Here at The Doan Law Firm, we maintain an in-house database that tracks published reports of college fraternity suspensions over infractions related to hazing, alcohol/drug abuse and other types of fraternity misconduct. Although we have previously limited our database to incidents involving fraternities, we have recently noted that an increasing number of sororities have become the targets of misconduct investigations conducted by their hosts schools and/or their national sorority headquarters.
In today’s post, our fraternity hazing lawyer presents a brief recap of recent incidents involving college sororities. He will then offer suggestions that may be interest to parents whose daughters may have been victims of sorority hazing or other types of abuse.
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On November 20th Dartmouth University announced that the Alpha Phi sorority had been suspended for the fall term following repeated violations of hazing and alcohol policies in the fall terms of 2016, 2017 and 2018.
On November 13th Florida State University ordered a four-year suspension of the Theta Nu Xi sorority, citing violations related to hazing and “… unreasonable disruption of peace, academic study or sleep.”
On August 6th the Orlando (FL) Sentinel reported that the University of Central Florida had suspended, pending investigation, the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. According to published reports the school suspended the sorority after it discovered a series of “group chat” messages where sorority members discussed drinking, drug use, sharing IDs and paying others to complete written assignments.
On January 15th Penn State published its first annual report on fraternity and sorority disciplinary actions as required by Pennsylvania’s Tim Piazza Law. According to the report the Gamma Phi Beta sorority at Penn State-Altoona was suspended for two semesters in February of 2018 over hazing violations and the Alpha Chi Omega sorority chapter at Penn State was suspended for three years later that year, again over hazing violations.
On January 10th the Chicago Tribune reported that the mother of Northwestern University women’s basketball player Jordan Hankins has filed a lawsuit against the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, alleging her daughter was a victim of almost incessant hazing by sorority members that led to severe anxiety and depression and ultimately to Hankins’ suicide in January 2017.
In November, 2018 The (Baton Rouge) Advocate reported that Louisiana State University had received notification that the national headquarters of the Pi Beta Phi sorority had suspended the local chapter’s charter after reports of hazing. The Advocate also reported that the national headquarters of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority had previously suspended its local chapter’s charter until July of 2019 over reports of hazing. The Advocate did not say when the suspension originally occurred.
In August, 2018 East Carolina University suspended the local chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority for three years after the school determined the local chapter had engaged in hazing and other violations of the school’s administrative policies.
On the evening of May 1, 2018 20-year-old Polly Rogers was killed when she fell from a “party bus” and was struck by traffic in Charlotte, NC. Rogers, 20, was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and a passenger on the bus that had been charted by members of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte chapter of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. It was later determined that Ms. Rogers’ blood alcohol content was 0.19, more than twice the limit required to convict on a DUI/DWI charge in North Carolina, although Ms. Rogers was too young to have legally purchased or consumed alcohol under state law. There have been no published reports of disciplinary action taken against either Zeta Tau Alpha or Kappa Sigma.
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Although reported instances of fraternity misconduct have by far outnumbered reports of similar antics sponsored by sororities, the Greek sisters are slowly gaining ground on their fraternal brothers. While it is unclear if the actual number of sorority hazing complaints is increasing or that these incidents are finally being reported in the news media, it is clear that sororities often engage in the same juvenile antics as do fraternities.
If your daughter was injured due to sorority-sponsored or condoned hazing, we invite you to contact the fraternity and sorority hazing lawyer at The Doan Law Firm, a national personal injury law practice with offices located throughout the country to arrange a free review of your case and a discussion of the legal options that may be available to you.
At our firm your case review and first consultation with our fraternity and sorority hazing lawyer are always free an do not obligate you to hire us as your legal counsel. Should you decide that a lawsuit is in order and that you would like to have us represent you in court, we are willing to assume full responsibility for all aspects of preparing your case for trial in exchange for an agreed-upon percentage of the final settlement we will win for you.