Fraternity Hazing and Misconduct Update: 3rd Quarter 2020
In a previous post our fraternity hazing lawyer commented on the number of fraternities that had been at least temporarily suspended for willfully violating their host school’s and/or state’s COVID-19 control policies. In today’s post, the fraternity hazing and misconduct lawyer at The Doan Law Firm presents a summary of reported instances of disciplinary actions taken against fraternities by schools from across the nation.
According to our in-house database, between July 1st and September 30th 2020 there were 30 published reports of disciplinary action taken against 42 nationally-recognized fraternities and sororities for violations of school and/or state COVID-19 control policies, with 6 schools reporting at least two such suspensions:
- Pittsburgh: 9 unidentified fraternities and sororities
- Nebraska @ Lincoln: 6 unnamed fraternities
- Tennessee @ Knoxville: 5 fraternities (Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Delta Tau Delta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Chi Omega and Kappa Alpha)
- Boise State: 3 fraternities (Pi Kappa Alpha, Kappa Sigma and Delta Sigma Phi)
- SUNY @ Genesco: 3 unnamed fraternities
- Florida Gulf Coast: 2 fraternities (Sigma Chi and Phi Delta Theta)
In addition to the above, Furman University suspended Kappa Alpha for four years over COVID-19 policy violations. Other long-term suspensions included:
- Kappa Sigma was expelled from campus at the University of North Florida after a fraternity member sexually abused a female visitor.
- Kappa Alpha Psi was suspended for two years by Cornell University over hazing violations.
Our fraternity hazing and misconduct lawyer calls attention to the fact that most COVID-19 violations by fraternities occurred at schools that had resumed in-person classes and that the violations occurred within days of the official resumption of classes. At The Doan Law Firm, we feel that the only reason for the nationwide incidences of fraternity suspensions are due to a fundamental belief of the fraternity culture: “The laws are for the ‘unworthy’, as fraternities we can do what we want despite what we have been told not to do.”
Until fraternities abandon their elitist, privileged attitude or, better yet, the fraternity system is discarded into the trash cans of history, our fraternity hazing lawyer will continue to provide regular updates on fraternity misbehavior. We encourage you to visit our blog regularly for the latest information of fraternity hazing.