Next fall, Simpson owned Greek housing will be forced to have live-in housing assistants. This decision was made without consulting the individual houses and seemingly without thought to the macro level issues introduced by the implementation of housing assistants without Greek affiliation.

People join Greek organizations because they want to become part of something greater than themselves, they want to develop leadership skills and they want to foster bonds that they can take with them when they leave their respective institutions.

By placing unaffiliated housing assistants in Greek housing units, Simpson is effectively squelching a valuable leadership opportunity for members of the Greek community. Chapter presidents are expected to be responsible for the same kinds of tasks that a housing assistant would be responsible for. So, rather than allowing these Greek organizations to develop their own leadership and run their own affairs, Simpson would rather dip their hands in it and rob young men and women of the chance to develop leadership skills.

It’s a proven fact that a majority of the campus leaders at Simpson are Greek affiliated. This trend could change should non-affiliated housing assistants be implemented. Perhaps this is what the college wants.

Another big picture issue that results from non-affiliated housing assistants is an effective breaking down of bonds between members of houses. Housing assistants would disrupt the social hierarchy of Greek organizations, as they would undermine the chapter president’s power and members will be left confused and frustrated with the situation.

Instead of tossing unaffiliated housing assistants into positions where they are clearly not wanted, and will likely not be respected, it may benefit the college to consider doing more training for those individuals elected as chapter presidents.