a decrease in calls about noise complaints or overly rowdy partying.

“There do seem to be less,” he said. “I think they’re trying to keep the police from getting called and keeping people out of harm’s way.”

Often when the police do get called, it’s due to obnoxious public acts from people the fraternities allow to walk home, such as stumbling, yelling or vomiting, rather than those they drive home.

“Almost always, someone’s drawn attention to themselves somehow,” Cash said.  “One of the questions we ask is ‘Where were you drinking?’”

From here, if students give the name of a fraternity, IUPD goes to check it out, Cash said.

“If it’s out of control, we’re going to shut it down,” Cash said. “But we haven’t had any I can recall that were out of control.”

Every weekend, Frye and members of the team check on parties. They dress to blend in a uniform of North Face jackets, button-down shirts, khakis and jeans. Their goal is to be flies on the wall, watching the dynamic of the party while it’s occurring, Frye said.

They go through all the steps a partygoer would go through.

“We go up to the fraternity  — the back door,” Frye said.

Every fraternity is supposed to have a list of people coming and going, with times of arrival and departure. A handful of the fraternities now use a scanning system called Greek ID, which is designed to manage social events such as parties, Frye said.

Attendees scan their student IDs, and the program records grade level, entrance time and exit time.

“It’s an important piece of record-keeping,” Frye said.

At the back door, Fry then asks for the sober executive. Fraternities are required to have a designated sober person present at every party, Frye said.

“If something bad happens, they’re sober enough to make decisions,” Frye said.

From here, the sober executive takes the committee inside and the real testing begins. One big concern of the committee is seeing too many handles, or large bottles of hard liquor, present.

“Handles,” Frye said. “We don’t want to see floating handles out at the party with non–sober servers.”

The committee requires all bartenders at fraternity parties to be sober so they know when to cut people off, Frye said. The IFC also counts handles. Only one handle of hard liquor is allowed to be with a bartender in each room upstairs, and only two are allowed out in the basement or dance room at a time. When bartenders run out of hard alcohol, they need to check in with the sober executive before refilling. Each house’s sober executive is responsible for setting the night’s overall limit for number of handles consumed. 

Frye and his team look for hazards, such as people standing on a bar or chugging liquor from handles.

“We look for pre-poured shots,” Frye said.

Frye said pre-poured shots are easy to grab without being noticed, and the goal is for the bartenders to control who is allowed to keep drinking, and who needs to stop. The committee also checks for suspicious behavior or someone who looks as if they are being pressured.

“Maybe a girl looks really helpless,” Frye said. “We’re trying to keep everyone safe.”
One of the last things they check for is sober rides and whether these are available to all partygoers.

“That’s partly just a way to look out for the safety of that person,” Frye said. “Most fraternities have the rule that everyone gets a ride.”

Freshman Sydney Morton said she goes to fraternity and house parties most weekends, and she said the sober rides are one of the perks at fraternities.

“I feel like it’s a lot safer in general, and it’s way nicer than walking around,” Morton said. She also said she feels safer at fraternities.

“Every house party I’ve been to has been super sketch and is like a free-for-all,”
she said.

Cash agreed that fraternity parties are usually safer than house parties. He also said the committee has been working with the police to keep partying under control.

“They’ve had all different kinds of patrols,” Cash said. “If there’s things they’re dealing with internally, that’s not unusual. Not all of them go through the criminal justice system.”

When there are incidents at fraternities that require a write-up, IFC President Matt Edwards said the IFC wants to make sure students learn from it.

“Instead of just handing out a fine, we talk about why this is an issue,” Edwards said.

The IDS contacted several fraternities about risk management, and all either declined to comment or were unavailable. Frye said this was probably due to the “touchy” nature of the subject and said the IFC also doesn’t endorse alcohol consumption.

“We are trying to manage and control the alcohol consumption that does occur,” Frye said.

To Cash, the proof of the committee’s effectiveness is in the number of times he is called.

“As much events as happen every weekend and the number of calls we get, they must be doing something right,” Cash said.