With Miami University sororities and fraternities welcoming their new members, the next six weeks will be filled with many new member programs - however CHOICES, the alcohol education class formerly required for all Miami Greek students, will not be a part of the schedule.
While in the past new sorority and fraternity members were required to attend CHOICES, this year a speech by educator and public speaker Rick Barnes will replace the classes.
CHOICES was a two to three hour alcohol awareness class used for the past several years that was specifically tailored to problems that might affect new members. The topics of the class included appropriate behavior in the Greek community, assault awareness, different levels of intoxication and information about blood alcohol content.
The Panhellenic Association and the Interfraternity Council (IFC) made the decision to change the programming.
Amber Bryant, Panhel vice president of new member education, said that the change did not come from problems with the previous program, but a desire for a new point of view.
"There was nothing wrong with (CHOICES), but we wanted to bring a Greek spin to it," Bryant said. "We wanted to try something new and bring a more real life perspective instead of just statistics."
Barnes was in a fraternity while attending college and is still involved in Greek life as an adult. He has also spoken at more than 500 campuses across the country about many topics related to Greek life, such as alcohol and leadership.
Claire Dickerson, vice president of public relations for Panhel said that as of right now no decision has been made about whether or not Barnes will be the Greek system's permanent speaker on these subjects.
Matt Sivard, IFC vice president of member education, said he believes Barnes will be a welcome change.
"The program he is presenting will be something these students haven't seen before, and should produce reactions in continuation of the AlcoholEdu course mandated by the university," Sivard said. "Since CHOICES so closely paralleled AlcoholEdu, it was decided that a program that was slightly different would help appeal to students in a new way."
In general, CHOICES had the same educational content as AlcoholEdu, but was presented in a classroom format rather than online.
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According to Sivard, consideration of the recommendations of former President Garland's Task Force on Alcohol Abuse Prevention also contributed to Panhel and IFC's decision to replace the classes with a speaker.
Jeffrey Potteiger, chair of the alcohol task force, said that the real test will come after Barnes' speech.
"You have to look at how good was the speaker, and what was involved ... it would be important to look at the research end and see if that kind of format was better than a traditional classroom setting," Potteiger said.
First-year Michelle Lazzara, a new member of Alpha Xi Delta, said she thinks that the lecture will be more persuasive than theCHOICES classes.
"We took AlcoholEdu online so I feel like CHOICES would be repeating that in a class," Lazzara said. "Nobody would want to pay attention because they've heard it before. With a speaker you kind of assume they're going to say something new."
Ashley Newlove, a senior in Zeta Tau Alpha, went through CHOICES three years ago, and is excited to hear Barnes speak.
"What's encouraging is that with something like a lecture, we could go as a Zeta family to show we're not just forcing new members to go to an alcohol class," Newlove said. "We want to go with them and be role models and show (members) how to be responsible."
The lecture, scheduled for March, will be mandatory, and similar to the policies for CHOICES, sorority and fraternity chapters could face fines and IFC Conduct Board review if fewer than 90 percent of their new members attend.
The fines have yet to be determined by the IFC and Panhel vice presidents of finance.
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