Despite recommendations, KU won’t change Greek recruitment, housing

The University of Kansas will not change how freshmen are recruited and housed at the school’s fraternities and sororities, as recommended by a task force on sexual assault.

On Monday, the university announced that it has, or soon will, implement 22 of 27 suggestions from the Chancellor’s Task Force on Sexual Assault, which was created in 2014 and has met throughout the academic year to form the recommendations.

For example, the school already has established a formal memorandum of understanding with the Lawrence Police Department, which codifies how and when University of Kansas investigators and police communicate on sexual assault investigations.

The two most controversial recommendations suggested all Kansas freshmen live in residence halls, and that fraternities and sororities shouldn’t begin recruiting until the spring semester, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.

In response to those two recommendations, the university said that it wouldn’t be feasible to house all of the freshmen in dorms because the campus lacks adequate housing.

The school also said in the press release that it has discussed delaying recruitment with “the Greek community every year for many years,” but the fraternities and sororities have chosen not to change their traditions.

Leaders with the Interfraternity Council at the University of Kansas supported the school’s actions on the task force’s recommendations, according to Joe Simmons, the council’s public relations director and a member of Beta Theta Pi.

“We’re glad to see that they’re considering a lot of these options, because they are good,” Simmons said. “But we’re also glad that the ones that could fundamentally alter how we do business are not being considered.”

The school plans to create a central sexual assault prevention and educational resource center to serve as an umbrella for numerous other efforts.

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 1:18 PM with the headline "Despite recommendations, KU won’t change Greek recruitment, housing."