Fraternities should not be held responsible for individual accidents - Cavalier Daily

An interesting opinion piece in the University of Virginia student paper.

"...as is often the case, missteps by one particular person or chapter increase hostility against fraternities nationwide. Other organizations do not face the same backlash."

The Cavalier Daily :: YAHANDA: Brotherly hate:

Fraternities should not be held responsible for individual accidents
by Alex Yahanda | Jan 21 14

News about Greek organizations generally focuses on what chapters do to get in trouble (search “fraternity” on Google news and the results are mostly negative). This disproportionately gloomy reporting reflects poorly on the chapters’ schools, which in turn leads to punishments that are system-wide overreactions to the conduct of individual houses. Last week, another nationwide news story broke in which a fraternity is being punished unfairly.

According to the Yale Daily News, 86 members of the school’s Sigma Phi Epsilon — nicknamed Sig Ep — chapter are being sued over an incident that occurred in 2011 at a Harvard-Yale football game. Before that game, a former student, Brendan Ross, struck three women with a U-Haul truck that he was driving to the fraternity’s tailgating location. One woman, Nancy Barry, was killed, and the other two were injured. But despite the fact that only one student caused the accident, an excessive number of brothers are now facing legal action.

Many writers whose articles were published last week took note of the fact that Sig Ep’s national chapter has distanced itself from its Yale unit. Its insurance does not cover actions that go against the national fraternity’s policies. Typically, a fraternity’s national organization is able to serve as a safety net to help members of chapters that finds themselves in trouble. With the liability that accompanies fraternities these days, though, it is not surprising that national organizations are hesitant to provide comprehensive insurance for chapters, preferring to save time and money by distancing themselves from those chapters that have participated in illicit activities. In reality, the Sig Ep national’s inaction is not particularly newsworthy. There are two larger injustices that occurred as a result of the U-Haul accident.

The first injustice is that 85 of Ross’ fellow Sig Ep brothers — a group including both former and current students — are now being implicated in a wrongful death suit. Barry’s death was unquestionably tragic. It could have been avoided had Ross been a more responsible driver. Ross deserves to face any appropriate consequences for his actions, and the victims of the accident should receive proper restitution. Implicating an entire fraternity as accomplices in the accident, however, is unfair. Ross alone was directly responsible for what occurred. Though he was driving fraternity supplies to a fraternity-sponsored event, the other fraternity members neither enabled the accident to occur nor should be held responsible for the consequences of Ross’ negligence. Members who were not even present at the tailgate have been swept up by the lawsuit simply for being in the same chapter. This kind of widespread punishment is entirely unreasonable, as there is nothing the fraternity as a whole did that was inherently wrong, irresponsible or worthy of mass legal action.

The second injustice is more glaring: Ross’ record does not reflect any sort of wrongdoing. After pleading guilty to two relatively small driving infractions, he was sentenced to enter a probation program. Four hundred hours of community service later, Ross emerged with no marks on his criminal history.

The Connecticut justice system should be receiving more anger than Yale’s Sig Ep chapter. To be sure, Ross’ life will not return to how it was before the accident. He will forever be associated with Barry’s death. But it makes little sense when someone can kill a person, injure two others and receive no real punishment, even if the event was accidental. Ross was fortunate in a way that other people may not be. His charges were downgraded so that he could benefit from the probation program. Barry’s family also agreed that the probationary program was adequate punishment, as Ross was apparently a good kid who felt “appropriately remorseful.” Despite the agreement between both sides, Ross’ record deserves some blemish. One should not be able to go from negligent homicide with a motor vehicle to community service that easily — and that should be the primary message of Ross’ accident.

Yet the U-Haul misfortune, just because it is associated with a fraternity, will augment anti-Greek sentiments throughout the country. The vast majority of drivers who kill or injure people every year are not associated with Greek life. But, as is often the case, missteps by one particular person or chapter increase hostility against fraternities nationwide. Other organizations do not face the same backlash. During my first year, for instance, a University student in my dorm was hit by a Safe Ride van. There was no national outrage at the University or the Safe Ride program for that accident, and it would have been absurd for that student to consider the entire Safe Ride program to be of lesser value because of the actions of one driver. The same idea holds for Ross’ situation. Nothing about being in a fraternity significantly influenced his accident — his job in the fraternity was to drive the truck, but the other brothers did not cause him to crash it. Individually suing Ross makes sense, but it is not necessary to blame Barry’s death on all 86 members of his fraternity.

Alex Yahanda is a senior associate editor for The Cavalier Daily.

'via Blog this'

Non-Stories and False Follow-ups can Negatively Impact Chapter Reputation

One of the frustrating parts of managing this blog is trying to find a real story among all the innuendo-packed filler pieces the news media publishes when they don't have real news.

The following two links are examples of the kind of non-story pieces that in essence say "we can't find out anything new so lets rehash all the 'coulda, shoulda, maybe' accusations just to keep people talking." There is no real information in them. Instead, accusations are flung anew and officials quoted give variations on the "I'm not saying anything of substance" theme.

Normally we ignore these articles in favor of items with some real information. But just for today look over these two examples and think about how even a party at a recent graduate's house, or an errant fire alarm, could trigger a wave of accusations and substance-free reporting that will harm your campus reputation. Be sure to check out the full articles via the links provided.

Example 1:
Sigma Phi Epsilon president hopes suspension ends soon - The Shorthorn : Campus:

Christofer Slocum hopes the interim suspension placed on his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, is lifted by the end of next week so members can resume organizational activities.

Slocum, Sigma Phi Epsilon president, said UTA began questioning Sigma Phi Epsilon members Monday about accusations that the fraternity held an unregistered party, provided alcohol to a minor and that a sexual assault occurred at the chapter house Sept. 7.

Slocum denied accusations that a sexual assault occurred and denied hosting an unregistered party that night. Student Conduct officials told fraternity members the investigation could be wrapped up within two weeks, he said.

University spokeswoman Kristin Sullivan wouldn’t confirm the dates Student Conduct officials began questioning Sigma Phi Epsilon, or any of the other four fraternities placed under interim suspension in connection with Bid Day activities Sept. 7. She also could not confirm when the investigations are expected to end.

“All the investigations have begun, none of those have been resolved, and there has not been any formal hearing process. That’s not where we’re at. We’re in the investigative process,” Sullivan said.
[...]
Slocum said the fraternity did not hold an unregistered party. Instead, members attended a party at the home of an alumnus who was celebrating a new job.

“I have no control over what a graduate of UTA does at his residence,” Slocum said.

The accusations have caused damages to the fraternity’s reputation and has cost them about $10,000 in member dues, Slocum said.

Example 2:
Stetson investigating fraternity for hazing | News-JournalOnline.com:
DELAND — Stetson University is looking into what officials called an “alleged hazing incident” from over the weekend involving the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

The university’s on-call team of professional staff responded to a fire alarm early Sunday at the on-campus fraternity, said Chris Kandus-Fisher, vice president for Stetson’s student affairs. The DeLand Fire Department also responded.

The response team “saw something in question” and are investigating and talking to students along with Stetson’s public safety department, Kandus-Fisher said.

“We are not sure what happened,” he said, “but any time there is a violation to our community code of conduct we take it seriously and do a complete investigation and determine if there are charges we follow up on.”

The university has not determined whether any hazing was involved, he said. Stetson has five houses on Fraternity Circle, and each houses about 25 male students.

Denison University fraternity suspended and charter revoked

Aaaaannnnd... another chapter bites the dust. Really folks, this is getting old. Where are the undergrads curing cancer and such?

Denison University fraternity suspended and charter revoked | The Newark Advocate | newarkadvocate.com:

Denison University suspended a fraternity for five years earlier this year, based on findings it was involved with hazing last school year. However, the chapter’s national organization decided shortly thereafter to withdraw its charter at Denison.

The Ohio Tau Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon was suspended for five years, through the 2018 academic year, as a result of a findings regarding “hazing and risk management concerns” during the last academic year, according to the Denison University website.

The chapter’s “conduct history, and inability to more significantly improve its behavior” were also cited as factors in the suspension.

But, in a statement from the fraternity’s national office, Chief Executive Officer Brian C. Warren Jr. said the fraternity’s national board of directors withdrew the chapter’s charter. The action was taken by the fraternity’s national board of directors on July 31.

“SigEp strives to be a valued partner in higher education, and we can only do that when we provide an experience that supports the mission of our host institution,” Warren’s statement said.

“SigEp supports Denison’s commitment to combat hazing behavior across all student organizations on their campus, and we echo the concern about the allegations made against our own chapter. If allegations like these are made against any SigEp chapter, all measures are taken to investigate and restore a safe and meaningful experience.”

Warren’s statement added, “We attempted multiple times to work with Denison’s administration and our chapter. However, after seeing no improvement, Denison’s administration and SigEp were forced to pursue suspension and charter revocation.”

Neither Denison nor the fraternity commented on the details of the hazing incident. There were no student injuries associated with this chapter or another fraternity’s actions that led to probation this year, but both involved alcohol, said Laurel Kennedy, vice president of student development.

Kennedy said the definition of hazing, found in Denison’s student Code of Conduct, includes actions or situations created that result in potential mental or physical injury, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule of prospective members — involving the use of alcohol, paddling, creation of fatigue, quests and/or degrading or humiliating games and activities.

The Mu Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, is on disciplinary probation, the Denison website indicated, due to activity last school year. Although the website did not specify the reason for the probation, the university is requiring the chapter to focus on activities that do not involve alcohol and to educate the campus on hazing during this school year.

During the period of Disciplinary Probation, Mu Chapter is also asked to focus on building stronger internal operations and officers through participation in international Sigma Chi trainings and becoming a leading example of a values-based organization at Denisonand a positive contributor to the community.

Both actions, handled by the university’s Office of Student Values in conjunction with the Campus Leadership and Involvement office, took place in June this year.

Kennedy said there are six traditional fraternities and five traditional sororities on campus at this time.

The Ohio Tau Chapter is the second to be suspended in two years at Denison, according to the DU website. The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Pi Gamma Chapter was suspended in July 2012 for two years, also due to hazing.

Your Online Reputation Lives Forever! [Infographic]

Your Online Reputation Lives Forever! [Infographic]

This works for both business AND personal reputations. Keg stands and duck-face selfies are probably not the best way to let potential employers or grad schools know how serious and focused you are.

Top Fraternities: 2012

The Daily Beast has released its 2012 listing of Top Fraternities and Sororities.