Fraternities must initiate new members by Friday
Miami University's Interfraternity Council (IFC) is suspending all fraternity activities and ending its new member period early.
The announcement came Tuesday after IFC received multiple reports of hazing. In a release, IFC called the alleged actions "antithetical to the pillars of Greek life" and noted that university investigations would begin "immediately."
All fraternities must have their new members formally initiated by 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23.
The university supports IFC's decision to suspend fraternity activities, Miami University president Greg Crawford wrote in a statement.
"We believe this is a productive first step, but not the only step we will take to address our concerns and keep our students safe," Crawford wrote. "We are investigating multiple reports of misconduct involving hazing and have shared those reports with Oxford Police, because hazing is a criminal act."
Six national fraternal organizations have filed cease-and-desist orders against their Miami University chapters, according to Crawford's statement. IFC Vice President Lorenzo Guidi said the national organizations will be sending representatives to the Miami chapters.
Chapters under a cease-and-desist order from the university or from their national organization may not initiate new members or host any activities, the notice said.
The six are: Alpha Delta Phi (AD Phi), Alpha Sigma Phi (Alpha Sig), Phi Delta Theta (Phi Delt), Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) , Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) and Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE).
"[The six fraternities] must abide by the restrictions outlined by their national organizations while investigations are completed," university spokeswoman Claire Wagner said.
"And it's unfortunate that this happens because A) if you're playing with students' safety there's no room for that and B) you're tarnishing the reputation of those fraternity members who really are interested in student leadership and philanthropy and doing good things," Wagner said.
Previously approved parent and family weekends, philanthropic and service activities may continue, though fraternities will not be allowed to host any other social events.
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Vice President for Student Affairs Jayne Brownell reached out to parents Tuesday afternoon through the Miami University Parents and Family Members Facebook group, sharing President Crawford's statement.
All new IFC initiates will be required to attend new member convocation and Greeks Step Up programming as usual.
For Miami's seventeen sororities, overseen by the Panhellenic Association, programming can continue as normal, although the sororities may be indirectly affected the inability of fraternities to participate in some combined social events.
"There [are] no restrictions on their events unless they decide to do so," Guidi said. "But this initiative that we are currently dealing with is something that was organized by us for our members only. So, they [the Panhellenic Council] can operate freely."
IFC was unable to estimate how long it will take the university to investigate the reports.
"We're not sure of any sort of timetable at this point," said Guidi.
Hazing is a criminal activity. Anyone who suspects or knows of occurrences of student misconduct may report to Miami University Police at 513-529-2222, or Oxford police at 513-524-5240.
Stay tuned to miamistudent.net for updates to this story. STAFF REPORT
This story was updated on Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. to reflect new information from President Crawford's statement.
This story was updated on Feb. 21 at 3:50 p.m. to reflect new information from Miami University and IFC.
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