Greek life on hold over reports of illegal activities
The University of Northern Colorado “temporarily paused” Greek life this semester, prohibiting fraternities and sororities from participating in recruitment, initiation, parties and formals in response to “serious and systemwide allegations” of sexual misconduct, drug use and underage drinking, school officials said.
Lacey Staehs, the Greeley campus’ program coordinator for fraternity and sorority life, sent an email to campus Greeks before the start of the spring semester announcing the freeze, saying “The University of Northern Colorado is concerned for the health and safety of the Fraternity and Sorority Life community, as well as others who interact with them.”
The semester-long halt to
Greek activities at UNC also comes with a mandate for each fraternity and sorority chapter to create an intricate “safety and success plan” to be presented to the university.
“This is a result of previous disciplinary actions coupled with ongoing allegations of things such as reports of sexual harassment and misconduct, illegal drug use and distribution, underage drinking and coercive behavior,” said Nate Haas, a UNC spokesman. “The action we took is really intended as a proactive measure to make sure there aren’t more serious consequences that come down later for chapters violating student code of conduct.”
In 2018, UNC suspended the Sigma Chi fraternity for seven years for violations that included sexual harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct, use or possession of controlled substances and underage use or possession of alcohol, according to The Associated Press. Delta Tau Delta was suspended for five years that same year because of harassment violations, The Associated Press also reported.
UNC students Natalie Crouch, the university’s Panhellenic president, and Logan Reneau, the Interfraternity Council president, said the “pause” was put in place because of an uptick in reports of conduct violations.
“This is not something I really wanted to do, but at the same time, after re-evaluating, I think it is a good thing to focus on,” Crouch said.
At the behest of a UNC student, the national nonprofit organization Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has called on the university to lift its “blanket restrictions” that the organization claims “impose unconstitutionally restrictive measures on other student organizations.”
“The First Amendment bars public universities like UNC from treating its fraternities like second-class student organizations,” said Zach Greenberg, program officer in FIRE’s Individual Rights Defense Program. “The members of UNC’s fraternities have the freedom to associate with their fellow students — a right that UNC may not vacate following allegations of misconduct.”
The plan that all UNC fraternity and sorority chapter members must help write is laid out in detail, even specifying font type and size.
Students must summarize each chapter’s implementation of policies around drugs, drinking, hazing, wellness and risk management, in addition to writing out their chapters’ core values, scholarship plans, service hours and a list of several three-year goals, among other tasks.
“I think this could be a chance to really show the university and people outside the university what good our chapters and our councils actually do,” Reneau said. “Greek life, nationally, gets a bad rap when something bad happens — something like this. It gets spotlighted everywhere. I hope this really does spotlight the good we all do for ourselves, for our organization and the community.”
Fraternity and sorority members must identify what they believe are current problems within their chapters and what they would do to fix them.
They’re also being asked to respond to research about Greek life. Citing academic research, the rubric states: “Fraternity men consume alcohol more frequently and in larger amounts than any other student population” and “Fraternity men are also much more likely than their male peers on campus to perpetrate sexual violence.”
The directions ask fraternity members to list behaviors they witness that perpetuate a cycle of sexual violence in fraternities and explain the support provided to the fraternity community to better deal with alcohol consumption, among other research-based questions.
At the end of the spring semester, fraternity and sorority members will present their plans to UNC campus administrators.
“I am confident each of you will utilize this time to plan, restructure and emerge from this process stronger than ever,” Staehs wrote to the Greek community.