Towson Inter-Fraternity Council
Towson IFC Bylaws (Update 2016)
Article I. Membership
Section I. Good Standing
To gain/remain in good standing, a chapter must meet the following criterion:
1. Earn a Bronze Chapter Assessment Program score as set by the
Director/Coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life.
2. Be in good standing with the University and the chapter’s national
headquarters.
3. Maintain recognition by Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.
4. Provide for and send a past or present executive board member as delegate
to all regular IFC meetings.
5. Be current with all documentation required by the University and IFC.
6. Be no more than seven (7) days delinquent on all financial obligations to
IFC.
7. Follow all federal, state, and local laws, as well as the policies of Towson
University.
8. Abide by the University standards, IFC Constitution, Bylaws, Policies,
and Resolutions.
9. Abide by the Towson University Student Code of Conduct.
10. All fraternity members must be a full time student at Towson University,
with the exception of second semester seniors who may be part time.
Section II. Recognition of Organizations
A. Organizations can be recognized and given status as Associate or Full members
by a simple majority vote of the present chapter delegates
B. All social fraternities wishing to become Full members of the IFC must maintain
a “Good Standing” status for a probationary period.
Article II. Dues
Section I. Payment
A. Active Member Dues: Due by the third Monday of the semester. Dues amount
will be set by resolution of the IFC.
B. Pledge Dues: Due one week from the date the new members are pledged. Due
amount will be set by resolution of the IFC.
Section II. Reduction
A. Members who received Dean’s list on the previous semester will have their IFC
member dues waived in accordance. Except in the case of financial hardship of
the IFC.
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Article III. Expansion
Section I. Expansion/Colonization procedures
All Towson University Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life expansion policies must
be followed. In addition to the policies set forth in the University expansion policy,
the IFC has set the following requirements:
A. Inter/national Headquarters of a fraternity may petition for colonization under the
IFC.
B. The IFC Voting body will consist of the delegates sent by the individual chapters
to the IFC meetings
C. Each interested fraternity must have an interest group of no less than 25 members
D. Each interested fraternity must present a list of Greek life register members within
1 week of their petition to present
E. Each interested fraternity will have the chance to make a presentation to the IFC
Voting Body. After all completed presentations, the Voting Body will choose the
fraternity or fraternities that shall colonize within 4 meetings after their
presentation
F. After a vote has been recorded, the IFC will provide the Director of Fraternity and
Sorority Life with the meeting minutes so a final decision of whether the chapter
can be on campus
G. Fraternities that have previously been represented at Towson University can
petition for recognition at any time and are not subject to the expansion policy
Article IV. Meetings
A. Meetings will be conducted by Robert’s rule of order.
B. In the event that the president decides a special meeting is necessary, he must
provide at least three days’ notice has been given to the chapter Presidents.
C. A special meeting can be called by the President at the request of the
Director/Coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life or by two other member
fraternities or a majority of the Executive Board.
D. The delegate from each Regular and Associate member fraternity shall be
responsible for notifying his chapter members of all regular and special meetings
of the Interfraternity Council. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action taken
by the vice president of judicial affairs.
E. Any person disrupting an IFC meeting can be removed by the vice president of
judicial affairs, which may result in loss of vote at the President’s and vice president
of judicial affairs discretion.
F. At the discretion of the president, the last regular IFC meeting of each month shall
consist of the IFC Executive Board officers and the presidents of each chapter. In
case of the president not being able to attend the meeting, a high level executive
board member of the chapter must attend in place of the president.
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Article V. Quorum
A. Quorum will be set at 5 chapter delegates.
Article VI. Delegates
A. Delegates must have held an executive committee position or be a current executive
committee member of their chapter to hold the position of IFC delegate.
B. Each chapter must furnish a delegate for each meeting. Failure to do so will result
in a fine of an amount not to exceed $100, to be determined by the vice president
of judicial affairs. Repeated absences may result in a judicial hearing, conducted by
the vice president of judicial affairs.
C. Delegate Vacancies.
When a delegate vacancy occurs, it shall be the responsibility of the fraternity to
select a replacement within two weeks and to notify the IFC Secretary of his name,
address, email, and telephone number. When a meeting of the Council occurs while
a delegate vacancy exists, the alternates of the fraternity concerned shall fulfill the
duties of the delegate in all cases.
D. Voice.
The alternate delegate shall have voice, but no vote, unless fulfilling the duties of
the delegate.
Article VII. Vote
A. Each delegate will have one vote at regular IFC meeting. Executive member will
have no vote.
Article VIII. Judicial Affairs
Section I. Judicial Affairs Delegates
A. Each chapter must select a judicial board delegate different from the regular IFC
delegate and provide his name to the vice president of judicial affairs no later than
the second regular meeting of the semester.
B. Delegates must be available for monthly meetings to be set by the vice president of
judicial affairs.
C. Delegates must maintain a 2.5 GPA.
Section II. Judicial Board Meetings
A. There will be at least one meeting per month of the IFC judicial board.
B. The vice president of judicial affairs may call special judicial sessions with at least
three (3) days’ notice to the judicial board delegates.
C. Judicial board delegates must attend all meeting called by the vice president of
judicial affairs. Failure to do so, without providing the name for an alternate
delegate within 48 hours of the session will result in an automatic $25 fine assessed
to the absent chapter(s).
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Section III. Judicial Affairs Process
A. Any delegate, executive committee member, chapter or IFC, or the Greek advisor,
may petition the vice president of judicial affairs in writing to charge a chapter or
individual with constitution, bylaws, or student code of conduct violations.
B. Any chapter accused of a violation will have a hearing date set, no less than a week
from the day of formal charges being lodged.
C. Any chapter accused of a violation may request a plea bargain with the vice
president of judicial affairs up until the start of the hearing. Plea bargains are at the
discretion of the vice president of judicial affairs.
D. In the event of a hearing, the vice president of judicial affairs will preside with
delegates from all non-charged chapters. The vice president of judicial affairs, or
his appointed delegate, and the president of the accused chapter, or his delegate will
present evidence.
E. In the event that the vice president of judicial affairs is a member of the accused
chapter, the president of the IFC will preside over the plea bargain/hearing.
Section IV. Hearings
Hearings will be conducted as follows:
A. The vice president of judicial affairs or other presiding official will call the
hearing to order
B. All parties will be reminded that they are to provide only the truth and if it
is found that they mislead the judicial board, then administrative/judicial
action will be taken against the chapter.
 Fines or other administrative actions will be levied by the vice
president of judicial affairs or the presiding official based upon the
severity of the infraction
C. The vice president of judicial affairs, his delegate, and the accused chapter’s
delegate must review a list of all evidence and witnesses at least 48 hours
before the hearing. Evidence may be allowed within the 48-hour window at
the discretion of the presiding official as long as all parties are notified
immediately.
D. The vice president of judicial affairs or his delegate will present the
evidence against the accused chapter
E. The accused chapter’s selected delegate will provide his initial argument
F. If at any time one of the presenters wants to redirect and question a witness,
questions will be limited to what was originally discussed in the crossexamination
G. Once all evidence has been reviewed and all witnesses have been heard, the
judicial board will adjourn and the council of judicial delegate will
deliberate
H. If the chapter is found innocent, the judicial board will adjourn with no
further action. If the chapter is found guilty by the judicial board will
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adjourn and the vice president of judicial affairs will provide a sentence
within 72 hours
I. The max sentence which can be given by the vice president of judicial
affairs is $500 per count, 500 community service hours, loss of recruitment,
and a recommendation to the IFC to review the membership of the
convicted chapter*
*Sanctions not on this list may be levied against a chapter
Section V. Appeals
A. Any chapter with a fine or penalty levied against them may petition the president
of the IFC in writing within 72 hours of the judicial board decision, for an appeal
of the fine or penalty. If the president accepts the petition, the executive committee
of the IFC will vote on the appeal. Appeals require a majority vote of the executive
committee.
Article IX. Committees
Section I. Creation of committees.
A. The executive committee shall create committees as it sees fit.
B. A charter must be drafted by an IFC EC member or delegate and must be
presented at a regular IFC meeting for a simple majority vote of the delegates.
C. Committees must be assigned to an IFC EC position.
Section II. Vested Powers.
Committees created by the IFC Executive Committee will have the powers as specified
by the charter.
Section III. Qualifications for chairmen
All Committee Chairmen must:
A. Be an undergraduate full-time student at Towson University.
B. Be in good standing with his fraternity and the University.
C. Have and maintain a 2.5 semester and cumulative GPA while in office.
D. Carry a minimum of twelve (12) credit hours for each semester in office.
Section IV. Duties
A. Committees are responsible for carrying out the duties enumerated in their
charter.
B. Committees are to submit a monthly report to the executive board by the third
regular meeting of the month.
Section V. Removal Procedures
A. Chairmen can be removed from office by a simple majority vote of the IFC
Executive committee.
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Section VI. Contracts
A. Chairmen cannot contractually obligate the IFC without prior approval of the IFC
Executive committee.
Article X. Property of the IFC
Section I. Oversight
A. Property of the IFC is overseen by the IFC executive board
B. If IFC ceases to exist, all IFC owned property will become property of Towson
University
Article XI. Sorority Blacklist Provision
Section I.
A. Any sorority found to be participating in any social activity, formal, or party with
an underground/non-recognized fraternity by a majority vote of the IFC Executive
Board will be placed on a blacklist maintained by the Vice President of Judicial
Affairs.
Section II.
B. Black listed sororities shall remain on the list indefinitely. After one semester, the
blacklisted sorority may petition the IFC for their status to be reviewed by the
Vice President of Judicial Affairs. If the organization remains on the blacklist
after review, the sorority must wait one semester before petitioning the IFC for
another review.
Section III.
C. If a sorority is placed on the blacklist, no recognized fraternity may attend a social
hosted by the sorority or invite said sorority to a social, party, or other activity
that they host. If a recognized fraternity is found to be in violation of this
provision of the bylaw, the Vice President of Judicial Affairs pending an
investigation and decision of the IFC Judicial Board will immediately place them
on social probation for no less than a semester.
Article XII. Courting of Homecoming Partners
Section I. Per an agreement between the Panhellenic Association and the Interfraternity
Council, the following bylaws for the courting of homecoming partners are hereby
established:
1. Fraternities must ask sororities to attend homecoming with them.
2. A fraternity may not partner with the same sorority for homecoming in two
consecutive years. Each year, each fraternity’s partner sorority must be
different than the previous year.
3. IFC fraternities may not ask a sorority to homecoming during a sorority’s
chapter meeting.
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4. The IFC and Panhellenic Councils will jointly set a 14-day courting period in
the spring for fraternities to ask sororities to homecoming the following fall.
This date must be set prior to the last IFC and Panhellenic council meeting in
December for the following spring.
5. Sororities must respond to the asking fraternity or fraternities within a twoday period immediately following the courting period. No sorority may accept
or decline an invitation to homecoming outside of this two-day window.
6. If a member of the council with fewer organizations is left without a partner,
the courting process will begin again until each organization within that
council has partnered with another organization.
Article XIII. Elections
A. All candidates for office must present their printed student engagement record
before they may run for office.
B. No candidate may run for more than two offices. For example, if a candidate
runs for President and loses, he may only run for one of the remaining Vice
President positions.
C. No more than two members from the same fraternity may sit on the executive
board at the same time during a single term.
Article XIV. Scholarly Works
Section I. Incentive
In order to promote a scholarly environment and serve the best interests of the
members of the Inter-Fraternity Council, the IFC hereby establishes a scholarly work
incentive program.
Each semester, the IFC will solicit scholarly works, reports, research papers, and
essays from the Towson Community. A selection committee consisting of the IFC
president, one IFC Vice President, a member of another Council’s executive board, and at
least two Towson Faculty or Staff members will evaluate these works.
The IFC executive board will create standard criteria for which the selection
committee will evaluate the works. The goal of this contest is to solicit ideas from the
general public that the IFC can act on to make the IFC run more effectively, tackle a new
initiative, or collaborate better within the Greek or Towson community.
The Inter-Fraternity Council shall appropriate at least $500 each semester to be
used as a cash incentive for the best scholarly work that helps improve the IFC.
Article XV. Fines for missing meeting and late dues
A. A fine will be accessed to chapters whose delegate misses IFC weekly
meeting. The fine will increase with each missed meeting starting over at the
beginning of each academic semester. The fines will not exceed $250 after 5
missed meetings, but continue for the 6th, 7th, etc. The fine will double if not
paid on time.
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1st: $10, 2nd: $25, 3rd: $50, 4th: $100, 5: $250
B. A fine of $100 will be accessed for chapters who do not pay IFC dues on time.
Article XVI. Compensation for Officers
Section I. Officers
A. Elected officers of the IFC Executive Board shall be compensated in the form
of reimbursement for their individual chapter dues. This reimbursement will
not exceed the value of $500 and only be given once per semester.
Section II. Chairmen
A. Elected chairmen of the IFC Executive Board shall be compensated in the
form of reimbursement for their individual chapter dues. This reimbursement
will not exceed the value of $250 and only be given once per semester.
Article XVII. Event Staffing
A. The IFC will compensate individuals that are hired for special events such as
“Homecoming Tailgate”, on a basis of $9 dollars per hour or in compliance
with state/federal minimum wages.
Article XVIII. Incentivizing Attendance at IFC Meetings
A. Chapter with the greatest attendance by the end of the semester will receive a
$300 dollar reward. Points will be awarded based on each of the attendance
categories. Chapters can only receive one point per category per meeting. In
the case of a tie, CAP score will decide the winner. If the CAP score points
are the same they will be broken by previous term cap score and so on till a
winner is determined.
Article XIX: Diversity Chair
The installment of a Diversity Chair to sit on the Executive Board of the InterFraternity Council. This chair will be elected in same fashion as all other officer
elections. The duties of this chairmen will be to enhance diversity awareness within IFC
and IFC affiliated chapters. This chair position will also be required to hold semi-annual
diversity presentations, during the first month of each new semester. Chair position will
not have executive voting rights on the IFC Executive Board.
Article XX: Recruitment
Section I. Rules
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A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
M.
N.
O.
IFC Recruitment will begin and end on a specific date and time that is chosen
by the IFC. The date and time will be announced to all participating chapters
at the weekly IFC meeting.
Once the recruitment period is declared all of the following rules and
regulations included in this document are fully enforceable by the IFC. Any
recruitment event taking place outside of the formal recruitment period is also
subject to these rules.
All potential new members wishing to participate in IFC recruitment are
required to register with the IFC. No member may accept a bid from any
recognized IFC Chapter without officially registering.
IFC registration forms will be available at formal recruitment, however
registration is also now available online and potential new members are
encouraged to register themselves in advance of formal recruitment.
All potential new members must have a 2.4 GPA or higher in order to register
for recruitment.
No student on the IFC blacklist may be given a bid.
No member of a Fraternity may provide transportation to or from a licensed
liquor establishment or any location where alcohol is present, regardless of
age.
No alcohol is permitted at any recruitment event.
1. This includes any drinking game (i.e. water pong, flip cup etc.)
No women are permitted at recruitment events this includes but is not limited
to strippers, exotic dancers, escorts etc.
No presentations or recruitment–promoting materials may include women or
alcohol (pictures and video included)
All chapters must submit a detailed list of their recruitment events to the IFC
before the start of recruitment. The list will include the date, time, event
description, and location of all events. If the list is not submitted by the
official deadline they will be sanctioned.
For the benefit of Greek life as a whole the IFC and all of its committees will
not promote any individual chapter of the IFC, but promote all IFC Chapters
equally. This includes wearing any letters, or rush shirts. However, simply
informing a potential new member of the chapter affiliation of an officer is not
a violation of this rule.
For the benefit of Greek life as a whole, all chapters are prohibited from
belittling any chapter.
1. The IFC recognizes that there is no need for a chapter to go out of its
way to promote another chapter, but talking down upon, or any sort of
demeaning reference of any chapter is in strict violation of this rule.
All sponsored chapter events must end no later than 10:00pm. Potential new
members must leave by this time. There are no exceptions. Potential new
members are not permitted to “hang out” after the conclusion of a recruitment
event.
Transportation must be provided for all potential new members free of charge.
If a chapter chooses to host an event outside of the Towson area, the trip must
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first be approved by the IFC. If a chapter wishes to hold a recruitment event
such as this, they must also provide transportation and cover all costs for two
IFC officers. The IFC reserves the right to reject any event for any reason
keeping in mind the best interest of the chapters the IFC, the potential new
members, and Towson University.
P. Rush events are meant to be open to the public; all IFC Officers are authorized
to attend any rush event at any given time without informing the host chapter
in advance.
Q. If a chapter is found to be in violation of any of these rules they will be
charged and tried by the IFC Executive Board.
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