With the amount of greek theft reports increasing and many robberies resulting in vandalism, Bradley greek life is planning Amnesty Day to provide an opportunity for Greeks to turn in their collections of stolen items.
“One of Jesse Koch’s main goals while he was [at Bradley] was to create an Amnesty Day,” said Director of Student Activities Tom Coy. “Amnesty Day is a one time event, no questions asked, for members of the greek community to return stolen items to a neutral location and start over with a clean slate.”
Senior and Panhellenic Director of Judicial Affairs Andrea Koerber has been working closely with Tom Coy and the greek community to create Amnesty Day.
“I had been planning with Jesse Koch over the summer about putting on an Amnesty Day where chapter members return stolen items with no repercussions,” Koerber said. “It’s no longer fun and games but frustrating when something of significance is stolen from your chapter.”
Coy said a neutral, private location will be chosen for greeks to drop off stolen items with a separate designated drop off time for each chapter. Upon drop off, the chapter will sign a contract stating that they will not steal further items and that they do not have any other stolen items in their possession.
The items will then be organized by chapter house and returned to each chapter all at once by Tom Coy and other designated individuals.
“We don’t want any undergraduates involved on the day of delivery,” Coy said. “We want to maintain privacy and a non-bias policy.”
After Amnesty Day and the delivery of stolen items back to their original chapter houses, the contract and the Student Organization Review Board (SORB) will take effect.
“It will then become the chapter’s responsibility to hold their chapter house members, and off-campus houses, accountable for their actions,” Coy said. “If one member violates it and steals something, it is the responsibility of the entire chapter.”
The specific details of Amnesty Day are still in the planning stage, but Coy and Koerber said they hope to host this day as soon as possible.
“Both sororities and fraternities need to realize and understand that it’s not fun when something of theirs is stolen, so why would you do that to someone else?” Koerber said. “Imagine if you were an alum and you came back to your chapter house only to discover your class composite was missing.”
Coy said once the contracts are signed and items are returned, a zero tolerance policy will be enacted immediately.
“It’s unfortunate,” Coy said. “When Bradley’s greek life posted on the Facebook page that a chapter was missing a significant item that needed return, I had an alumnus respond to me saying that everyone will look back and have a great laugh about it eventually. This is exactly the problem we are trying to solve.”
Coy said he believes IFC is missing more items than sororities because of the security level of sorority houses being much higher.
“Why would you need a crest or a paddle of another chapter hanging in your off-campus house if it has no significant value to you?” Koerber said. “These may have no meaning to you, but to that particular chapter, that crest does hold meaning and should be respected.”
