Interfraternity Council tailgates are inclusive

An article that was published at about 1 a.m. on Oct. 20 about Interfraternity Council tailgates gave an inaccurate portrayal of the events. The IFC executive board would like to offer some insight on the process and evolution of the tailgates.

First of all, the IFC executive board as a whole commends the hard work that the SGA is putting into having on-campus tailgating options. Every Terp deserves the chance to celebrate Maryland Athletics, and the guidelines that the IFC uses, which are similar to those that the Student Government Association (SGA) is considering, help keep students safe and accountable for their behaviors. We are excited that our program has generated interest from outside student groups and encouraged the SGA to push forward with this initiative.

However, some of the information put forth in the article does not paint the whole picture of the IFC tailgates accurately. Last year, due to fire codes that limited field capacity and financial constraints, wristband distribution was limited to IFC chapters, who generally received slightly above twice their membership. The general reception of this policy was negative. While unintentionally so, and due to seemingly inflexible restraints, the tailgate was not an inclusive atmosphere.

This year, we decided to break down some of the prior constraints by moving our tailgates from the yard in front of university President Wallace Loh’s University House to the football practice fields near the stadium. With this new location, our board has worked tirelessly to address the aforementioned concerns of inclusivity.

First and foremost, we have worked with the Panhellenic Association, through their vice president of judicial affairs and appointed tailgate representative, Paige Markley, to make PHA women feel more welcomed and included at the tailgates.

With the move to a larger location, and the hard work of the Panhellenic leaders on this campus to gain approval from their headquarters, all sixteen current PHA chapters were able to attain wristbands for their chapter upon supplying adequate funding to accommodate the new location and larger guest base. Some chapters have decided to purchase wristbands for all four 2016 IFC tailgates, while others have purchased enough for as few as two, but all sixteen chapters have their own wristbands for at least two tailgates during this football season.

In order to further alleviate this issue, PHA is working toward becoming a full partner — financially and administratively — with IFC in planning and facilitating future tailgates. Furthermore, we have begun making strides with the National Panhellenic Council and Multicultural Greek Council to begin including all Greek organizations on our campus recognized by the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life. Our mission is to make the tailgates a fun and safe atmosphere for as many students as our capacity and financial constraints allow.

Our board felt that the article published yesterday morning inaccurately portrayed the current state of the IFC tailgate. A sorority not getting wristbands is based solely upon how the chapter chooses to allocate its budget. This is not a constraint set by IFC or the participants of its tailgates. This would be similar to any other student organization choosing to participate in just some of the SGA orchestrated tailgates due to their own financial decisions.

Additionally, with the larger amount of wristbands in circulation — currently 6,000, which is a large increase from previous years — we have received no complaints that anyone on campus has felt pressure to do anything that they are uncomfortable with to attain a wristband. Unfortunately, prior to the publication of the article, the IFC executive board, myself, and Ian Henderson, vice president of external affairs and the student leader of the IFC tailgates, were not able to give this information to the author of the article.

We understand that there are many more students than just those in Greek life at the University of Maryland. Unfortunately, safety and financial barriers mean that not every student can attend a tailgate. As IFC members, our first responsibility is to the men we serve and our community partners (NPHC, MGC, PHA). For this reason, we fully support the work that SGA Vice President of Student affairs A.J. Pruitt, SGA President Katherine Swanson and their teams are doing to pursue a safe and collaborative tailgate experience for everyone.

However, to reiterate, with 6,000 wristbands circulating, we have received no reports of any students feeling pressured to do things that they are not comfortable doing in order to receive a wristband.

Our board is working hard to make inclusivity an aspect of every part of the Greek experience, including IFC Tailgates. We feel as though the strides we have taken to prevent the issues were ignored.