To the Dean and the Associate to the Dean of Students at Trinity University,

I would like to take a moment to ask for clarity in response to your forceful and impulsive command of extending the red zone, specifically and exclusively, for Greek life organizations here on campus.

Firstly, as a student (not a Delt, not a Greek life member, not anything else but a student) and a paying customer of this university, a stakeholder rather, I am incredibly dissatisfied by the lack of communication displayed by your office. Ideally, I would want to have this conversation in person, but unfortunately, I have not been made aware of any opportunity for dialogue. While I do want to discuss the content of the associate dean’s email, I think this lack of dialogue is important to call out. The Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Andrew Wells, wrote in his email 20 hours ago in response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk that, “As a university community, we embrace and cultivate a culture of spirited dialogue and disagreement.” So, I ask you, where is this spirited dialogue? Where is the opportunity to share disagreements here on campus? If this statement is made and sent to students in Greek life, I would expect students to be provided with avenues for dialogue, as you claim. But alas, this is not the case. I hope the hypocrisy between this statement and your actions is very, very clear to you. As a stakeholder, I do not know what to believe. Is Trinity really “committed to the highest levels of academic and professional excellence in teaching, research, learning…” as stated in the Trinity University Mission statements? Or is that just a statement on the website that is not acted upon. May God bear witness that my family has not made the financial sacrifice to send me to this institution when its leaders act with hypocrisy, lack of dialogue and unprofessionalism. Unfortunately, as a senior, this really leaves a bad taste in my mouth as I look forward to graduating, becoming an alumni and potentially ever donating to this school.

Now, I ask for clarity as I see this rule change as a complete and unjust abuse of power. You point out there have been eight to nine “incidents” since your short time here. What does an incident entail? How is this determined to be the fault of a Greek life organization? Where is the correlation and the basis for your rule change? Are you claiming that Greek life organizations force, encourage or provide underage kids with drinks? I sure hope not. And why? What is your mission and motive? Are you making this rule just because you have the power to do so? These are all questions I would like the answer to. I understand my role as a student at a private university; however, all I’m asking for is clarity, dialogue and a sense of professionalism.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time your office has acted with impulsive behavior, full of assumptions and a lack of communication. To share with everyone, last year I was called into the Dean’s office where she claimed the Delt punch had been drugged (huge claim), due to one first-year who reported feeling “funny” after drinking more than a couple drinks at a party. This is, of course, a great worry. Immediately, my questions were that of, how did this occur, who was with this girl, has a police report been filed, etc. Not to mention, claiming that a group of people had drugged a student is a very, very strong accusation. This impacts students’ futures, careers, reputations, etc. This claim was, of course, false, and to me, this false claim was very personal. These matters are not something to be taken lightly, and more so, these matters are not something you should be wrong about and start pointing fingers toward the wrong people. Do better. My former belief was that the dean of students acts on behalf of all student interests. However, the dean of students responded with nothing. No follow-up, no “Hey, this case has been dropped” or “It was never filed.” No message of “Hey, this girl just had too much to drink, I apologize.” Nothing. Just the one email that said we needed to “immediately cancel all future parties for the rest of the year.” We saw the same actions with the Gammas last year. So, the track record for overreactions, over-abuse of power and lack of communication between paying customers of this university has been made very apparent to me. I hope other students see this.

Regardless of my own personal dissatisfaction with the lack of professionalism displayed by a couple of administrators on our campus, your statement raises some larger red flags. Are you now preventing first-years from drinking alcohol? Because let me be very clear, I had access to alcohol as a first-year, which was not related to rushing a fraternity. So, some of my larger concerns are why is this message only being sent to fraternities and sororities, why not the chess club? Why not the South Asian Student Association? Why not the ultimate frisbee team? Why not any or every other organization on campus that hosts parties and social events? This feels personally targeted toward Greek life with zero communication or reasoning. Now, if you want to take away all social events on campus, good luck, and I hope future students have the opportunity to make friends and join organizations that will benefit the future of their lives as I did. I hope students applying to Trinity are immediately made aware of your decision as they decide where they want to attend university.

Furthermore, are you encouraging students to not join Greek life? Because I have driven, accompanied and made sure people make it home from our parties safely. With your new initiative, we no longer would do this because we would face disciplinary actions. I also hope you realize the danger that you now create by preventing this, because it won’t stop it, it will just encourage secrecy, lies and the prevention of the ability to ask for help when students need it.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know that the Delts are my closest friends on campus. We support each other through thick and thin, our alumni engagement is better than any other group. I have noticed here on campus. I have the opportunity to have a network of bankers, lawyers, doctors and business owners that guide, mentor and engage with me on a monthly basis. Do you want to take this away from other students? Do you want to take this away from me? Because let’s be honest, being a Delt directly impacts future success, future business partners, future best men at weddings and, very unfortunately, we support each other at funerals. We’re there to pick each other up when we’re down, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

As a proud member of my fraternity, I want to share this with other students. But, now I (John Ferretti) will be labeled as John Ferretti the Delt. It appears I would no longer be able to have a friend or rushee over to my apartment to watch football or hang out, because if I, as a 21-year-old, have alcohol “present” at my private domicile, I would therefore directly impact the Delt’s opportunity to take a new pledge class.

Students, please pass this letter along with whomever you would like, other leaders on campus, classmates, friends, etc. If our school can’t lead with communication and discourse, it is our duty to grab the reins and control our experience at this university. In fact, things like this have happened many times throughout history, with negative consequences. I hope our university can do better.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Joseph John Ferretti Jr.