Following Monday night’s formal fraternity recruitment event, which for the first time was held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center instead of the Greek Village, the University Fraternity Council stopped the recruitment process for 13 of the 19 chapters at South Carolina.
Fraternity Council President Tim Bryson said in a letter on Tuesday that this situation is meant to bring about a positive impact for the council and each of its affiliated chapters.
“This decision is not punitive; rather one that is developmental and will ensure that all IFC chapters are following their organizations rules, the IFC recruitment rules, and regulations as explicitly outlined,” Bryson said.
In a letter issued Monday night to chapter presidents and advisors, Interfraternity Council Vice President of Conduct Jonathan Withrow announced the reasoning behind the council’s actions.
Withrow stated in the letter that the organizations in question disregarded an Aug. 27 emergency meeting with Associate Director of Greek Life, Jarod Holt, regarding alcohol and risk-management protocol at fraternity recruitment events. According to Withrow’s letter, Holt stressed the university and Greek life policy of fraternities hosting alcohol-free rush events at the meeting.
“We have evidence that 13 organizations held such events over the past several weeks and since many organizations clearly did not take the meeting seriously, more drastic measures must be taken,” Withrow said.
The 13 chapters affected by this suspension are:
- Alpha Epsilon Pi
- Alpha Tau Omega
- Chi Psi
- Delta Kappa Epsilon
- Kappa Alpha Order
- Lambda Chi Alpha
- Phi Gamma Delt
- Phi Kappa Sigma
- Phi Sigma Kappa
- Sigma Alpha Epsilon
- Sigma Chi
- Theta Chi
- Tau Kappa Epsilon
Many of the over 900 rushees that were in attendance Monday night will have to wait for the council to review each chapter and address allegations individually. The six fraternities that are not under suspension will be allowed to continue their recruitment process as normal.
Fraternity Council representatives and Bryson have said no official violations have been handed out and that each chapter will get their due process over the course of the review period.
"No sanctions have been handed out. Sanctions will only be given after each fraternity is given due process in a timely manner. However, preliminary conduct meetings to discuss the alleged violations will begin soon," Bryson said.
Bryson also mentioned in his letter that the actions taken by IFC should promote progress in the Greek community.
“Fraternity Council believes that this practice of self-governance and accountability will promote the best conduct amongst all IFC chapters in the Fraternity and Sorority Life community,” Bryson said.
The last time the the council canceled the recruitment process for any fraternity was in 2011 when rush was halted for seven chapters after they were charged with alcohol violations by the council.
Bid day is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 7 for the fraternities not currently under recruitment suspension.
Patrick Ingraham is a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity.