With the new pilot party registration program set to be launched April 4, San Luis Obispo residents will have a 20-minute window to quiet down before a citation is issued.
Using Verisky — a party registration software reserved for greek life — sorority and fraternity members are more prepared than non-affiliated members going into the pilot party registration program, Interfraternity Council (IFC) president Danny Halprin said.
“Greek life already has a bunch of measures [like Verisky] to prepare for events and coordinate risk management procedures,” business administration junior Halprin said. “Other students don’t have someone guiding them on best practices and this program is the first primary form of risk management for them.”
Through Verisky, members submit a risk management plan including a list of sober drivers, time and location of the event, number of guests and any third party vendors, if any, that provide alcohol. At the event, third-party vendors are responsible for checking IDs for legal age, Halprin said. All risk management within Cal Poly’s greek life organizations are required to abide by California State Law regarding alcohol consumption.
“The pilot party registration provides at least the basic opportunity for the unaffiliated students to put preparation and thought into the events they’re planning,” Halprin said.
Fraternities and sororities across the IFC, Panhellenic Council and United Sorority and Fraternity Council use Verisky. It is paid for by the office of fraternity and sorority life. Verisky is a website made to ensure that greek life holds safe events and that if any emergencies occur, greek life can show the process behind the approval of the event, Panhellenic president Shirin Beroukhim said.
The office of fraternity and sorority life adopted Verisky in 2014, but before that it used Survey Monkey to collect data on parties, university spokesman Matt Lazier said. Greek life eliminated Survey Monkey because it didn’t serve the needs of Cal Poly’s greek life. Prior to party registration within greek life, chapters applied national organizations’ outlines for risk management policies, but didn’t have a specific system to plan events, Lazier said.
Greek life adheres to a list of concerns addressed in a risk management document including house and door regulation policies, sober brother and sister responsibilities, exchanges, sports, philanthropy events and formals.
Also outlined in the risk management document are alcohol consumption policies for each event, including house parties, which align with each chapter’s national risk management policies, Halprin said.
Cal Poly’s greek life chapters adhere to the rule prohibiting chapter dollars from being spent on alcohol. Instead, chapters must adhere to a “bring your own beer” policy, outlined in IFC’s risk management document, in which chapter members purchase alcohol out of their own pockets if they wish to bring it to a house party.
While Verisky works as a means of planning and consideration before an event, it doesn’t prevent rules from being broken.
“It’s two-sided,” Halprin said. “Each step in the system attempts to control that the information logged is true, but on the other side, if we are notified of policies being broken, we have strict judicial review.”
If a chapter gets notified for violating a policy, the consequences could vary in severity, Halprin said. Possible outcomes could extend to the chapter’s vice president of risk management helping to revise a chapter’s risk management policy to social probation, suspension or the Dean of Students’ becoming involved, he said.
In situations when a fraternity does not comply with the risk management document, Cal Poly greek life gets notified and acts accordingly.
Previous instances of code violations occurred in February 2016 when Alpha Gamma Rho was put on social probation by greek life due to hosting an unregistered party. Some measures taken included the removal of some fraternity members from the house on California Boulevard, according to a Mustang News article.
“Through Verisky, it’s evident that our chapters put time and energy and thought into [the] coordination of our events,” Halprin said.
Correction: The first sentence of the story has been changed to include the set launch date of the pilot party registration program.