University forces chapter to close due to marijuana possession, ATO official claims decision blindsided fraternity
USC has closed its chapter of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity until 2016 due to drug charges against the chapter, according to university officials.
The chapter is no longer recognized by USC as a student organization and members will not be allowed to live in its Greek Village house next semester.
Alpha Tau Omega was one of the seven USC fraternities already on conduct probation from campus activities for violating recruitment alcohol policies last fall. When the chapter’s Greek Village house was subsequently searched by police in December, some members were charged with possessing and distributing marijuana.
A Carolina Judicial Council meeting ensued, in which the university charged the organization as a whole with the violations and suspended the group from all activities, according to Alisa Cooney, director of student conduct.
Cooney said the entire organization was hit with the charges, and not merely individual members, because of the “significant” number of violations. She wouldn’t provide an estimate for how many of the members had been in violation of the rules, but said the drugs were prevalent throughout the house and “pervasive enough” to merit charging the chapter as a whole.
Alpha Tau Omega appealed the ruling to the judicial council, but it was denied.
When reached Monday, the chapter’s president referred all questions to the fraternity’s national organization.
Wynn Smiley, the fraternity’s chief executive officer, said Monday afternoon that he was shocked by the verdict and the university’s handling of the situation.
“[Categorizing the drugs as] ‘pervasive’ does not reflect facts,” Smiley said. “I don’t think two members in the house would constitute ‘pervasive.’”
He said that the search was based on a year-old report of two members dealing drugs, who had already been kicked out of the chapter. The police search, he said, implicated two more members, who were also subsequently removed by the chapter.
The national fraternity then added advisers to help the chapter re-evaluate itself, Smiley said.
“We want a chapter on the campus that certainly does not condone drug use,” Smiley said. “It was a serious concern, obviously. It needed to be.”
But after the national fraternity worked alongside USC administrators to remedy the problems and clean up the chapter, Smiley said, the university shut it down without any warning.
“The decision was made by an administrator and the Greek Life office, unbeknownst to us, after many weeks of ongoing communications with the university,” Smiley said.
Smiley said the national fraternity believed the problems had been dealt with and that the chapter would be allowed to remain. He said the university had agreed to help the national fraternity perform random searches and even help pay for the searches. He acknowledged that the chapter did demonstrate a culture of drugs and alcohol over the past few years, but that USC misled Alpha Tau Omega in how it would be dealt with.
“Changing a culture is very difficult,” Smiley said. “Had the university said at the beginning, ‘This is the way it is, we think it’s too much to change,’ that would be one thing. But that’s not what they said. The frustration in this particular case is that we were led to believe we were on the same path as the university.
“We were having very positive discussions about moving forward. A lot of people put a lot of time and money into this process. To have it end the way it did after nine months — I am at a loss.”