CalSERVE Senator Wendy Pacheco introduced the bill Sept. 25 to address cultural insensitivity on campus after the campus fraternity Delta Chi hosted a quinceanera-themed party Sept. 21.

The bill, SB 16, was discussed at Monday’s external committee meeting, where members of both the multicultural and Greek communities gathered to discuss concerns about Delta Chi’s party.

Many members of the campus Latino community said at the meeting that they were upset by party’s theme, which they claimed appropriated Latino culture and mocked Mexican traditions. Members of the Greek community at the committee meeting recognized the concerns about Delta Chi’s behavior.

The bill was amended significantly during the committee meeting after students in the Greek community raised concerns about what they said was harsh language in the bill. Student Action Senator Lauren Week, who is in a sorority, said she felt she was “being attacked” by the language of the bill.

Interfraternity Council President Andrey Kisel also emphasized at the meeting that the bill’s language was especially harsh toward the Greek community.

The amended version of the bill was altered to reflect these concerns and notes that “this incident (at Delta Chi) is not reflective of the individual sentiment of each individual in the Greek community.”

The bill’s title was changed from “A Bill to Censure the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) for the Appropriate of Latin@/Xican@ Culture” to “A Bill Condemning the Negligence of Cultural Awareness within the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC).”

The amended bill addresses more specifically what the ASUC believes it and the Greek community should do to make the Greek community a more “culturally aware body.” According to the bill, Delta Chi will be asked to write a public apology to the Xican@ and Latin@ community, and “cultural awareness training (will) be urged by ASUC for all student organizations on campus.”

The bill calls for the implementation of additional training programs and provisions within the Greek community to increase cultural sensitivity as well as communication and collaboration between the IFC and the UC Berkeley LEAD Center to raise cultural awareness.

“This bill is not about communities of color versus the greek community,” Pacheco said in a statement. “Instead this is the start of a conversation and hopefully a partnership between both communities to not only address the issue at hand but also to create a safe campus environment for everyone.”

Kisel echoed Pacheco’s sentiment that both communities should work together to address the incident at Delta Chi.

“(We) agree that what happened is major issue,” Kisel said. “We don’t want this to be a battle between any two communities.”

After a short senate meeting Wednesday, SB 16 passed without discussion.

“I wasn’t that surprised that it passed, only because there had been a considerable amount of working together with the Greek community and the senators that represent (it),” Pacheco said after the meeting.

Jennie Yoon is the lead student government reporter. Contact her at jyoon@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @jennieyoon_.

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A quinceanera-themed party hosted by Delta Chi on Sept. 21 has been met with controversy by students of color and has prompted the introduction of an ASUC Senate bill condemning the event.

Many students criticized the party as an act of cultural appropriation of Latino culture. The bill, SB 16, calls for the ASUC to “condemn culturally appropriated theme parties” and urges the university to implement a racial sensitivity curriculum for the Greek community.

The bill also asks Delta Chi to write a public apology to the campus Latino community for appropriating its cultural traditions and reproducing cultural stereotypes for entertainment purposes.

According to SB 16, authored by CalSERVE Senator Wendy Pacheco, some party attendees were dressed in attire “reflective of ‘cholos.’ ”

“For people in the Mexican community, quinceaneras are usually for young women who transition from being a girl into a woman,” Pacheco said. “That’s very important in our community, and for someone to take that and turn it into a party scene and dress up with sombreros and mustaches and reflect those stereotypes of what Mexican culture is is not OK.”

Members of the fraternity, however, say there was no ill intent behind the party or its theme, which Delta Chi President Cody Kermanian said was suggested by Mexican members of the fraternity.

“A lot of the rhetoric in the bill assumes what our thoughts were without even talking to us about it,” Kermanian said. “The intention was never to marginalize, and it never has been nor will be.”

Student Action Senator Liza Raffi, who is a member of the Greek community, was in attendance at the party. She said her costume and the costumes of friends were not meant to mock Latino culture.

“If there were derogatory costumes there, I did not see them, but I understand that everyone’s definition of offensive is different,” Raffi said. “I now understand that the idea of a fiesta plays into larger concern of cultural appropriation that has history stretching beyond the party.”

According to Dustin Page, a LEAD Center coordinator for fraternity and sorority advising and leadership development, fraternity chapters must register social events through their respective councils, which then share the events with the LEAD Center for review. The LEAD Center is a unit of the ASUC Auxiliary in student affairs, and it advises CalGreeks as well as other student organizations.

Page said that because Delta Chi’s event was not registered with the Interfraternity Council, the LEAD Center had no prior knowledge of it.

The party at Delta Chi is part of a larger pattern of cultural appropriation on campus, said David Jaramillo, a sponsor of the bill and a member of a campus Latino fraternity, Lambda Upsilon Lambda.

“We are a part of CalGreeks, and we feel very disappointed in the fact that the Greek community is continuously perpetrating acts of cultural insensitivity and racism,” Jaramillo said.

Last year, another campus fraternity faced condemnation from the ASUC Senate. The fraternity, Theta Delta Chi, was accused of racism after hanging a figure outside of its house during Halloween. Although the fraternity claimed the figure was a zombie, others said the decoration resembled a lynching. In response, the senate approved a bill that urged the campus and the Interfraternity Council to hold Theta Delta Chi “responsible for reckless disregard of the risk of terrorizing the campus community.”

SB 16 also includes language referencing the “Compton Cookout,” an event hosted by a UC San Diego fraternity stereotyping black culture that garnered national attention.

External Affairs Vice President Safeena Mecklai, however, who is an active member of the Greek community, said Delta Chi’s party cannot be compared to the Compton Cookout. She said the bill uses examples of racial insensitivity from other schools to villainize the Greek community.

“Cultural appropriation is a problem across campus, not just the Greek community,” Mecklai said. “I think it would be more constructive to look at the climate of the entire campus.”

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After a four-year suspension, the campus chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity will face the choice this September to apply for recognition again from the UC Berkeley’s Greek system, but will choose not to reapply and remain unaffiliated with the campus.

The campus revoked recognition of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity — commonly known as DKE —  in March 2009 after campus officials were alerted of allegations of hazing, fire safety hazards and other student conduct violation by the fraternity. Brian Liou, treasurer for DKE, said fraternity leadership would not be rejoining after the suspension to maintain the independence of and control over the fraternity.

And yet, DKE is not the only fraternity that remains skeptical about reapplying for recognition: after having their sponsorship revoked by UC Berkeley officials, campus chapters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Zeta Psi fraternities are also doubtful whether re-applying for campus recognition will be beneficial for the fraternity.

In July 2011, the campus revoked the recognition of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter — known as SAE — for repeated risk management, fire and life safety and social code violations and noncompliance with prior sanctions. The campus’s Zeta Psi Fraternity chapter became unaffiliated in December 2010 for similar reasons, according to campus officials.

“All of these organization lost university recognition due to their actions and behaviors as a chapter here at UC Berkeley,” said LEAD Center Interim Director Jeff Woods. “They each violated the Campus Code of Student Conduct and through the conduct process, lost university recognition.”

While Dave Hunter, executive director of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, said the campus chapter opted to no longer maintain recognition with the school due to differences of opinions on how a judicial system should impose penalties, he added that fraternity leadership has decided that the recognition agreement between the chapter and UC Berkeley provided very little benefit to the chapter.

“Zeta Psi is doing just fine without recognition and has no plans to become recognized in the near future,” Hunter said in an email.

According to a campus website, over 10 fraternities — not all which are currently operating — are listed as “non recognized” by the campus and students are “counseled against joining these organizations.”

The campus prefers fraternities to stay affiliated, according to Woods. The 33 recognized fraternity chapters of campus form the Interfraternity Council. In total, there are about 1,300 undergraduate men in those fraternities.

Despite the campus’ warnings against joining the unrecognized fraternities, Woods said that students associate the “bad actions” of the unrecognized fraternities — DKE, SAE and Zeta Psi — with the campus-affiliated fraternities.

“Unrecognized fraternities bring down the entire CalGreeks community,” Woods said in an email. “The unrecognized fraternities are operating outside of the (campus) and Interfraternity Council and without the expectations, support, and resources available to them.”

But Liou said in an email that more fraternities that can opt out of recognition will because “the (council) as an organizing body isn’t very strong.” He added that being unrecognized gives fraternities greater independence and less regulation from the campus.

“Not being in (the council) means less rules,” Liou said. “We’re independent and that enables us to govern ourselves.”

Yet, Carlo Tapia, president of the campus chapter Alpha Kappa Lambda Fraternity — a UC Berkeley-affiliated and council-recognized fraternity  since spring 2012 — said that while he understood how the influence of other fraternities leaving the campus could lead to more fraternities to end their affiliation, a benefit of being a member of the council is the legitimacy it offers to the organization and the community it creates with the larger Greek community.

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An attempt by the ASUC Elections Council to implement a temporary rule meant to prevent incentivized voting was rejected by the ASUC Judicial Council on Tuesday.

According to ASUC Attorney General Deepti Rajendran, concerns were brought to the Elections Council about specific candidates’ campaign staff and specific political parties running voting booths and providing material incentives for voting. The concern revolved around a CalGreeks voting booth set up in front of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, of which Student Action presidential candidate Connor Landgraf is a member.

Judicial Council Chair Erica Furer said in an email that Judicial Council proceedings happen in closed session and she could therefore not disclose any additional information aside from the fact that the temporary rule was not approved.

Rajendran said the rule that the Elections Council was attempting to implement was to prohibit voting booths from offering incentives, including food — which the CalGreeks booth was offering — before the Judicial Council approved those incentives.

According to Rajendran, the presidents of the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council — which represent many campus fraternities and sororities — said at a meeting Monday night that the voting booth did not endorse any specific candidate, rather its purpose was to get the Greek community in general to vote.

She added that several precautions had already been taken, including taking down flyers endorsing specific candidates in the area and assuring that people involved in campaigning were not a part of the voting booth.

“After our meeting I think we came to a good understanding of each other and a good way to proceed with the election,” Rajendran said.

SQUELCH! senator and presidential candidate Noah Ickowitz said he brought concerns including the booth’s location and the food incentives to the Elections Council. Ickowitz said he was not against incentivized voting, but that having a voting booth in front of a fraternity house of one of the candidates “has its flaws.”

He added that he respected the council’s decision but that he would have “interpreted it differently.”

Interfraternity Council President David Blanchard said in an email that at the meeting Monday night he told the Elections Council that the CalGreeks booth would not be in violation of their rules.

He added that “trying to implement a rule concerning voting less than 24 hours before said voting begins is not sound practice, in my opinion.”

Additionally, ASUC Solicitor General Erin Delaney said that at the meeting on Monday, both Blanchard and Panhellenic President Tiffany Kirkland confirmed that they felt the proposed rule specifically targeted the Greek community.

Delaney also said there was not an adequate amount of time to deal with the issue and that it needed to be worked on in the future.

Courtney Moulds covers student government.

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After a slew of public and staff comments at the Berkeley City Council meeting Tuesday, the council decided to wait to vote on legislation that would have extended the probationary period for noise complaints.

The council voted to gather more information, look for alternatives and return to the council sometime between 60 and 90 days from the meeting.

As the legislation stands now, police respond to noise disturbances and give the residents a first response, which warns that further disruption within the next 120 days will result in financial penalties starting at $750.

The proposed legislation that came under fire this week from much of the UC Berkeley student community would have extended that period from 120 to 180 days.

While members of various neighborhood associations shared their support for the ordinance changes at the meeting, students from the UC Berkeley Interfraternity Council, ASUC and the Berkeley Student Cooperative spoke out against the legislation and requested that students play a larger role in the discussion.

“To truly understand the burden that this brings on students and the stress it causes requires student input,” said ASUC President Vishalli Loomba at the meeting.

Wendy Cosin, assistant planning director for the city, said city staff tried to come up with the item quickly to help address situations like that of 2133 Parker St., a multibedroom residential property that neighbors have declared a public nuisance.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, among others, expressed his concern that the council did not have enough facts regarding the scope and effectiveness of the legislation to make a decision at the time.

“We need more facts,” Worthington said.

His motion to table the item passed, so as to allow for “analysis and alternatives” and invite “proposals from the community to remedy the situation.”

David Blanchard, president of the campus Interfraternity Council, said he has plans for achieving those alternatives. He said he, along with members of the co-op community, wants to talk to neighbors about the situation.

“Getting to know each other, whether through a backyard barbecue or whatever, is important,” Blanchard said. “They have a right to a neighborhood they can enjoy, but at the same time, we want to explore other solutions. I think communication is most important.”

Annie Sciacca covers city government.

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Following a semester in which UC Berkeley fraternities reported a notable police crackdown on parties, the Berkeley City Council will consider Tuesday extending the probationary period for noise complaints.

Although the legislation is primarily related to residences known as mini-dorms — meaning any building in a specific zoning district that has five or more bedrooms taking up a minimum of 60 percent of the dwelling’s total floor space — members of UC Berkeley’s Greek community are concerned that the proposed changes would directly affect the fraternity system.

Currently, when a gathering of 10 or more people is found to be a public nuisance due to a noise disturbance, police respond and give the residents a first response, which warns them that further disruption within the next 120 days will result in financial penalties. The fine for a second response within that 120-day period is $750, followed by $1,500 for the third response and $2,500 for each response after that.

One of the amendments in the proposed legislation would extend the probationary period from 120 days to 180 days.

The campus Interfraternity Council began a petition Sunday, which had gathered nearly 150 signatures by Monday evening, encouraging City Council to reject the proposed legislation.

The petition — which has been posted on Facebook and circulated through the Greek system — asks City Council not to “impose restrictive ordinances on communal living establishments.”

Another proposed ordinance would require any building that fits the mini-dorm classification to have a resident manager “responsible for ensuring that refuse and recycling are properly managed, promptly responding to complaints and preventing loud and unruly parties,” according to the city’s report.

The IFC petition claims the proposed resident manager requirement “treats student residents as lesser residents of the City of Berkeley” and threatens “the autonomy of adulthood.”

Many of the petition signers said that the 120-day probationary period for second responses is a strong enough punishment as it is and that extending that time period would only increase expenses for students.

City attorney Zach Cowan said an ordinance requiring buildings with over 16 units to have a resident manager already exists. This applies to building managers in apartment buildings. This manager doesn’t have to be someone hired by the building owner but rather could be a resident who is willing to assume the role, Cowan said.

Many sororities and at least one fraternity on campus already have live-in advisers.

Oren Friedman, executive vice president of external affairs for the campus’s interfraternity council said the IFC hopes to mobilize all of the Greek community in opposition to the proposed ordinances and amendments.

The IFC also contacted City Council members, Berkeley Police Department and ASUC senators about its issues with the legislation. Several ASUC senators are working on a bill opposed to the council item, according to Friedman.

Many members of the Greek system are also reportedly planning to attend Tuesday night’s council meeting to ask the council to reconsider aspects of the legislation that would affect student housing.

“We’re trying to get an understanding of where this comes from,” Friedman said. “If we understand their reasoning behind it, then hopefully we can try to find a better alternative.”

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak said he has not noticed an increase in the number of community complaints related to noise from fraternities and that the real focus of the legislation is targeted at mini-dorms in more residential areas.

“If we want to review policies in the Greek area, that’s separate,” Wozniak said.

For the legislation to pass, City Council would have to approve it by a majority vote in two consecutive meetings. If it does pass, then the new regulations would take affect 30 days after the second meeting, according to Cowan.

Adelyn Baxter is the lead city government reporter.

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The fraternity had previously been under a state of stayed revocation — a probationary period often resorted to before installing a final revocation — since January 2008 and had eight incidents in the last year in which the campus Code of Student Conduct was violated, according Amanda Carlton, director of student involvement for the campus Center for Student Leadership.

“After a period of time in which there have been multiple violations, we attempt many different courses before revocation,” Carlton said. “It is not very common, but we try our best to make sure the chapters are in alignment with university policy.”

According to Carlton, the incidents all occurred at the chapter’s house on Bancroft Way and involved fire safety violations and failure to follow guidelines for serving alcohol.

“Because the fraternity had eight violations in the last year, from July 2010 to July 2011, (the Center for Student Conduct and Community Standards) offered a resolution to the fraternity as a final step towards revocation,” Carlton said.

Chapter president Daniel Meyer accepted this resolution as an informal revocation on July 15, and as a result, the UC Berkeley chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is no longer endorsed by the campus. Additionally, the chapter cannot apply to be re-granted recognition for another four years.

Meyer declined to comment on the situation with the fraternity, stating in an email that any publicity in which the chapter participates needed to be cleared by the national organization.

National representatives from Sigma Alpha Epsilon could not be reached for comment.

Because the fraternity is no longer recognized by the campus, it cannot access campus-supported funding opportunities or participate in campuswide or all-Greek events put on by CalGreeks, Carlton said.

She added that the members and alumni of the fraternity as well as national organization affiliates cannot recruit members on campus for another four years.

Since 2005, the campus has revoked recognition of campus chapters of seven fraternities and one sorority, Alpha Kappa Delta Phi, for reasons including fire and safety violations, social code violations and repeated risk management violations.

Since then, only one fraternity, Pi Alpha Phi, has regained recognition from the campus after its revocation period was over.

In order to reapply for recognition, leaders of the campuswide chapter and national organization as well as alumni must begin talks with both the staff at the Fraternity and Sorority Life unit of the Division of Student Affairs and leaders from the campus Interfraternity Council after the chapter has complied with the terms of its revocation.

David Lopez, president of the campus Interfraternity Council, declined to comment on the situation with Sigma Alpha Epsilon, stating in an email that discussing the matter would have to be deferred to the campus.

According to Carlton, the process for establishing or rechartering a fraternity or sorority chapter is more involved than starting a student organization.

“We hold fraternities and sororities to higher standards, because they have a sponsored relationship with the university,” she said.

Amruta Trivedi covers academics and administration.

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