After Tuesday’s announcement that non-Greek selective living groups could no longer host recruitment events this year, SLGs will still be allowed to hold their open house slated for Sunday as a non-recruitment event, according to a Friday email sent to SLG leaders obtained by The Chronicle.
“If you have events that were previously approved prior to my last email, we will continue to let you host these events as long as you shift away from the purposes of recruitment,” Dani Harmston, associate dean for residence life, wrote in the email.
Any SLG events that have been denied since the Tuesday announcement will need to be resubmitted as new event requests in DukeGroups.
The SLGs Maxwell, Brownstone, Illyria, Mirecourt, LangDorm, Round Table and the Cube were slated to hold a joint open house on Sept. 4. The event had previously been confirmed by Conference and Event Services, but was canceled following Tuesday’s announcement. On Tuesday, CES said that the open house can no longer occur because of the restrictions on SLGs recruiting members.
Harmston wrote that Sunday’s open house “should not be advertised for the purposes of recruitment,” but rather told SLG leaders to use it as an “introduction to your organizations and emphasize to students what your course of approval at Duke will be in the future.”
Students can still talk about their organizations and encourage participation throughout the year.
In order for SLGs to maintain a presence on campus in future years or hold recruitment events, they must transition into a Living and Learning Community or become a new student group with the approval of Duke Student Government, according to Tuesday’s announcement.
Harmston wrote on Friday that pathways to being recognized by LLC, DSG and SOFC have “timelines and processes for approving your potential status.” SLGs will still be able to host events as an SLG while going through these processes.
“There is not an opportunity to expedite any of these processes,” Harmston wrote.
The hold on recruitment events is only for groups that have not gone through the process of becoming a registered student group at Duke, which is separate from the SLG status, Harmston wrote.
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Kathryn Thomas is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.
Milla Surjadi is a Trinity junior and a diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator of The Chronicle's 119th volume. She was previously editor-in-chief for Volume 118.