{"id":25307,"date":"2023-05-03T15:50:34","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T19:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=25307"},"modified":"2023-05-04T08:56:57","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T12:56:57","slug":"student-lobbies-for-greek-life-causes-on-capitol-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/student-lobbies-for-greek-life-causes-on-capitol-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Student lobbies for Greek life causes on Capitol Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re part of Furman’s Greek community, you never know when you\u2019re going to run into another member of Furman\u2019s fraternity and sorority community<\/a>. Chloe Treible \u201924 had that experience this spring on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

\"Chloe

Chloe Treible ’24 at the office of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in Washington, D.C.<\/p><\/div>\n

It wasn\u2019t a coincidence, of course. Treible, a member of Furman\u2019s Zeta Tau Alpha chapter, had gone to Washington, D.C., to meet a host of people, including Darcy Merline \u201920, a Kappa Delta and senior legislative assistant on the Hill. She had also planned to meet Merline\u2019s boss, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, and visit the offices of all the other representatives and senators from South Carolina. And she wasn\u2019t alone: She was one of many sorority and fraternity members nationwide chosen for the 2023 Fraternal Government Relations Coalition<\/a> Capitol Hill Visits April 18 and 19.<\/p>\n

The FGRC is a collaborative effort between the North American Interfraternity Conference, National Panhellenic Conference, Fraternity\/Sorority Political Action Committee and Fraternity and Sorority Action Fund. Treible\u2019s group was one of many teams to travel to Capitol Hill and lobby their home states\u2019 congressional delegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can come from all over and have that immediate connection, because you\u2019re all experiencing Greek life at your university,\u201d she said. \u201cI learned a lot about how the big picture affects everybody and how we can all come together and use each other\u2019s stories to help the community in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big issues<\/h3>\n

The first step for Treible was a day of training with her team, which included Bari Klarberg, current president of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity at the University of South Carolina. Each current member was paired with an alumnus or alumna, explained Treible, who met Casey Pash, a Zeta Tau Alpha alumna from Columbia, South Carolina. Klarberg was paired with Marc Katz, an attorney and past president of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Foundation; and Tom Decker, a business consultant and Delta Sigma Phi alumnus, rounded out the team. The lobbyists learned the details of the bills they\u2019d be promoting and got tips on speaking to lawmakers and their staffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say I\u2019ve been prepared very well for that as a double major in communication studies<\/a> and philosophy<\/a>,\u201d said Treible. \u201cAnd my poverty studies minor<\/a> helps me talk about big issues that are affecting a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, Treible headed to Capitol Hill, ready to lobby for the legislation.<\/p>\n

HR 2451<\/a>, the Republican-sponsored Freedom of Association in Higher Education Act, and HR 1626<\/a>, the Democrat-sponsored Collegiate Freedom of Association Act, are both bills meant to protect members of \u201csingle-sex social organizations\u201d from \u201cadverse actions\u201d from their universities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey both talk about students having the right to choose when they want to join Greek organizations \u2013 or any organization,\u201d Treible explained.<\/p>\n

Treible also lobbied for the Stop Campus Hazing Act, a cause she began championing while making a documentary on the Tucker Hipps tragedy for her Digital Storytelling class. The act, which has yet to be introduced, would promote transparency and education for every student on the dangers of hazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurman has a very good reputation for not hazing, so it may not be brought to light as much here,\u201d said Treible. \u201cSo the education piece is key here. How do we continue what we already have, which is a healthy campus culture?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The inner workings\u2019<\/h3>\n

The lobbyists also supported HR 2662<\/a>, the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act, which would \u201callow tax-exempt charitable or educational organizations to make collegiate housing and infrastructure grants to certain tax-exempt social clubs (e.g., college fraternities and sororities) that apply such grants to their collegiate housing property,\u201d according to the bill\u2019s summary.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the bills\u2019 outcomes, it was a rewarding opportunity, said Treible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great professional development experience,\u201d she said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t an opportunity that everyone has, to know what the inner workings are. To be on the front end of changing, that meant a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re part of Furman’s Greek community, you never know when you\u2019re going to run into another member of Furman\u2019s fraternity and sorority community. Chloe Treible \u201924 had that experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":25308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,38,36,30],"tags":[826],"class_list":["post-25307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication-studies","category-greek-life","category-philosophy","category-top-stories","tag-student-experiences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}