The cancellation of a panel discussion about legal issues within Select 2000 has left one SIUC law professor with questions about whether the nine-part initiative violates students’ civil liberties.

But administrators maintain that although they are not lawyers, they do not think Select 2000 violates the law or students’ rights.

SIUC law professor Leonard Gross, the chairman for the Southern Illinois chapter of the ACLU, in conjunction with the law school and students, was attempting to schedule a panel discussion that would allow students, lawyers and administrators to discuss civil liberties issues within Select 2000.

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The panel, originally scheduled for today, was canceled after administrators declined to participate and law school planners could not get a representative of the National Interfraternity Council that designed the program to be on the panel.

Gross said he hoped the panel could answer questions that have been raised by students about Select 2000 conflicting with students’ civil liberties.

It seems to me that there are issues involved with personal freedom here, he said. There could have been a public airing of those issues, so of course I’m disappointed that it has been canceled.

Select 2000 is a nine-part initiative designed to revitalize the greek system. It includes maintaining higher grades, making chapter houses alcohol and substance-free, and requiring hours of community service.

SIUC is one of four pilot schools in the country.

Select 2000 makes all chapter houses on and off campus substance free by fall 1998. This year fraternities cannot sponsor or conduct social events that include alcohol, but members of legal age may drink in their rooms.

Gross said that although he is not an expert on Select 2000, one potential legal issue is that fraternities are not treated like other Registered Student Organizations.

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Under the equal protection clause in the 14th amendment, to treat someone differently you have to have a good reason and a compelling reason to do so when first-amendment rights are involved, he said.

The states cannot deny people equal protection of law, and obviously a state university is part of the state.

Nancy Hunter Pei, director of Student Development, said greek organizations always have been treated differently to some degree.

I could only answer in generic terms, in that fraternities and sororities on college campuses have always lived under different guidelines based upon their role with their own national organizations, she said.

Gross said Select 2000 also may raise freedom-of-association issues because prohibiting parties on off-campus property will cause some greeks to not associate with others for fear of having their RSO status revoked.

Gross said there also may be privacy issues involved in Select 2000 regarding some of the eligibility requirements and the disclosure of grades.

I don’t know the details of the policy, but it is my understanding that grades are used in determining if fraternities can remain as an RSO, he said. This becomes a privacy issue regarding how the grades are used or displayed.

Pei said grades always have been evaluated to determine the eligibility of RSO members.

We do it for all student organizations, she said. It is Board of Trustees policy that to hold office, you have to be in good academic standing.

Gross said the panel discussion could have allowed students and administrators to discuss and understand both sides’ opinions.

The University may have some good arguments for these types of things, but without having an opportunity to talk about these things we just don’t know what they are, he said. The discussion was canceled after Gross and other law school staff tried to contact Student Development to serve on the panel. Katie Sermersheim, assistant director of Student Development, and Pei refused to serve, citing that a member of the National Interfraternity Council that in part designed the program should be on the panel.

That kind of public speaking is not my forte, Pei said I generally only do public speaking like presentations on leadership.

I’m not trained to debate legal issues.

Gross said he did not know if the ACLU would become legally involved in Select 2000, but said the ACLU has no official stance on greeks and alcohol at this time. He said that generally, the organization would become involved only if the national office was contacted. It then would determine whether the case was strong, worthwhile and would set a precedent in future cases.

Sermersheim said Select 2000 is not an issue of legality. Newspaper and media coverage of SIU has made it look like we are forcing this on the greeks, and that’s part of the misinformation, she said. This program was designed by national organizations and is much more global than just SIU.

I’m not aware of any legal issues, she said. Surely some attorney could identify some, but almost all of the national organizations that designed Select 200 have legal counsel.

Tim Hoerman, Graduate and Professional Student Council president who was to serve on the panel, said the cancellation of the panel is detrimental to the future of Select 2000.

I would encourage Pei and the crew in Student Development to take a long, hard look at the legal issues of Select 2000, and get in a discussion with the ACLU and students to look at the potential legal problems, he said. It is beyond me as to why Student Development will not get into a discussion with students.