At 10 p.m. this Saturday night, first-year students on DePauw's campus will be able to take their first, official steps onto fraternity property.
DePauw's Interfraternity Council (IFC) sets a date each year when first-year students will be allowed onto fraternity property. This year, first-years will be free to attend whatever registered fraternity party they choose, with no repercussions from the Panhellenic Council or IFC.
For many first-years, their first steps onto Greek property will also be their first experience with college partying and all that comes along with it. DePauw faculty and students have spent the weeks leading up to this Saturday doing their best to prepare first-year students.
"First and foremost we always want to do some education," Coordinator for Fraternity Life PJ Mitchell said.
This year, "educating" first-year students about fraternity parties on campus has included sending in two upperclassmen to each first-year residence hall floor. One upperclassman in each of these pairing represented campus Greek life, while the other was associated with Code TEAL, a sexual assault awareness campaign at DePauw.
"The goal is to get people to understand the culture before we send people on to the greek campuses, so they know a little bit about what to expect," senior Code TEAL representative Mike Curts said.
Since both Greek life and Code TEAL representatives are present at each of these residence hall meetings, they have been able to discuss both safe alcohol use and safe sex.
"The greek representative is basically trying to let the first-years know that the goal at a fraternity is not to just drink as much as you can," Curts said. "The Code TEAL side of things is sex positivity. Our main goal is to let people understand exactly what is consensual sex."
Mitchell has also worked with the IFC chapters themselves, especially with risk management leadership, to ensure that first-years have a safe first weekend out.
"These big weekends we're talking about five, six months in advance to prep," Mitchell said. "What we're doing is really all to support the risk management of the chapters."
Though DePauw's newly affiliated security company, Nolan Security, will not be available this weekend, both Public Safety and IFC have invited fraternity chapters to hire their own private security if they feel the need. Chapters will also be implementing a wristband system at the door.
Public Safety will be taking a large part in ensuring the safety of first-year students this weekend as well. There will be no extra staff in place Saturday night, but Angela Nally, director of Public Safety, has confirmed that her staff will be ready to go.
"Our Public Safety staff are very well aware of the potential risks that exist for our first-year students," Nally said. "We'll be here."
Though there's no sure way of knowing what will occur this weekend, Nally and Mitchell both hope that students stay safe.
"My main concern is that everyone continues to look out for each other," Nally said. "I don't care if we have ten hospital runs. If we need them, let's call."
Mitchell added, "We want that night to be an opportunity for people have a good time and stay safe."