Rollins College suspends
all six of its fraternities after concerns over “high risk behaviors” surfaced this week.
WINTER PARK — Rollins College officials have suspended all six of its fraternities after concerns over “high risk behaviors” surfaced this week, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Students and staff received an email late Tuesday from Meghan Harte Weyant, assistant vice president of Student Affairs, notifying them of the suspension that affected 313 fraternity members. In it, she said the temporary suspension was issued after reviewing a “series of student conduct concerns.”
“The concerns included high risk behaviors on behalf of all six of our fraternities,” the email reads.
The suspension was announced as Winter Park Police investigate a reported battery and burglary that led to a Rollins student being taken to the hospital. The incident happened at 7:58 p.m. Sunday a few blocks from campus, according to a Winter Park police report. No charges have been filed against what the report described as three offenders.
Winter Park Police Lt. Pam Marcum declined to release more information because of the open investigation.
Rollins spokeswoman Lauren Bradley said the incident was not connected to the college’s decision to suspend the fraternities. She said the suspension was brought on by by issues over the course of the semester. She would not elaborate on the details.
The suspension was issued “until further notice,” with the support of the chapters, Weyant said in the email.
Fraternities will not be allowed to conduct meetings or activities. The school also canceled next month’s Greek Week activities, which featured dodge ball and tug-of-war, for both fraternities and sororities.
Weyant said the decision was made for “the safety and well being” of all fraternity and sorority students, along with the community. No sororities were suspended, however.
School officials will be working with chapter presidents and leaders from the national Interfraternity Conference to decide how to move forward.
“We will always be supportive of accountability for not meeting shared expectations, but we oppose blanket actions that impact students who are following the rules,” said a statement from the North-American Interfraternity Conference, a national association that works with fraternities, including two that run local chapters at Rollins.
It's not the first time a school in Central Florida has taken the drastic step of suspending Greek Life.
In 2013, the University of Central Florida shut down most of its fraternities and sororities while it investigated two fraternities for hazing and alcohol abuse allegations.
Officials said the suspension was necessary to send a strong message that students’ behavior needed to change before a tragedy occurred, the Sentinel reported at the time.