It’s hardly unusual for fraternities to be shut down. Greek life, after all, has a long history of mixing a spirit of camaraderie with a tendency toward destructive excess.
But ever since members of a University of Oklahoma fraternity were caught on video two weeks ago singing a racist chant, news of fraternities’ being suspended or shuttered has come at an unusually rapid clip. Whether the growing scrutiny is a byproduct of enhanced media attention, wider administrative oversight, more outrageous behavior, clearer evidence of it on social media, or something else is hard to know.
Here is a list of the most prominent cases of fraternity discipline to be reported in the last two weeks:
Fraternity: Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Oklahoma
What happened: Members were caught on video singing a chant about denying membership to African-American students and lynching them.
Punishment: The fraternity was disbanded, and two members were expelled by the university. The national organization announced a series of diversity reforms.
Fraternity: Kappa Delta Rho at Pennsylvania State University’s main campus
What happened: Members were accused of maintaining a Facebook page where they shared photographs of nude, incapacitated women. One member, speaking anonymously, defended the page as “satire.”
Punishment: The fraternity was suspended for a year by its national organization. The university and the police are investigating.
Fraternity: Sigma Alpha Mu at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
What happened: Members trashed a ski resort, reportedly causing upward of $400,000 in damage.
Punishment: The fraternity was permanently disbanded by its national organization. A prosecutor filed charges against three members of the chapter and said he would charge other members when he learned their names. The charges include malicious destruction and drug and alcohol use by minors.
Fraternity: Chi Phi at the University of Wisconsin at Madison
What happened: The fraternity hazed new members, the university said, denying them food and making them undergo hooded isolation.
Punishment: The university removed the fraternity’s recognition as a student group.
Fraternity: Sigma Chi at the University of Houston
What happened: The university became aware of allegations of hazing.
Punishment: The chapter was suspended, and five students were suspended from the university.
Fraternity: Alpha Tau Omega at North Carolina State University
What happened: A student said she had seen illegal drugs at the fraternity and also alleged she had been sexually assaulted there.
Punishment: The fraternity was suspended.
Fraternity: Pi Kappa Phi at North Carolina State University
What happened: A book associated with the chapter that contained racially and sexually inappropriate language, along with derogatory comments about women, was found at a restaurant close to the campus.
Punishment: The fraternity was placed under interim suspension.
Fraternity: Pi Kappa Alpha at the University of South Carolina at Columbia
What happened: A member was found dead in an off-campus house under what the police have called suspicious circumstances.
Punishment: The national organization suspended the chapter.
