Much has been made this week about the Penn State Interfraternity Council’s “daylong” policy, sending some Greeks into a sober pandemonium, upset that the beloved spring tradition would be no more. The daylong  rumors were intensified by a misinformed Total Frat Move post supporting a petition addressed to the IFC that simply said “WE WANT DAYLONGS!”

For all my GDIs out there, daylongs are essentially outdoor parties that usually occur on Saturdays during the warmer months on frat house lawns. Basically this. The thought of Fairmount Ave. void of tall black fences and deafening music on warm spring Saturdays is understandably upsetting to many Penn State students. The Daily Collegian published an incomplete explanation to the rule earlier, but we’ll try to make sense of the situation here.

What many people aren’t aware of is that daylongs were actually banned in the fall during the last IFC executive board’s tenure under Vinnie Lizza — although his administration really didn’t have much of a choice. Previously, fraternities needed to apply to the IFC two weeks in advance in order to hold daylongs.

“All daylong functions need to be approved by the IFC. Last fall we stopped approving them,” said current IFC President Chip Ray, who was Executive Vice President at the time.

The IFC was forced into the new policy after being strong armed by local authorities. Apparently, some spring daylongs last year got out of hand and resulted in police involvement.

“After that, the police department said that these functions are out of control and they’re not being properly monitored, therefore they’re dangerous to the community,” said Ray. “They told us not to have any more of them or they would be shut down immediately.”

The IFC hopes that it will be able to work with the borough so daylongs can eventually return.

“To protect the fraternities, we’re not going to allow any more daylongs to happen until we are able to come to some sort of agreement,” said Ray. “We are trying to work with the police department and come up with some amendment that would make these events safer, easier to control, and put more responsibility on the fraternities.”

The IFC passed a new bylaw amendment on Tuesday that would effectively allow fraternities to host indoor social functions this spring during the day. Previously, bylaws permitted functions involving alcohol only between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. The IFC voted to expand that time window to 12 p.m. to 2 a.m. to allow for alcohol to be served during the day during preregistered four hour windows. Any event occurring before 10 p.m. must occur on a Saturday, according to the new bylaws.

It doesn’t exactly bring back the daylong scene that Penn Staters have come to know and love. But when Total Frat Move writes, “Yesterday, an IFC referendum was announced at PSU that seeks to destroy one of the holiest and fundamental pillars of fraternity life: ‘daylong,'” or “There are no statistics to corroborate that the risk of daylongs has intensified over the years, thus no justification for the IFC and the Dir. of Greek Life to institute these asinine policies aimed at mitigating this apparently perpetually growing risk,” they’re placing the blame on the wrong group.

So yes, the rumors are true. Outdoor daylongs are gone and have been for months. But the IFC is not to blame, and with cooperation from local authorities and a little luck, day longs will make a valiant — and safer — return to Penn State.