As Penn State Mulls ‘Drastic’ Steps on Greek Life, Here’s How Colleges Can Curb Hazing

Abby Drey, Centre Daily Times via AP Images

The death of Timothy Piazza in a hazing incident this year sparked national outrage not just at his Pennsylvania State University fraternity, but at hazing and Greek life in general.

The institution’s president, Eric J. Barron, responded with a pointed letter describing his frustration over Penn State’s inability to stop students’ binge-drinking and wild parties. He has since said the university is considering substantial changes that will differ “drastically” from what other institutions have attempted to curb the reckless behavior often associated with Greek life. He and the Board of Trustees are meeting on Friday to discuss those changes.

Colleges and universities often take quick steps to fix toxic cultures after traumatic incidents like the death of a student, and the desire to move quickly may be heightened thanks to the intense public scrutiny.

But how can they be sure that the actions they take will stick? Experts on hazing and Greek life say thinking about the relative impact of quick fixes and long-term planning is key.

Gentry McCreary is a former director of Greek affairs at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa who now examines hazing incidents as a consultant with the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management.

“What you often see in these situations … [is] that boards of trustees and presidents immediately want to start fixing the issues and, you know, the sad part of that is those cultures are often in place for years, but the resources aren’t put in place to address the issues until tragedy occurs,” Mr. McCreary said.

A spokeswoman for Penn State, Heather Hottle Robbins, said it would be premature to discuss the specifics of Penn State’s plan before Friday’s meeting.

The university has already made some significant changes, including pushing back the recruiting period for Greek organizations from the fall to the spring semester, limiting the number of events featuring alcohol to 10 per semester instead of the current 45, and allowing only beer and wine, not hard liquor, at such gatherings.

Penn State officials also plan to issue report cards to document the status of the campus’s fraternities and sororities as well as their history of breaking rules. It would be a first for the institution. “There are no easy solutions, but we will leave no stone unturned as we search for the most effective ways to achieve change,” Mr. Barron said in a written statement announcing the meeting.

Emily N. Pualwan, executive director of HazingPrevention.org, a national group that aims to curb hazing through education and resources, said that in the aftermath of a hazing incident, administrators can benefit by reviewing their anti-hazing policies. She said it’s also worth reviewing if the college or university has a clear mechanism to report hazing incidents. And Ms. Pualwan said administrators have to be thinking about the next generation of students.

“You’re consistently getting this influx of new students who need to be educated and who need to be consistently reminded not only of the dangers,” she said, “but also of the steps they can take if they are in the moment or a bystander.”

Short Term and Long Term

Mr. McCreary said he didn’t want to criticize Penn State prematurely, but he did say a few of its responses so far seem shortsighted or lacking evidence to back their value. For example, he said, he knows of no evidence showing that pushing back the fraternity-recruitment period is useful.

“But it’s a quick fix, it seems like it should do something, so we’re going to spend a lot of time focusing on something that’s a short-term fix that may or may not even have any impact,” Mr. McCreary said. (Penn State defends the move as supported by data compiled in 2013 by Bloomberg News.)

Banning Greek life temporarily is another common tactic. That’s what happened at the University of Virginia in the wake of a Rolling Stone article, later discredited and retracted, that blamed a student’s rape on the Greek system.

The University of South Carolina at Columbia suspended 13 fraternities from recruiting new members in 2015 in connection with reports of alcohol violations. Administrators issued a similar ban in 2014 at Clemson University, also in South Carolina, following the death of Tucker Hipps, who died on a run with members of his fraternity.

But Mr. McCreary said such a ban could be detrimental to fraternity and sorority chapters that had done nothing wrong. If the groups that are taking steps to avoid hazing and binge-drinking are lumped in with the groups that aren’t, what incentive, Mr. McCreary asked, do they have to hold themselves to a high standard? And that could serve as a disincentive for organizations to follow campus policies in the future.

He did praise the decision to cut back on the number of social events in a semester as an example of a beneficial short-term measure because it focuses on the connection between alcohol and hazing culture.

Gary Wiser oversees Greek life at Clemson, and he, like many other observers, cautioned against making policies without consulting students, alumni, and others close to the Greek community.

“I worry that if we’re just constantly going to create policy without involving all the stakeholders,” he said, “how effective are those policies going to be in the long run?”

To that end, Mr. Wiser said he and his staff speak to the student organizations directly, so they know what is expected of them. “We do have students and advisers who want to be part of the change, and if they feel like they’re left out, that hurts the relationship with the university and the organizations,” he said. “And I feel the more proactive you can be, and involve them in the conversation and try to develop solutions together, the more success you will have.”

Chris Quintana is a breaking-news reporter. Follow him on Twitter @cquintanadc or email him at chris.quintana@chronicle.com.