Security

One of the main problems in running an event is security. In an event, there are several things that can go wrong. They range from a fight to vandalism of the event location. It can also include having one of your fraternity brother or sorority sister harmed by physical assault. For example, in Illinois State University, there have been several occurrences a member of a fraternity is physically assaulted. In the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house, a fraternity brother was assaulted by 5 men carrying socks full of rocks. In the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house, a number of fraternity brothers were injured, one of which was hit with a handle of rum. These events have several negative consequences that affect the victim, fraternity, sorority, the Greek community, and the university. For the victim, he or she would more than likely miss some time to recover physically, mentally, and emotionally. With the missed time, the victim will be behind in his or her classes. For the fraternity or sorority, it will loss its brother or sister for duration of time. In addition, it is probable that the fraternity will be penalized by the university due to the incident. The penalty ranges from a nominal fine, social probation or expulsion from the university. A fraternity or sorority usually has the finances to cover the cost of the fine. However, a social probation or expulsion holds severe consequences to the future of the student organization. If a fraternity is in social probation then it is not allowed to hold any social functions. For the university, the town and community it resides in will lose its trust on the credibility of the school. In addition, the university's image will be tainted which will negatively affect future potential students' decision on whether joining the school or not. These are only some of the consequences in failing to implement proper security measures in a social function.

In order to successfully implement security for a social event, the social chairman needs to cover all of his or her bases. First, it is important to know how to handle the "traffic" of people coming in to attend the party. The social chairman needs to know what entrances and exits to use in the location. It is advisable to avoid using entrances and exits that can be seen from a street. It is best to use a back door to funnel the guests in the location. This is to avoid attracting attention from the police. If the location's front yard has 40 people standing on it, the police will start being suspicious of the event. This is important because there is no better way to stop a party than cops showing up to it asking questions. Second, the social chairman needs to know whether it is a good decision to hire security guards. Hiring security guards will guarantee that there will be people in the social function that are sober. In addition, party guests are less likely to do something destructive if they see that the fraternity or sorority is serious about security especially when they hire guards. However, security guards are not cheap. They usually range from $100 to $300 per hour per guard. The cost is definitely something a fraternity or sorority should decide whether the social event is worth the investment. Third, it is preferable that the social event has uses the "list" method. The list method is when the fraternity or sorority creates a list of people that are allowed to attend the social function. From a fraternity's perspective, the list method allows all of its brothers and women into the event. It usually only holds the name of men who are nonmembers of the fraternity. Through this method, there is less probability that a fight will occur since all of the men are acquainted with each other.