Discussion 23

The founder of 'Get Big Gym' is an alumn of the college and is looking to invest in the college specifically in building a new state of the art recreation facility.  This new facility will be all-encompassing one-stop-shop for combining campus recreation, athletics, and academics; it will have space to workout (weight lifting/cardio designated area), 4 basketball/volleyball courts, space to have academic classes (kinesiology), as well as enough space for indoor practices for some of the collegiate athletic teams.  The board of trustees sees this as a new revenue-generating venture with the possibility of offering gym memberships to the public as well as housing several athletic camps during the summer.  

As the DOS, you have been tasked by the President to provide your opinion on a new Rec. facility, specifically where the facility will report.  The Provost and the Athletic Director have already jockeyed themselves into the position of securing this new facility under their leadership.    

Question: In your opinion, what area (athletics, academics, or student affairs) should the new recreation facility report to and why?  Please provide one recent article (2009- Present) to support your answer.

2.Lance in his first year as the fraternity advisor at Eastern State University, a large research institution on the east coast. This is Lance’s first professional job, although he completed two half-time internship experiences in Greek affairs as part of his master’s degree program. Approximately 20% of ESU’s students are members of a national fraternity or sorority. Late one Friday afternoon, Lance received a call from a parent who wanted to remain anonymous but was very concerned about his son, who was going through the new member process in a fraternity on campus.

The parent stated, “I’m really unhappy with my son’s pledging experience. He’s been forced to drink and do calisthenics for long periods of time over the last few weeks. And they expect him to be a gofer for his big brother. He’s been forced to clean his big brother’s room in the chapter house and do his laundry. The latest thing, which is ridiculous, is that he hasn’t been allowed to sleep or shower over the last two days, since the beginning of hell week. The whole thing is just absurd! And my son’s really concerned now about his homework with papers and tests coming down the road.”

The parent then stated that members of the chapter had laughed and told his son that things were just going to get worse as the week goes on, and that there was a big event scheduled for that evening.the father continued, “Now, I don’t want my son to know that I’ve called you. He wants to stick it out, since he came this far.”

At Lance’s request, the father revealed the name of the chapter, Alpha Alpha Alpha, but again refused to give his son’s name. Lance glanced down at his office phone and noticed the Caller ID window displaying a phone number, which he quickly jotted down on a notepad. The area code was one that covered the northeastern part of the state. Lance then asked the father to describe some of the activities in more detail, but the father replied, “That’s all I know. Isn’t that enough?” 

Lance again asked for the student’s name, telling the father that in order to be able to investigate the situation quickly, and because the chapter’s big event was  scheduled for that evening, it would be helpful to contact the student directly. The father said, “Look I promised my son that I’d let him get through this, but this whole thing seems ridiculous to me. I just want to take a look at what’s going on up there, and you don’t need my son’s name for that! Why do you allow this kind of thing at ESU?”

Alpha Alpha Alpha is the oldest fraternity on campus. Three buildings on campus are named after alumni who belonged to this chapter, and ESU’s president, Dr. Smith, is a brother. In the short time that Lance has been on campus he has built on a good relationship with the chapter’s president. Tim, who is committed to ending new member hazing. In one recent conversation, Tim told Lance reluctantly that some of his fellow chapter officers don’t seem to be as invested in this goal.

Lance took all the information from the phone call to his supervisor, Bob, the director of Greek Life. it was already close to 5 p.m., so Lance was relieved to see that Bob had not yet left for the weekend. Bob had been director for ten years and was good friends with Alpha Alpha Alpha’s advisor, Matt O’Donnell. Bob said he was slightly concerned about the report but wondered if it is true, since the caller would not identify himself or his son. Bob told Lance that, nonetheless, he would take care of it. He was playing golf with Matt in the morning and would mention it to him then. Bob added, “I know that Matt will deal effectively with this, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

Lance asked bob if tomorrow would be too late, since the father had said that the “big event’ was planned for that evening. Bob responded, “Well, I really don’t think so. Chapter members say things like that just to try to scare the new guys. Don’t worry about it. Enjoy your weekend.’

Even with Bob’s reassurance, Lance decided to call Tim to ask what the chapter had going on this weekend, but Tim’s cell phone rolled to voicemail after his recorded greeting of “Hi, I’m on w well-deserved weekend away from it all, but I’ll call you back Monday.” Lance stopped by Bob’s office again on his way home, but Bob had already left. 

What should Lance do and why?