Now the PSU Greeks have something to worry about
STATE COLLEGE - Penn State issued a tough set of rules for fraternity and sorority parties Thursday, even as it issued the Greek life equivalent of the death penalty to the fraternity where
a student died during a February party.
The new rules include a limit of 10 alcohol-fueled parties per semester at any single fraternity or sorority; alcohol service at those parties limited to beer and wine, all served by state-certified bartenders; and a ban on kegs.
Penn State is also moving rush - the campus-wide recruitment and period for new fraternity and sorority members - from fall semester to spring semester in 2017-18, to give incoming students more time to become oriented to campus life.
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Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims said university officials aren't ready to cut the cord with the Greek organizations altogether.
Sims said he likes the groups' role in establishing smaller communities within one of America's largest student bodies, the additional sense of belonging they create for alumni, and the service works they undertake.
The new rules, Sims said, will give the Greeks at Penn State a new chance to "emphasize these good things,while weeding out the problems that have caused such pain, collectively and individually, to all of us."
To wit:
- Internal university figures show fraternity and sorority members are four times more likely than the general student population to be heavy drinkers;
- Sorority women are 50 percent more likely than other female students to be sexually assaulted, and fraternity men are 62 percent more likely to commit a sexual assault than non-fraternity men.
All of those bad statistics got a human face late Feb. 2, when student Timothy Piazza fell down a set of stairs in the Beta house during a party, and was left unattended for as long as 12 hours as a party raged through the night.
The 19-year-old from Lebanon, N.J. died two days later at Hershey Medical center, and the circumstances of the death are still the subject of a criminal investigation in Centre County.
In the 2014-15 academic year, the Kappa Delta Rho house at Penn State gave the university a black eye with
revelations of a members-only Facebook page filled with pictures of hazing activities and female students in compromising positions.
That house's charter at Penn State was suspended for three years.
For all those problems, Greek-letter organizations continue to play a big role at Penn State's main campus.
University officials note there are 82 fraternities and sororities recognized by the school, claiming about 18 percent of the total undergraduate student body as members.
Sims said the new protocols represent a much more aggressive approach by the university to set rules for what are private membership groups that have traditionally been permitted wide berth to self-govern.
"Enough is enough," Sims said. "A fundamental shift is required if these organizations are to be truly successful and sustainable."
One effect of the changes, including the end of self-service from a keg, or strict adherence to underage drinking laws, would be to have fraternities and sororities to operate much more like licensed bars when throwing a party.
The limits on the number of events are also potentially significant.
A Penn State semester is 15 weeks long, so under existing rules, fraternities and sororities faced a liberal cap of 45 alcohol events a semester, or an average of three per week.
That cap was set by Penn State's Interfraternity Council.
Under the new rules, Sims said, that average would be cut to well under one event with alcohol per week.
Sims, in announcing the changes, said enforcement mechanisms are still in development, but will likely involve some combination of university staff and local law enforcement.
A ban on alcohol events this spring has been enforced through random spot checks by Student Affairs staff, a university spokesman said. Penn State could also consider the hiring of a third-party monitoring service.
Violations will lead to immediate penalties for individual houses, and could affect their status at Penn State.
"We are not going to be bashful about winnowing away these organizations if they don't meet our expectations," Sims said.
A collective failure to abide by the new rules could also prompt Penn State to re-impose the ban on all alcohol that has been put into effect this spring. Sims added.
Sims said the ban on Beta Theta Pi -
already closed in the wake of Piazza's death - was made permanent as ongoing student conduct investigations have uncovered persistent patterns of serious alcohol abuse, hazing, and
the use and sale of illicit drugs.
"The serious violations we have found... which combine with a student's tragic death to lead us to conclude that Beta Theta Pi, despite its notable history at Penn State, merits no continuing place in our community."
This post was updated at 12:39 p.m. to include some information on the number of students involved in fraternities and sororities at Penn State.
