All Posts Tagged With: "fraternities"
What role for fraternities?
Our student panel weighs in
A hazing scandal at the University of Alberta has recently resulted in the five year suspension of the local chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon. We asked our student panel what they thought the role of fraternities should be in the modern university. As with previous entries, videos will be posted on our front page and archived on our You Tube channel.
What to do about hazing?
UAlberta case shows universities need to reexamine their relationship with the Greek system
The rollercoaster ride that has been the University of Alberta hazing scandal may have finally come to an end this week, with the university announcing a 5 year suspension for the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity. The move follows a month long investigation into the allegations of extreme hazing brought forward in campus newspaper The Gateway.
Judging by comments on the Gateway’s website, it seems some students had hoped for a much harsher punishment. “The [university] had a chance to make a statement here and fell through hard. Removing a group’s status means nothing,” one commentator wrote.
This move could cause more harm than good, as the suspension of the fraternity’s status as a student group may create more distance between the university and the frat house. The suspension bans the fraternity from registering as a student group and prohibits them from using the university’s name or insignia, along with with any other student group perks such as use of campus space or university equipment. Though members of the fraternity are required to report to Dean of Students Frank Robinson periodically, seeing that they’re not permitted to associate themselves with the U of A during this period, it is questionable what kind of responsibility they now have to school officials.
This suspension could instead push the fraternity to become completely independent of the university, which would leave the university with no jurisdiction to discipline students participating in hazing or other questionable activities often associated with the Greek system.
The university’s code of student behavior states that no student at the U of A “shall create a condition which endangers or potentially endangers or threatens the health, safety or well being of other persons.” The policy also states that no U of A student “shall physically abuse another person, threaten any other person with physical abuse or cause any other person to fear physical abuse.” The hazing, which the fraternity has admitted took place, arguably would abuse this code, under which punishments include probation, expulsion, and the rescission of a student’s degree.
Yet these punishments only apply to individual students, not to groups, meaning that the university would have to pursue individual investigations into those involved in the hazing, which would be a far more difficult feat if the university can’t pinpoint exactly which students were involved.
Though I don’t believe the suspension is a sufficiently harsh punishment for the fraternity, I’m also not sure how much good would come from punishing the individual students involved. Even if the university expelled the individuals who inflicted the hazing, or rescinded their degrees, how does that prevent future frat members from engaging in the same behavior?
If hazing practices are deeply entrenched in the Greek system, that is an issue that can’t be addressed by simply disciplining fraternities and sororities on an individual basis. This is something universities have been doing for years, and it doesn’t appear to be decreasing the number of hazing allegations that surface. Universities should instead reexamine their involvement in fraternities and sororities, and find a new strategy to combat a problem that is rooted in tradition and not simply tackle these issues case by case.
What to do about rowdy frat parties
After RCMP officers were assaulted at UBC party, fraternities should show some regret
Across this great land of ours, young first-year students are earnestly hunkering down for a semester’s worth of classes after a week of introductions, orientations, and—perhaps—even enjoying a few alcoholic beverages. Or a lot.
Universities not-so discreetly allow such imbibing—heck, some organize week-long events centred around the concept—because they want students to feel they had a rich, fulfilling time getting their bachelor degree, and having a wicked awesome first week at your new university certainly helps with that.
Of course, this trade off is only beneficial to universities if students somewhat behave themselves. If not . . .
Which leads me to last Saturday’s delightful shenanigans at the University of British Columbia, where dozens of police had to be called in after a party at a fraternity got out of hand. A group of around 15 people were fighting in the Fraternity Village courtyard, and when two RCMP officers attempted to break up the brouhaha, they were physically assaulted. And while no one was seriously hurt in the incident, you don’t have to be a public relations expert to know that a story involving a frat party, assaulted police officers, and a possible gun will get picked up by the media. Unsurprisingly, the university said “the fraternities must take responsibility for all individuals they host at their parties and in their houses. Many clearly failed in this duty.” They’re now talking with the fraternities to find a solution so this doesn’t happen again.
Thus far, the response of most frat members I’ve gotten in touch with has been to a) turtle up and not talk to the press (as they’re generally instructed to do by their superiors) or b) complain about biased media coverage. They do have a point. Most articles either had sensationalist headlines (“Mounties assaulted at rowdy UBC frat party”), grossly overstated the number of people at the party (it was estimated between 500-1000, but each of the fraternities are separate organizations with separate buildings, so it’s impossible for one party to have more than 200-300 people. What the police did was take the number of people at each separate party, add the people in the courtyard, take the total number, and say close to 1,000 people were at the party. Big difference in semantics. End rant.), didn’t point out that the vast majority of people who cause issues at fraternity parties, including this case, are not UBC students (something the RCMP readily admits) or didn’t include any sort of response from the fraternities themselves.
However, given the negative perception of frat boys in society, when your first response is to claim victimhood, as the Intra-Fraternity Council President did when he said “It’s unfortunate that the fraternity systems are being taken advantage of by people outside of the UBC system for the social activities that we offer,” you aren’t exactly helping your cause. And when a university wants to curb excessive partying on campus, they can move quite quickly.
Take Queen’s University as an example. For years, Homecoming events were a highlight of the year for students, and a lowlight for permanent residents. Amazingly, when adults see thousands of drunken students laying waste to the streets for an entire weekend—complete with a burning car or two—the cry of “can’t students have a little fun?” falls on ears made deaf after hours of being kept awake at night. And so, at a certain point, the university put their foot down, and suddenly, there was no Fall Homecoming, at least until 2011.
Mind you, UBC is limited in what they can do in this situation, as the fraternities have a 99-year lease on the property, and it is private property. But it’s still owned by the university, and they can certainly make life difficult for fraternities in a number of ways (having Campus Security patrol the area, reducing the housing capacity, etc.). So if fraternities want to avoid more hassles down the road, they would do well to show some contrition in the coming weeks.
“Frathouses evict students” story misses the mark
UBC students knew of Olympics displacement when they signed their contracts
A story by the National Post on UBC fraternities renting out their buildings for the Olympics has raised eyebrows:
More than 200 students at the University of British Columbia are being forced out of their rooms by their own fraternities — which have decided to cash in by renting out to 2010 Games visitors.
The story insinuates that fraternity members are being unfairly kicked out of their places for a whole month with little compensation. One problem with the story: While it seems that one fraternity (Psi Upsilon) didn’t fully consult with its members before hand, most fraternity members were consulted every step of the way.
Adam Mattinson, house manager of Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE), said that discussions on renting out their fraternity for the Games had begun in early 2009 with the DKE council, and that all members who chose to live in the house for the 2009–2010 school year knew when signing their contract that they would be forced to find temporary accommodation in February.
“We knew well in advance that this was going to happen, so we’ve been doing everything we can to make sure there are no issues,” he said. While DKE has not yet fully decided where the additional funds will be going, all residents will see their rent lowered for January, March and April, in addition to not paying for February.
Another fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi (ADP), will be giving each of their displaced residents an additional $500 in exchange for leaving for the month of February. They also started consulting with their members as far back as early 2009, and also had a clause in their residence contracts explaining the situation.
“Ultimately, renting out our fraternity house during the games will benefit members,” said Campbell Bryson, ADP philanthropy chair. He mentioned, as the Post story did, that the point of renting out the fraternities—which are located across the street from UBC’s Thunderbird Arena, host hockey and sledge-hockey during the Olympics—is to increase funds for various initiatives: some are putting the money to scholarships, while others are using it for building maintenance.
So, put this one fairly low on the “Olympic Scandal” meter—it seems that the inconvenience of members leaving for a month is offset by the long term goal of helping a (fraternity) brother out.
Updated: Join a frat, live on the street
Olympics visitors cause eviction of 200 UBC frat members
This strikes me as rediculous:
More than 200 students at the University of British Columbia are being forced out of their rooms by their own fraternities — which have decided to cash in by renting out to 2010 Games visitors.
In particular, the admission that frat members had no choice:
At Psi Upsilon, 30 fraternity members who pay $730 for monthly room and board have been ordered to leave their rooms. All possessions must be removed before the rooms are rented out.
Psi Upsilon house manager Aaron Thomson refused to say how much the group is making from its rentals.
He told The Vancouver Province the money would go toward a scholarship fund, to pay for repairs and maintenance work, and to top up the fraternity’s contingency fund.“We have this great opportunity where we can fix the house and get all this money,” Mr. Thomson said on Wednesday. “It is, of course, difficult for most people to have to leave for a month.”
Thomson said frat members didn’t have a choice in the matter and no vote was held, but he said the majority favoured the plan.
If, indeed, the money will be used to improve frat houses, and directed towards scholarships, wouldn’t it be appropriate to put the case directly to members? Rather than evicting them without cause, why not try and convince them that it is in the best interest of the fraternity for tenants to leave for a month? According to Psi Upsilon’s website, house vacancies occur in September, and that if you want to live there, you have to wait for someone else to leave. Is there a rider in the lease that the agreement becomes during the Olympic? So much for Greek “brotherhood.”
Maybe someone a little closer to the action can tell us whether this is as outrageous as it seems.
UPDATE: As Justin Mcelroy has pointed out, not all fraternities have acted as outrageously as this Can West story has suggested. In fact, many frats consulted directly with members and ensured they were sufficiently aware of plans to rent out frat houses during the Olympics.
That still leaves the question as to whether Psi Upsilon, the frat featured in the Can West story consulted with their members or not. The Psi Upsilon house manager does say that no vote was held and that members did not have a choice.
Toronto frat drug bust nets $125,000+
Two fraternity members arrested on drug and weapons charges
A famous fraternity’s University of Toronto chapter was embarrassed last Friday when police seized $126,000 in cocaine, magic mushrooms, and ketamine (or Special K), an anesthetic used in date-rape drugs.
As reported in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and CBC, police raided the Delta Kappa Epsilon’s Alpha Phi house at 157 St. George St. in downtown Toronto. Two members of the frat — Wasseem Malleye, 29, and Yong Park, 21 — face charges for possession and trafficking. Malleye was also charged with weapons-related offences, according to the Star.
The Globe reported that two men cleaning up outside the frat house denied that Malleye and Park were also members. But David Easlick, the executive director of the fraternity’s international headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., said that the arrested men are members — and the police confirmed that Malleye is a U of T alumnus and Park is a student at the school.
One kilogram of ketamine and over 300 grams of cocaine were recovered by police, according to the CBC.
Ex-frat leader settles lawsuit with family of dead student
Student drank himself to death during a frat party
The former president of a fraternity at Rider University has settled a lawsuit with the parents of a pledge who drank himself to death last year, the family’s attorney said Friday.
Michael Torney agreed to pay $150,000 to the family of Gary DeVercelly Jr. and agreed to provide information to help the family with their lawsuit against the university, the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and others over their son’s death.
Douglas Fierberg, a lawyer for DeVercelly’s parents, said Torney’s cooperation “will result in the release of significant evidence establishing the responsibility of Rider University and Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.”
Torney still faces criminal charges of aggravated hazing. Fierberg said he could not characterize the evidence Torney could provide until after the criminal case is settled.
DeVercelly, an 18-year-old freshman from Long Beach, Calif., was a pledge at Phi Kappa Tau when he attended a party there on March 28, 2007, and drank most of a bottle of vodka. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.426 percent, or more than five times New Jersey’s legal limit for driving, when he was pronounced dead March 30 at a Trenton hospital, authorities have said.
Prosecutors initially charged two Rider administrators in the deaths along with Torney and two other students.
The charges were eventually dropped against the officials at the private central New Jersey college, and the other students entered a pretrial intervention program that could allow them to have their record cleared.
Torney, a 22-year-old from Randolph, has previously rejected plea deals. A lawyer said he was not in the room with DeVercelly and did not supply alcohol for the party.
Neither Torney’s civil nor criminal defense lawyer was available to comment Friday.
The fraternity has since closed its chapter on campus.
- With a report from AP
