Tufts: Alpha Phi Suspended, on Social Probation (Alleged Hazing & Alcohol Violations)
 

The Tufts student paper reports in its March 13, 2008 online edition (note that an appeal is possible):

http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/medi...-3267720.shtml

Brief excerpts from longer article:

. . . Alpha Phi sorority has been suspended and placed on social probation for violating hazing and alcohol policies during its new-member process, the Fraternity and Sorority Life Judiciary announced yesterday.

The sorority will be barred until next year's spring semester from enlisting or recruiting new members or participating in organized social events, although it will retain its house .
. . .
The sorority will also be required to seek special approval from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs for any other type of event it wishes to hold - including charity gatherings - and must arrange to bring a speaker to campus to lead an anti-hazing event. . . .

Edited to add: a related editorial in the Tufts paper is nat:

http://www.tuftsdaily.com/home/index...d-84e8ad4e333c

As part of its suspension, Alpha Phi cannot initiate this year's new members until spring 2009. The women who went through this year's new-member process will have to wait until next spring to join the sorority, and they will have to go through the recruitment process again.

Teitsworth said most of this year's new members were disappointed that they will have to wait a year to join the sorority and will have to go through the recruitment process again. "They were very upset. It's a very stressful situation for everyone," she said.

I don't get this. Do the new members have to sign up for recruitment again and go to visit all the chapters, but then choose Alpha Phi? That seems like it would be really awkward for everyone involved. Does Alpha Phi have to take a pledge class of sophomores (or whatever year these ladies will be next year)? Or, do you think it means they will have to wait a year to join a sorority instead of the sorority?

i don't have my green book handy, but i thought that a sorority could not be penalized by being suspended from recruitment, and that the npc has a certain standard of time in which a new member is supposed to be initiated. would someone please verify this ?

They can't be suspended from formal recruitment but COR is a seperate issue. Tufts has FR in the Spring. So if I am reading the Tufts situation correctly, this would only affect COR.

I can't answer about initiation.

thanks aopirose!

Hi,
I'm sorry..I know I'm a bit late to this thread but I just wanted to say that I really hate to see Alpha Phi suspended for any length of time. I know that the chapter is an integral part of panhellenic there, along w/ Chi O and AOII. I learned a good bit about their panhellenic system while doing some work for AOII nationals.

actually, I think it's the other way around - if Panhellenic wants to keep them from participating in formal, they can (since it is an event put on by panhel) but they can still take members through COB, either at the same time or afterwards. It is a freedom of association issue.

However, this is the school imposing the sanctions and it all goes back to putting up with what the host institution says if you want to stay at the institution. Don't forget this is Tufts where they had that guaranteed placement crap for years.

The real ones getting screwed here are the pledges - they need to put their feet down and demand to be initiated, as most of them have probably already paid fees to the national HQ and red tape being what it is, I doubt they could get reimbursed tomorrow. So in effect, they are out that money for however long and don't get to experience being members. That's bullshit.

I agree.

Tufts still has guaranteed placement. Also, I believe that it was the new members who brought the issues to the Administration, so I'm not sure if they still want to get initiated.

oh yeah, that was Creighton that had it and bagged it. Thanks for the correction.

It really disappoints me to see this from a chapter of my organization, I hope these women can pull it together.

I'm fairly sure that Alpha Phi nationals doesn't allow a new member period to be more than 6 weeks, so it would be violating those rules. The big losers in this situation are CLEARLY the new members because this prevents them from joining any organization just because they chose the 'wrong' chapter. It also seems to discourage any kind of whistle-blowing because new members are getting punished for the behavior of the actives.

The NPC Manual of Information states that a College Panhellenic cannot restrict or lower a chapter's quota as a penalty (Unanimous Agreement #1), but if the school is giving sanctions instead of the Panhellenic Judicial Board, I'm sure the school can say whatever they want.

After rereading the article, it sounds like that the school suspended recognition of the sorority, which normally means they cannot do ANYTHING as a group. However, it also sounds like instead of totally pulling the plug on the chapter, they have given them the option of being able to do certain things with prior approval and stiff oversight. Since they cannot function as a group, they cannot complete the NM education process nor hold initiation, but I'm not sure why the women would have to go through recruitment again (unless their pledge expires before the suspension does).

PsychTau

I'm sure that if the members want to, they could sue the school for emotional distress (i.e. they will have to go thru rush twice).

Tufts has guaranteed placement (covered elsewhere on here) so if they chose A Phi once I guess they're assuming they'll choose A Phi again. Basically, this school is really effed up in the way it runs Greeks.

33girl,

I was editing while you were posting! :D

I'm not familiar with how recruitment at Tufts goes...do the chapters stay at/above total after FR or would there be room for these women to simply pick up a COR bid after formal recruitment is over?

On one hand, if they all go through recrutiment again they could help recruit new women by talking up the chapter (well....maybe!), but their presence in the numbers would increase quota for everyone but also might keep the chapter from taking new women if ALL the current NMs rejoin. In other words they'll fill up quota with this year's women before taking any of next year's NMs.

If that makes any sense....

PsychTau

I think that the guaranteed placement works in the fact that if there are "triple-cut" woman (i.e. women who have been cut by all three sororities on campus), they will be distributed among the chapters when bid matching occurs. I'm not sure how the PNM's preference factors into that.

I believe that after formal recruitment each year there may be some spots for COR bids.