Members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity at Emory University might deck their indoor halls with boughs of holly, but placing a Christmas wreath and garland on the frat house exterior did not make school officials the least bit jolly.
A Dec. 3 email from Josh Gamse, Emory’s assistant director of sorority and fraternity life, informed an officer of the ATO chapter at the Atlanta school that only university personnel could hang exterior decorations, and the fraternity would be written up for a “second violation” of Emory’s “housing policy.”
Mr. Gamse, in an email first published by watchdog group Campus Reform, said “an incident report will be submitted to the Office of Student Conduct.”
Davis Van Inwegen, house improvement chair for the ATO chapter, told Campus Reform his group was unaware of the policy change requiring Emory workers to affix decorations to building exteriors.
He said the fraternity, which has been chartered at the school since 1881, found only an outdated policy statement online using a Google search, Campus Reform reported.
According to Emory’s current policy, “Sorority lodges and fraternity/themed houses are permitted to request installation of exterior holiday decorations. The organization must provide the decorations and a plan.”
“Exterior holiday decorations must not be installed or removed by students. Violators of this policy will face disciplinary action,” the school states.
While students at the school went on winter break Dec. 18 and were difficult to locate, the national leader of Alpha Tau Omega supported the fraternity members.
“I certainly think the chapter if it wants to put a wreath on its front door, I think it should certainly be allowed,” Wynn Smiley, ATO’s chief executive officer, said in a telephone interview.
“It shouldn’t even be a permission issue. Frankly, if they want to put a wreath on their front door, put a wreath on their front door,” he added.
“This is an incredible group of young men,” Mr. Smiley said of the Emory chapter members who, he said “researched the regulations and what was published they followed.”
Asked whether he viewed the dustup as a “war on Christmas,” Mr. Smiley replied, “I think this is an over-conscientious administrator, who saw [a] violation, and just, you know, wrote up that violation. I don’t put anything more into it than that.”
Emory assistant vice president for communications and marketing Laura Diamond, in an email to The Washington Times, reiterated the student’s right to have exterior decorations, asserting the school’s requirement for prior approval and installation of a wreath by school workers is a safety precaution.
She said “presidents and community advisors” of fraternities and sororities were notified of the policy in October and reminded of it in November.
Ms. Diamond said the fraternity office “notified Alpha Tau Omega they were in violation of the policy regarding holiday decorations. Their decorations remain up and no sanctions were imposed.”
Alpha Tau Omega, organized on Sept. 11, 1865, has more than 141 chapters and over 234,000 members, of whom more than 8,500 are undergraduates, according to its website.
Among the group’s more prominent members are former Washington Football Team head coach Steve Spurrier; the late former Republican National Committee chairman Lee Atwater; and James P. Hoffa, current general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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