Students at West Virginia U. held a vigil after Nolan Burch, a freshman fraternity pledge, died in November 2014. After his death, the campus administration suspended Greek life.
After a fraternity pledge died this month at Florida State University, its president on Tuesday suspended all fraternity and sorority activities.
The indefinite ban on Greek life is not unheard of for campus administrations trying to confront tragedies or controversies that involve fraternities or sororities, but what happens when the suspensions are lifted?
Here’s what happened after three universities suspended all or some Greek activities in recent years.
West Virginia U.
When Nolan Burch, a freshman pledge at Kappa Sigma, died after he was found unconscious at the fraternity’s house, West Virginia University banned fraternity and sorority activities in November 2014. By the spring semester, in January 2015, the ban was partly lifted, allowing Greek organizations to continue their pledging and initiation events.
We’re sorry. Something went wrong.
We are unable to fully display the content of this page.
The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows
javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.
Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page.
You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one,
or subscribe.
If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com
Josh Young/AP Images
Students at West Virginia U. held a vigil after Nolan Burch, a freshman fraternity pledge, died in November 2014. After his death, the campus administration suspended Greek life.
After a fraternity pledge died this month at Florida State University, its president on Tuesday suspended all fraternity and sorority activities.
The indefinite ban on Greek life is not unheard of for campus administrations trying to confront tragedies or controversies that involve fraternities or sororities, but what happens when the suspensions are lifted?
Here’s what happened after three universities suspended all or some Greek activities in recent years.
West Virginia U.
ADVERTISEMENT
When Nolan Burch, a freshman pledge at Kappa Sigma, died after he was found unconscious at the fraternity’s house, West Virginia University banned fraternity and sorority activities in November 2014. By the spring semester, in January 2015, the ban was partly lifted, allowing Greek organizations to continue their pledging and initiation events.
University officials rolled out new rules for fraternities and sororities by August 2015, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The university pushed back the dates of sororities’ and fraternities’ fall recruitment, to give students more time to get used to the campus, and wrapped up a search for an administrator to focus on the campus’s social organizations.
The university also established card scanners at fraternity houses so the organizations and administrators could monitor when students entered and left the houses, and required that fraternity dues not be used to buy alcohol. Students were also instructed to keep unsalted foods and bottled water at fraternity houses.
U. of Virginia
After a November 2014 Rolling Stone article described the alleged gang rape of a University of Virginia freshman at a fraternity house, UVa suspended fraternities until the spring semester, in January 2015. In a written statement, Teresa A. Sullivan, the university’s president, said the campus, like all colleges, needed a “meaningful change.” Rolling Stone’s article was later discredited and then retracted, and in the spring of 2015 fraternities were reinstated.
ADVERTISEMENT
The fraternities were required to accept new rules, including that at least three members had to be “sober and lucid” at fraternity functions, and at least one sober member had to be stationed at every point of alcohol distribution, and one had to be posted at the stairs leading to house bedrooms.
The fraternity named in the magazine’s article, Phi Kappa Psi, also sued Rolling Stone for defamation. Rolling Stonesettled and agreed to pay the Virginia Alpha Chapter of the fraternity $1.65 million. A campus administrator named in the article won a defamation lawsuit against the magazine and later settled.
Clemson U.
Fraternity and sorority activities at Clemson University were suspended in September 2014, after the death of Tucker Hipps, a 19-year-old Sigma Phi Epsilon pledge. The campus lifted the ban on Greek social activites later that semester, but required fraternities to use risk-management rules to curb alcohol use. For example, fraternity members who were 21 and older were limited to bringing just one six-pack of beer to events.
The university also convened a task force that produced a report about campus Greek organizations. The report called for more staff and oversight, stricter disciplinary measures, more training for chapter heads, and security guards to check students’ IDs at parties.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Hipps’s family sued Clemson, the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, and several fraternity members, saying his death was the result of hazing. Clemson settled with the family members, paying them $250,000.
In 2016 the South Carolina state legislature enacted the Tucker Hipps Transparency Act, a law that requires public colleges and universities to publish student-conduct violations by Greek organizations.
Fernanda is newsletter product manager at The Chronicle. She is the voice behind Chronicle newsletters like the Weekly Briefing, Five Weeks to a Better Semester, and more. She also writes about what Chronicle readers are thinking. Send her an email at fernanda@chronicle.com.
