UF's Interfraternity Council met to sign its first anti-hazing pact at Beta Theta Pi Fraternity house on Wednesday night.
The pact encourages members of the council to hold each other accountable in their efforts to eliminate hazing practices, and it calls for an emphasis on anti-hazing education within UF fraternity chapters.
Clay Mathews, president of the Interfraternity Council, read the pact before it was signed by the presidents of the 25 fraternity chapters that make up the council.
He said hazing is not congruent with the value-based nature of the council and its members.
After the signing, Patricia Telles-Irvin, vice president for Student Affairs, mentioned her experiences as a sorority sister at Duke.
Telles-Irvin added that the pact is important because it holds council members accountable to each other in their actions to end hazing.
She said although hazing is a tradition, UF faces a new generation of students who are not afraid to speak up about hazing practices.
Telles-Irvin also said that, during these times of economic difficulty and budget cuts, UF fraternities must maintain a positive reputation if they want the parents of pledges to pay for their sons to join fraternities.
She also said fraternities play an important role in maintaining UF's reputation.
"This university is striving to be one of the top 10 public institutions, and you play a role in that," she said. "You are very much a part of getting there."
Stephen McClaughlin, the president of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, sees the pact as a way of augmenting the Greek community.
"We've had some downfalls in the past," he said. "We just need to grow from there."
Matthew Panzano, the president of Delta Upsilon Fraternity and a member of the committee which helped create the pact, said because he is an only child, he joined a fraternity to experience a sense of brotherhood but was initially deterred by fears of hazing.
He said he appreciates the unity that the pact represents.
"I'm just hoping to see some progress, that's all," he said.
Mathews said anti-hazing resources for students and parents will be available on the Interfraternity Council's Web site at greekgator.com.
