Brothers,
Earlier this year, the North American Interfraternity Council (NIC) passed a member mandate to ban any personal alcoholic substances in fraternity housing above 15% ABV. Many fraternities and universities have adopted these policies independently or as a result of the NIC mandate. As many of you know, Triangle is a dues-paying member of the NIC.
Risk management is a prevalent factor of fraternal life now more than ever before. Keeping our Brothers, friends, and guests safe is our utmost concern. Over the last year, National Council and Triangle HQ staff have worked together with industry experts to develop the Triangle Health & Safety Initiative. We have worked diligently to update our risk management policies to be clearer to understand, more up-to-date with expert-advised best practices, and based on a guiding philosophy that keeps safety in mind.
We want your undergraduate Triangle experience to be one that you cherish forever, not one that is marred by an incident that could have been avoided by making better decisions. At the end of the day, if banning personal ownership and consumption of alcoholic substances above 15% ABV on chapter premises saves one life, it is worth it. Many of our chapters have already implemented and embraced this policy. I urge you to reach out to them and ask how it went.
In August after much discussion and research, National Council has unanimously approved three new updates to our risk management policies as part of the Triangle Health & Safety Initiative (see the website for additional info – triangle.org/thsi):
- 15% ABV policy to eliminate hard alcohol from facilities and events, except when provided by licensed, third-party vendors. This simply extends the current policy for all chapters, into individual rooms.
- An expectation of chapter FHSI (Fraternity Health & Safety Institute) training each semester or twice a year to educate our members on important health and safety topics.
- Implementation of an online health and safety education course for all members, then annual policy education after.
Triangle’s Code of Ethics reminds us to:
- “Help create in my chapter home an environment in which enduring friendships may be formed.”
- “Maintain my self-respect by proper conduct at all times.”
These tenets of our Code of Ethics, born out of the roots of our Ritual, embody why Triangle is considered one of the safest fraternal organizations.
If you have any questions or concerns about our newest policies, I encourage you to reach out to your National Councilman, Triangle HQ staff, or me. We will “Pay the price of success in honest effort,” together.
In F, S & C,
Joe Cerrato os05
National President – president@triangle.org
Additional Contacts:
Tom Pennington, Executive Director – tom@triangle.org
Drew Hopson, Director of Chapter Services – drew@triangle.org
Brian Jarman, Past National President/Standards Committee Chairman – bjarman@triangle.org
Click HERE to download a .PDF copy of this letter.