Tri Delta chapter at Miami suspended
 

So sad to report that the Delta Delta Delta chapter at Miami University has been suspended for two years. Lots of very sad sisters and new members. They just finished a successful recruitment over a month ago. Keep these girls in you thoughts and prayers.

What happened?
 

When I first saw your post, I thought hazing still happens?!!? I am not condoning hazing in anyway. I thought of the rumor mill of hazing activities, not the umbrella of categories that actually fall under hazing.

Then I read these articles, it is truly sad that after almost 100 years the chapter is being suspended. There is no legal action being taken, no one was expelled from campus. So, this made me wonder what happened. It obviously does not sound like the hazing myths and rumors that non-Greeks think of when they hear the word hazing.

The national representative said the women made poor choices, but had the best intentions at heart.
That quote made me curious about what was considered hazing. I understand the safety issues with a lot of precautions (i.e. scavenger hunt) or the emotional outcomes of telling NMs they cannot wear letter- when they are members when they accept the bid. I'm just saying it is very sad that this chapter had their charter suspended for not taking these precautions seriously.

http://www.uwire.com/Article.aspx?id=3780184

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...026/1056/COL02

all reminds me of,

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...t=hazing+rules

Sad news indeed. As the Cincinnati Enquirer article noted, Sigma Nu at Miami is also suspended, for alcohol violations.

Just so there is no confusion, this is the chapter at Miami of Ohio, not the chapter at Miami in Florida.

Delta Delta Delta Statement on (inter)National Web Site:

http://www.tridelta.org/news/media_s...Suspension.asp

How sad for DDD, thier new members, the chapter and the entire miami community.

Yet another NPC who won't be able to celebrate their campus centennial. This made me thing of DZ at DePauw. Probably a inappropriate mention but just thought of it.

Well, it looks like they will be able to come back for their 100th.

eta - didn't we have a thread somewhere about a "Beta" curse?

What in the world did they do?

It seems crazy that a group of women did "something" to make the pledges feel "welcomed and special" and it was sooooo bad that after a "near century" of avoiding any serious issues, they got the BOOT???

What the heck?

Article in Miami Student w/ commentary

http://media.www.miamistudent.net/me...llegeheadlines

We had a similar occurrence in my chapter. Half of my chapter wanted to do something, while the other half was completely unaware. It was stopped before it could happen, but had it happened, it wouldn't have looked good at all. And like this, it was all to make our new members feel welcomed and special. It's better to think really hard before doing any activities. Asking advisors helps to avoid situations like this too.

I'm sorry for these women. I can't imagine doing something with good intentions, and then having this happen. I'd love to know exactly what happened though.

With so many rumors going around, it seems, it'll be difficult to tell what's truth and what's fiction.

That said, I'm sorry to hear the news. What a terrible decision for the executive board to make/enforce. Whatever it was that happened, I hope that everyone involved can move on gracefully.

A few details, with source(s) identified, are in a report on a site affiliated with the Cincinnati Enquirer:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...WS01/302230052

The report ^ specifies:

"the university’s formal charges against the sorority"

and

"documents from Miami’s Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution show that the university received two reports on the incident within days"

VERY interesting commentary at the bottom. It is sad that they're just two years short of celebrating their centennial:( It obviously won't be the same in two years when they're allowed back. The comments suggest that the chapter is the biggest contributing chapter to St. Jude. I do agree that the punishment is really harsh. It will be so difficult to recover from a two year suspension- imagine recruitment in 2011.... It think that both the school and EO were trying to make an example out of the chapter.

So blindfolding them and having them drink until they were ill is making them feel, "welcomed and special," huh? That young lady who is president must be a PR major to come up with that spin--there is no way anyone should defend that type of behavior--unless she did not have all the facts before she spoke. Or, perhaps she was not told the truth; still, most officers are told that--in the case of extreme emergency or risk management--to refer all questions to an advisor or headquarters.

All I can say is WOW! I can see fraternities doing that, but sororities? Our idea of making pledges feel welcome and special was giving them copious amounts of candy. I guess if they were sugar intolerant, it could have been hazing...

I'd say drinking til you puke publicly would make one feel special but in a bad way.

If all this is true, then they should have gotten the boot.

There are chapters at Miami that I would believe would do this, but the Tri Delts are not one of them. It's really sad what happened, since they are the second oldest chapter on campus.

FYI: I just deleted two posts which were discussing events not described in any article I read as if said events happened. C'mon folks, we can do better than that. We all know that a lot of unsubstantiated crap goes into where you found that information and how that's not really appropriate for GC.

The posts have been saved, so if there's something (real) to substantiate that discussion, lay it on me.

I'm thinking that it wasn't a scavenger hunt.

Kevin,
Before you jerk posts and "scold" posters for referring to "unsubstantiated crap," please read the Cincy. Post article that exlurker posted today. It absolutely lays out the violation and refers to Miami officials as sources.

If you have a problem with that article, delete it; if not, don't go after us and make us feel that we made something up. Most of us post after referring to substantiated facts that, often, are made available by a prior post.

Again, I don't know which articles you read that "did not discuss the event" that two of us posted on, but I believe that Post article explains just why there was a two-year suspension. What you should boot is any reference to that ridiculous "welcomed and special" quote--now THAT is crap given what really happened.

Agree 100%

My bad. Earlier today I read one of the posted articles which did not refer to the violations. These things I thought were rumors were posted in the comments part of the story which, IMHO, is about as useful as something which would appear on JC. Having not read that info in the story of wherever I was reading and in the comments, I just figured that it was a rumor. I was clearly wrong.

I've reinstated your posts and I apologize for getting one wrong. I guarantee it'll happen again. :)

Miami DDD alum
 

I just got a letter today from the national office about this. I am extremely disappointed in the conduct that led to the suspension of our chapter and its dishonor. These kinds of things are tough to come back from and I am sorry that those involved did not give their actions more thought.

Thanks, Kevin. I didn't mean to jump on you--I just really try not to post with hearsay as a back-up. In your position, you try to be as fair as possible to all concerned--that is how it should be! Nice job always!

I'm sorry your chapter is closed, Erin. It can't be easy to lose your chapter, especially so close to the centennial. It really is disappointing that some collegians can't see how their actions can impact 100 years of history. They let down their innocent sisters, new members and 98 years worth of alums. Hopefully other chapters of every sorority will learn from this...even a long history won't save you from sanctions.

Preface: I am not criticizing Delta Delta Delta National HQ or any other group.

This is what is bothering me: According to Miami's Fall Grade Report, Tri Delta had 104 members. How many actually took the sisters and broke RMF? Was it sanctioned by the chapter? It was certainly the wrong thing to do, but it is bothering me that a chapter with 98 years of history is shut down due to a handfull of actives. Why couldn't they have had a membership review? Punish the sisters who committed the infraction (early alumn status or expulsion), let the sisters who didn't have anything to do with it stay active, and let the pledges go on to become actives.

To be honest, I had the same questions last year with Sigma Sigma Sigma's decision to close their Missouri State chapter and Alpha Kappa Lambda's decision to suspend their Truman State chapter for 2 years.

Again, I am not trying to criticize, just question.

I've gotta tell you that it's not just the NPC groups that are being tough on drinking infractions. If you remember, 6 of the 8 sororities at Towson were put on probation for one or two members in each group drinking on bid day. The vast majority of the members in these chapters were completely innocent, but Towson imposed major probation restrictions like no social activities of any sort for nearly a year. No hazing was involved and each guilty member was sanctioned individually as well. I'm not saying that all of this isn't overboard, but it appears to be the current climate.

I sorry that the chapter closed.

I am curious, what happens to the pledges/new members. They obiviously wanted to be in a greek org, which is now gone for 2 years. They have yet been initiated, so they aren't unaffiliated collegate members (I think that's the term Tri Delt used), so are they just SOL? Can they re-rush another group, or are they bound by the 1 year rule? I feel worse for them than the actives. At least the actives can still become active alumna members.

Remembering that story, IMO it seems like Towson wanted to break the cycle of turning their heads to violations that had been going on for years and just did it all in one fell swoop. Like you get so annoyed with the mess on your desk that you just chuck it all instead of going through it carefully. I'm not saying the offenses weren't punishable, but from what you & other people said it just seemed like it was hands-off for years and then giant crackdown.

ForeverRoses - since the chapter has closed their pledge to DDD is broken and they can re-rush another sorority immediately. Whether they want to or how this would go over is another story.

I think that the reason the chapters were turned in to administration was for this reason, but I think that the administration was unaware that there were any problems in the Greek system before that event. There were definitely issues earlier, but they were swept under the rug before administration found out!

Very sad for a chapter with such a rich history to go down like this, but hazing can not be tolerated by any means, it's 2009, not 1809. Unfortunately for Sigma Nu just another negative at the Miami chapter over the past year.

Thoughts
 

This is probably not going to be a popular thing to say, but there are many alums who feel like Tri Delta Nationals jumped at this opportunity to close what is considered a weak chapter at Miami. The chapter had many positives, but the fact remained that it was considered one of the bottom three chapters at Miami. Tri Delta is very strong at other schools in the midwest and the Miami chapter was never the shining star Nationals wanted it to be.:mad:

Ok, we've all got our "weak" chapters here and there, but the last thing you do is go and air internal dirty laundry on a public message board. That's just poor taste.

You and other alums may have good reason to feel the way you do, but what good will come out of posting something like this? They're lucky that arrangements have been made for them to come back. A lot of chapters aren't as lucky.

So many things I want to say here, but I'll just agree with OTW that even IF this is true (there has been nothing on the EO level about this so unless you are a member of EO, I wouldn't assume anything) it is Tri Delta business and should not be posted on a public message board. Please think about how you would feel if you saw another Sister posting this about your chapter on a public message board.

If Tri Delta national had not suspended the chapter the university would almost certainly have done so. Tri Deta national really had no choice so don't blame them.

EVERYONE has "weak chapters" as it has been said, but I guarantee they are not sitting up at headquarters thinking they have an opportunity to improve this chapter now because they close them down for a few years. That is almost laughable in the scope of it all. I am sure Tri Delta is less than thrilled about what happened, the press it received, and having to make the decision they did. It is embarrassing and the decision that had to be enforced hurt many more than the few that were guilty. BadCat is correct and the university would have more than likely done something, if Tri Delta did not step up. It is just sad all around.

I just can't see any NPC HQ wanting to have a 98 year old chapter go under. If they were concerned about the chapter, they could certainly have put resources into helping them turn around, or even reorganized. After 98 years, can you imagine the # of alumnae who could have been called upon to help?

You can't really send help to "turn around" a chapter if the only thing wrong with them is an image problem - i.e. if they take quota regularly, their dues are paid, their house is full.

I disagree - if the problem is image, then it is a p.r. and perhaps a membership selection problem. Both of those can be "helped" with programming or perhaps a leadership consultant. It would be easier to turn around a chapter with an image problem that doesn't have a numbers problem then a stuggling chapter that DOESN'T make quota, have the house full, etc.

In the case of Tri-Delta at Miami, there's no telling what nationals actually thought - but I can't believe THIS would be the way they would like things to resolve themselves.