SGA to choose option for sorority recognition process

The Barnard Student Government Association is set to pass one of three options for how to proceed on sorority recognition on Monday.

As SGA continues to discuss the possibility of formally recognizing Greek life, an internal committee plans to present three possibilities for moving forward with campus discussion.

The committee, which is made up of SGA Representative Council members, already announced one option, which would be a Barnard campus-wide poll to gauge opinions on granting sororities recognition. They will present the two other options today. The Representative Council will vote to pass one of the choices.

Currently, SGA—which acts as a governing board as well as a council—does not officially recognize the InterGreek Council, the three-branched Greek life governing board. According to its constitution, SGA cannot recognize groups that choose members on a “discriminatory basis.”

In April, the IGC sought official recognition from SGA, which would enable IGC to receive additional privileges including financial support and access to more spaces for events. An SGA vote left the IGC unrecognized. Barnard students in sororities represent 10.4 percent of the student body, but they make up half of the sorority population.

SGA recently held a town hall to discuss the issue, which was dominated by supporters of sorority recognition, though a smaller group of students spoke out against the idea.

Vice President of Finance Priyata Patel, BC ’11, co-chairs the committee, and previously said that the role of students and the administration in deciding whether or not sororities get recognition will be based on the option the Representative Council passes.

“How the student body and administration will be involved will be determined by the committee,” she said. “We’re not going to make a decision—we’re deciding how to make a decision.”