Though the Barnard Student Government Association’s Representative Council voted in favor of stage-one sorority recognition on Monday, whether sororities will receive full recognition remains to be seen.
After Barnard students voted 768-577 in favor of sorority recognition in a nonbinding poll last week, members of the SGA Representative Council were required to submit a private ballot either in favor of or against stage-one recognition for the entire InterGreek Council, the three-pronged governing board that oversees campus Greek life at Columbia.
Rep Council members based their decisions on the outcome of the poll, as well as the results of town hall forums and round-table discussions that SGA has been holding throughout the semester.
In a final vote, 14 members voted in favor of recognition and five against. Under the vote, SGA has granted stage-one recognition to all sororities within the IGC, which is made up of the Multicultural Greek Council, the Interfraternity Council, and the Panhellenic Council. Stage-one recognition means that sororities will have some privileges, including space to put up fliers on Barnard’s campus and the option to a hire a group adviser and reserve space. Stage-two recognition would allow IGC to receive official funding from SGA.
Priyata Patel, BC ’11 and vice president of finance, said that how much money SGA doles out to sororities—and whether sororities are granted stage-two recognition, which comes with more substantial funding—will be determined at next semester’s Funding at Columbia University, also known as F@CU, where incoming and outgoing members of the four undergraduate councils distribute funding to governing boards.
Before the vote, SGA members spoke out on the issue: some insisted that SGA stand by the results of the nonbinding student poll, while others pointed out that a significant number of students voted against recognition.
“As a senior graduating, I don’t feel it’s my decision to make, but the student body really stood up,” Reni Calister, BC ’11 and senior class president, said. “In terms of Barnard voter turnout, it was really amazing, so I think it’s our responsibility to do what we said we would do and follow the poll.”
Mitzi Steiner, BC ’12 and junior class president, responded, “We intentionally chose to not have this poll be binding.”
Sorority members on the council stressed that recognition would allow Barnard to shape the role of Greek life on campus.
“We should remember in the course of this vote that the only way that SGA and Barnard’s leadership will be able to have a say in the way that Greek life looks and acts is if there’s recognition,” said Nora Feinstein, BC ’11 and student services representative, who is president of the Panhellenic Council. “If there’s no recognition, Barnard has no legitimacy to, in a way, influence that.”
Only 10.4 percent of Barnard students are in sororities, but Barnard students account for half of the University’s sorority population.
In April, IGC sought official recognition from SGA, which would enable IGC to receive additional privileges, including financial support and access to more spaces for events. SGA voted to leave IGC unrecognized. This semester, SGA created an internal committee of Rep Council members who developed the student poll. While many council members said it was important to follow the results of the poll, others spoke out on behalf of those who opposed sorority recognition.
“I don’t think we can discount the 577 students who voted against Greek life recognition,” Megan Shannon, BC ’11 and vice president of student life, said.
Verna Patti, BC ’11 and senior representative to the Board of Trustees, agreed.
“I hope that they take into consideration the criticisms that are raised against them [supporters of sorority recognition] by the women that voted no,” Patti said. “I just hope that it just doesn’t change the character of the women that come to Barnard.”
“We should strongly consider doing some sort of follow-up with the student body,” Julia Kennedy, BC ’13 and sophomore class vice president, said. “I talked to students who really knew absolutely nothing [about the issue and the poll].”
Barnard students were not the only people who had opinions on the issue. Aki Terasaki, CC ’12 and junior class president on the Columbia College Student Council, said that the issue should not be so intrinsically bound into Barnard’s identity, and “should be separated from where Barnard is going or Barnard’s mission or who Barnard is as an institution.”
Before the Rep Council voted on whether to recognize sororities, everyone present at the meeting passed a motion to de-recognize the Panhellenic Council, which currently has stage-one recognition. As a rule, they cannot recognize an individual council and then later recognize the overarching council—in this case the InterGreek board.
Ultimately, Patel said, IGC will be able to get funding from Barnard once it receives stage-two recognition.
“After and if they are promoted to stage two, then they’ll be eligible for funding from SGA,” Patel said. “This is a process that all of our clubs go through.”
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