Following the leak of information about new proposals intended to make Greek Life safer and curb sexual assault, many members of the Greek community felt targeted.
@bowtieger I want YOU to become educated and aware. Seems that the Greek system has been targeted since you joined our campus.
— ⓜⓐⓡ (@aqua_marlenee) June 2, 2015
The proposals, dated April 8, were delivered to Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin by the Fraternity Alumni Consortium and include policies to ban hard alcohols and prohibit women from visiting fraternity houses between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. In a June 5 statement, the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association [criticized the regulations](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/6/5/pha-and-ifc-strongly-disagree-proposed-regulations/).
But while the consortium’s proposals would be among the most drastic steps taken to reduce sexual assault during Loftin’s time at MU, they would hardly be the first.
MU spokesman Christian Basi defended Loftin, saying the proposals were “tailored” to the Greek community by the consortium.
“We have been (addressing sexual assault) for many years and have increased our efforts just in the past 18 months across the entire campus,” Basi said. “You can look at policies that have been instituted through the collective rules and regulations that were recently put in place last fall. … The police continue to work to make sure that the campus remains safe; we have been doing a lot in the recent past as well.”
The proposed policies would be another set of changes aimed at increasing student safety since Loftin came to MU in February 2014.
Executive Order No. 40, which UM System President Tim Wolfe signed in April 2014, [made](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2014/9/3/wolfe-loftin-overhaul-title-ix-sexual-assault-poli/) all university employees except health care workers and counselors were mandated reporters of sexual violence.
The university [announced](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/2/25/eardley-announced-new-title-ix-administrator/) Ellen Eardley as the first full-time Title IX coordinator in February 2015. Title IX coordinator became a full-time position following an ESPN report on the mishandling of the [Sasha Menu Courey case](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/3/18/four-years-after-suicide-sasha-menu-courey-changes/).
“We’re excited that Ellen will be joining us at MU and taking on this crucial responsibility,” Provost Garnett Stokes said in a February news release. “Our very top priority is providing a safe and healthy learning and working environment for our students, faculty, staff and visitors. This means an environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity or sexual orientation, and includes sexual harassment or misconduct of any kind.”
Students [will be expected](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/2/6/mu-says-not-anymore-sexual-assault/) to complete online “[Not Anymore](http://title9.missouri.edu/rights-responsibilities/training.php)” training on relationship and sexual violence starting this fall.
“Not Anymore provides excellent bystander intervention education,” Eardley said in an email. “It shows students how to actively be part of the effort to prevent sexual assault.”
There have also been student-led initiatives in the last year to educate students and reduce sexual assault on campus. The Missouri Students Association began the Enough is Enough campaign last September, and Payton Head’s administration [replaced it](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/3/10/mu-signs-take-its-us-pledge/) with It’s on Us, a national campaign headed by President Barack Obama.
“It’s time for Mizzou to stop following behind and try to see what other schools are doing and create our own initiative and programs we feel passionately about,” Head told The Maneater in a March 10 article. “Other schools will probably sign on soon and will be looking to Mizzou as a model in how to adopt it and how to sustain it.”
A summit is set for June 20 for Loftin, representatives of the consortium and students in Greek Life to discuss the proposals for fraternities.
