The Student Government Association held a town hall meeting Nov. 18 to allow St. Edward’s University students to discuss and debate controversial issues like Greek life, plus/minus grading and creating a music major.

Dozens of students attended the meeting at Hunt Hall Café to voice their opinions and discuss the issues.

Meghan Kuentz, SGA president, began the meeting and opened the floor to comments regarding the contentious issue of the possibility of Greek life on campus.

Greek life was proposed by S.R. Bill 112 during an SGA meeting in late October. Sophomore Senator Andy Ryan sponsored the bill.

The first students to speak at the meeting were sophomores Shawn Arnold and Addam Terrazas.

Arnold and Terrazas presented a petition, signed by over 200 St. Edward’s students, against Greek life.

“I knew that 200 people wasn’t enough to make an impact, but I thought that it was a nice start,” Arnold said.

Arnold and Terrazas were also responsible for creating the Facebook group, “St. Edward’s Students Against Greek Life.” At time of publication, the group has over 400 members, including current students, alumni and faculty.

Both Arnold and Terrazas argued that Greek fraternities and sororities on the St. Edward’s campus would create cliques and elitist behavior. Some students at the event also argued that St. Edward’s already has similar groups based on GPA, major and community service.

No other Holy Cross university in the country has fraternities or sororities.

Other concerns were voiced over the possibility of hazing and other negative, but sometimes false, connotations carried by these types of organizations including wild parties and pledges who buy their membership.

A three-year sorority member spoke after Arnold and Terrezas, and said the concerns raised were unfounded.  She emphasized Greek Life had a spirit of inclusion, not exclusion, as well as community service and business orientation.

She said sororities and fraternities, much like universities, have payment plans and do not kick out pledges based on financial status and the organizations are monitored by administration to make sure they are adhering to the societies’ national code of ethics.

She argued that having these organizations would bring prestige and active participation to St. Edward’s student life. Those who pledge can also receive benefits such as health insurance, networking opportunities and housing.

The debate soon became argumentative and several students waited in line to state their opinions.

Matt Moore, a senior member of the men’s soccer team, spoke up in defense of sports teams that had inadvertently become included in the negative fraternity stereotypes. Moore’s statement was greeted by cheers from fellow students.

Upon the debate’s conclusion, School of Behavioral and Social Sciences Senator Zac Peal, said that SGA is researching what the students want and will remain objective on the matter. Freshman senators, Andrew Guerrero and Olivia Bouree, echoed Peal and promised to vote with their student constituents.

“I hope that the things I said not only provided SGA with more information upon which to base a decision, but also strengthened the case against Greek Life at St. Edward’s,” Arnold said.

After Greek Life was hotly debated, the discussion turned to the proposed creation of a plus/minus grading scale.

The major point of the opposition presented by students was over the difference in grading among majors at the university. Students argued that while biology and math classes have an objective grading system, liberal arts classes’ grading is more subjective. Other students voiced concerns that a plus/minus grading system would increase the academic pressure for students.

Another argument presented was that converting GPAs on the standard 4.0 scale to the 6.0 scale would make knowing one’s true grade confusing and uncertain.

Alex Simons, a sophomore senator, advocated for the plus/minus grading system because many graduate schools end up converting GPAs to this scale anyway. Simons added that at first, she was against changing the grading system, but upon researching the issue, she changed her mind.

Phil Oates, a freshman, said that he opposed the system.

“St. Edward’s mission statement is ‘learn to think.’ Since when was thinking measured on a plus or minus criteria?” he said.

SGA Vice President, Chris Duke, said that for now, no new grading scale has been proposed but SGA would like to keep the 4.0 scale.

SGA’s proposal would also prohibit professors from making their own grading system. Duke described the plus/minus scale as follows: A, 4.0; B+, 3.3; B, 3.0; B-, 2.67; etc.

In the proposed plus/minus grading system, students with 4.0 GPAs would most likely drop a few points and those with 3.0 and below would likely rise. If the proposal were passed, however, the grading system would not be applied to St. Edward’s grading for the next 2-3 years, and only then to that year’s incoming freshman class.

The final issue discussed at the meeting was the possibility of a music major at St. Edward’s. Chief advocates were for creating the major were Nathan Neighbors, a junior senator, and Patrick Jones, a sophomore student.

Jones said that St. Edward’s, as a liberal arts university, needs to have a more extensive music program.

“The Carriage House is in dire needs of improvement with its current lack of air conditioning and limited space for classes and rehearsal,” Jones said.

Neighbors argued that having a good music program would boost the university’s prestige and improve diversity. No opposition to the major was voiced.