New member education is in progress for Iona’s sororities and fraternities, but one new rule has caused some controversy.

A rule added to this year’s new member education is that new members can now only spend half of the day with current members of Greek life.

Jason Gloe, Assistant Director of Student Development, explains why this rule was put into place.

“Every year, new members struggle with managing their semester schedule with the additional time commitment for joining a fraternity or sorority,” he said.

“With that in mind, fraternities and sororities are able to interact and educate new members for half the day, while they are entitled to personal time for the other half.”

Between noon and midnight, current members of Greek Life are allowed to use a new member’s time as they want.

However, between midnight and noon, new members are to take time for themselves.

Senior Brianna Hines, a sister of the Gamma Lambda Rho sorority, has an issue with this new rule.

“New members must be in their residence halls by a certain hour every night, which can hinder their ability to connect with their fellow new members,” Hines said.

A major draw about joining Greek Life is that one can bond with their fellow sisters or brothers and create connections and friendships that last beyond graduation.

By having new members be away from Greek Life before midnight, it is argued that they might not be able to bond with each other in ways that they have done before.

Hines argues that new members might not have as a strong of a bond as she did with her new member class.

“I just hope that the new members have the same fulfilling process that I had when I went through new member education,” she said.

Iona has a zero tolerance rule when it comes to hazing.

According to the 2014 Student Handbook, Iona opposes all forms of hazing, stating, “From a legal perspective, hazing is a crime. From an individual student’s perspective, hazing damages the self-esteem of the targets of the hazing.”

The rule is believed to be put in place in order to further stop hazing from occurring on campus.

Hines agrees with this aspect of the rule.

“I think that the safety of the new members should always be a priority,” she said.

“If these changes are what the school believes are in the best interest of the new members, then so be it.”

President of the Greek Governance Council Julia Carlino thinks the rule is important so that the process isn’t so time consuming.

“We’re giving students time for themselves,” said Carlino.

Sophomore PJ Milianta, a brother of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, also has a problem with this new rule.

“If new member education ends at 11:30 and the new members want to bond afterwards, they can’t,” he said.

Milianta has discussed this rule with his fellow brothers, and they conclude that they don’t agree with the new rule.

“The consensus of the whole Greek community, as far as I can tell, is that they feel the same way,” Milianta said.

Milianta also stresses new member and current member bonding.

With conflicting schedules, it is hard to find time for brothers and sisters to bond with one another.

“Everyone has different classes and schedules, so it’s hard to come together, even if it’s just for lunch,” he said.

“At night, starting at 9:30, it’s mandatory that we bond. Having new members be in their rooms before 12 is annoying.”