UNH’s transitioning Greek system recently ousted the familiar “raids,”  parties where a sorority and fraternity partner up and plan a themed event for their members. This elimination was due to an already existing rule in the National Panhellenic handbook.

“In the national body of sororities, the handbook’s social policy says that sororities are not allowed to co-sponsor an event without a third-party vendor,” explained Amanda Whalen, president of the Panhellenic Council.

Though some have been upset by this change, Paul Ramsay, the newly appointed interim coordinator for Greek affairs, said that this should not have come as a surprise to people.

“We are putting ourselves at a huge risk for lawsuits by having these raids when the handbook says that we cannot. We must comply with these rules immediately. I don’t make the rules; I just make Greeks aware of rules that already exist,” Ramsay said.

In mentioning lawsuits, Ramsay is alluding to a 1996 incident in which Todd Cruikshank, an 18-year-old freshman, fell off of the roof of the Acacia fraternity house and died. As a result, the fraternity was shut down.

Ramsay said he does not want to see an incident like this happen again to UNH students. He says this rule is being enforced for the protection and safety of students.

“I want safe social events,” Ramsay said. “When we follow all of the rules it may mean less parties, but not the complete loss of parties altogether.”

Marshall Daly, president of the Interfraternity Council, says partying is not the main priority of the UNH Greek system. Daly said that this year’s members have the highest grade point averages the Greek system has seen in the past 17 years.

Looking ahead, Ramsay said he would like to see the participation of UNH students in the Greek system increase. Currently only 8 percent of students choose to go Greek, down from what used to be 10 percent a few years ago.