On Monday morning, President Joseph Helble, ‘82, hosted a “community conversation” at the Health, Science and Technology building.
The conversation was open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff, and was meant to allow open discussion about the Lehigh community.
To open the session, Helble provided updates on recent admissions statistics and changes related to demographic cliffs and research funding. He said the university received 20,444 applications this cycle, making it the largest applicant pool ever. He also discussed recent incidents regarding racism on campus.
Caedmon Holland, ‘28, said he came to the discussion because he was excited about Lehigh’s recent choice to adopt the Chicago Principles, but he felt the university hadn’t followed through after fraternity and sorority social events were paused.
“I felt sort of foolish for championing free speech and saying that the university had done something great when they just sort of flip flopped on it,” Holland said.
Holland said he cares about the Chicago Principles, and Lehigh’s decision to adopt them was a big factor in his decision to attend the university.
He also referenced the Chicago Principles during the conversation, noting that without a strong commitment to free and open inquiry, a university can’t truly function as a university.
Holland said this technically renders the university unaccredited.
He asked Helble what “retribution” will be pursued against the administrators involved in what he described as an “egregious violation” of the Chicago Principles.
Helble passed the question to Katherine Lavinder, vice president for student affairs, who said the decision to pause Greek life social activity was made collectively by the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council in an effort for the community to reflect on the issues and make a plan to move forward.
“That’s a student implemented decision,” Lavinder said.
She also said there have been administrative decisions based on certain chapters that appeared to be involved in the incident.
Holland said he’s been receiving “vague answers” from Helble regarding the concerns he raised.
“He did not respond to my call for any action, any retribution to be taken against the administrators who violated the principles,” Holland said.
Helble said his mindset going into community conversations like these is to be open.
He said the events give him an opportunity to hear about issues that aren’t moving forward and make sure the administration is paying attention.
Regarding the racial bias incident, Helble said he hasn’t released a statement because he believes it’s best to rely on those who are closest to the problem to comment.
“There’s not an algorithm that we follow,” Helble said. “It’s looking at what the issue is that’s of concern and asking whether it’s the right moment for me to be speaking to the campus community. I try to speak pretty judiciously to the campus community, particularly by email. So that’s the conversation. That’s the thought process.”
Michael Raposa, a religion, culture and society professor, said he came to the conversation to hear what Helble had to say with no specific agenda in mind, but the discussion led him to think about whether Greek life should exist at all on campus.
Raposa said his daughter was in a sorority at Lehigh and told him through tears that it’s not possible to have a social life at Lehigh if a student isn’t part of Greek life or athletics.
“I don’t know why Lehigh is supporting a residential life setup where a certain section of the community controls the social life for everyone,” he said.
In addition to discussing the Greek pause, Helble also highlighted plans for the near future.
Helble talked about his goal to add at least 370 beds by 2028 into a new residence hall between Drinker and McClintic Marshall houses.
He said there would be more information regarding the new dorm at the end of the semester.
Helble also said he will be announcing a major gift from David Jackson, ‘67, and his wife to create the “Jackson Laboratory,” which will be the first space renovated for the First Year Rossin Experience in the Rossin College of Engineering.
He said an announcement will be coming later this month.
2 Comments
“ Raposa said his daughter was in a sorority at Lehigh and told him through tears that it’s not possible to have a social life at Lehigh if a student isn’t part of Greek life or athletics. ”
Someone comment to make this make sense. My experience at Lehigh was not thus but that was a long time ago when Fraternities were stronger and Sororities were yet to appear.
So Prof. Rapossa essentially said if some aren’t having a good time then nobody should have a good time. That would be the Socialist view. I would suggest some efforts could be made by the University to improve social opportunities for those not involved in Greek life.
Based on life experiences in various communities, there is a large percentage of neighbors/students… who are not interested in socializing.
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