University of Virginia Library

Closed Parties

In its meeting Monday night the IFC
was finally able to resolve what had become
the rather overblown issue of closed parties.
Under the rule which was passed, each
fraternity will be able to decide for itself
just who it admits to its parties.

The rule calls for doormen on the four
big weekends of the year and insists that
parties be kept under control. There are no
requirements as to how the party is to be
kept under control, just a guideline. The
guideline suggests that the doorman be
instructed to admit only persons who display
either student ID cards or special
guest cards provided by the house, or whose
names are on a list at the door. Each house
is to instruct its own doorman as to how
strictly (or, in fact, whether or not) he is to
enforce the guideline. There are no provisions
in the rule for enforcement other than that
any fraternity which does not keep its parties
under control to the satisfaction of the
Governing Board of the IFC will be subject
to action by the Board.

The essential difference between this rule
and others which have been tried is that it
deals only with the end (controlled parties)
rather than with the means to the end.
Much greater freedom is allowed the individual
fraternities in deciding who gets into
their parties, and at the same time, if they
employ the guideline, they will have readily
available both the means for not admitting
an unwanted guest and an excuse for which
he can be told he is not being admitted.

We hope the fraternities will prove that
they are worthy of the trust the IFC has
placed in them in removing restrictions such
as those which have been enforced in the
past. If they are able to control their
parties on their own, there should be no
more problems and the issue will become a
dead one.