WVU: Moratorium on frat activities due to continued violations

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Growing concern about continued instances of sexual misconduct, hazing, alcohol and other violations led West Virginia University to impose a moratorium on social and recruiting activities of its Greek fraternities, officials explained Thursday.

The latest incident came Sunday when a video surfaced on social media showing a member of the Theta Chi fraternity uttering a racial slur about a female AfricanAmerican bartender at Whisper Nightclub and Lounge in downtown Morgantown, W.Va.

University officials said the incident by itself did not trigger WVU president E. Gordon Gee’s announcement Wednesday night covering 16 fraternities belonging to WVU’s Interfraternity Council.

Rather, it was cumulative observation over the last several months, seen against a national backdrop of Greek life troubles and bans imposed by other campuses, some following student deaths, including Timothy Piazza’s at Penn State University a year ago.

“We were already heading down that road before the events of Sunday night,” WVU dean of students Corey Farris said Thursday. “Was it one of many? Yes.”

Kim Burch, whose son died in a fraternity hazing incident at WVU in 2014, called the moratorium progress and said, “I’m pleased to see they are taking a stand.” She and her husband, TJ, are willing to work with WVU and give campus talks to students and fraternities about the dangers of hazing. “I think if we can educate and help them, we all win,” she said.

Officials said the WVU student