The Olympian, Olympia Washington
Saturday, October 19, 2002
Sororities, fraternities lose funds
Saint Martin's withdraws support after hazing, alcohol violations
St. Martin's College:
www.stmartin.edu
LACEY -- Saint Martin's College officials decided Friday to withdraw financial support and recognition of the college's four student Greek organizations, citing the groups' hazing and alcohol violations.
All of the groups -- fraternities Alpha Sigma Chi and Sigma Mu Kappa, as well as sororities Delta Gamma Xi and Lambda Chi Omega -- are local student groups and not affiliated with national Greek organizations. The oldest, Sigma Mu Kappa, dates its origins back 75 years.
The decision is the result of an administrative hearing into allegations of student conduct code violations during the groups' initiation week in late September, officials said.
The allegations involve possession of alcohol and consumption in the college's Old Main building by two groups, one incident of hazing and one incident of underage drinking at a group-sponsored event.
A similar event last fall led to an action plan for the four groups, which they agreed to follow. Leaders of the groups also agreed that if any one of them were found out of compliance with the plan, they would all be sanctioned together.
"The conditions of the plan were violated this fall and I made an administrative decision that we could not have chronic violations," said Melanie Richardson, dean of student services.
The action also means the organizations will no longer be eligible to receive funds from student activity fees.
The groups' leaders, during hearings early last week, acknowledged the most recent incidents had occurred, school officials said.
"As a community, we cannot condone these types of chronic violations in college-affiliated organizations and continue to be consistent with the college's mission statement," Richardson said. "In recent years, Saint Martin's has made a concerted effort to create an atmosphere where academic pursuits, student safety and student dignity are paramount."
The groups will appeal the decisions, Tyson Magney, chairman of a council made up of two representatives from each Greek group, said Friday. Officials had promised to work with the groups if there were violations, he said.
"This is extremely severe," Magney said. "Every school that has a Greek system suffers from some of these problems. Stuff like this happens at every college. We just want to be treated fairly."
The loss of Sigma Mu Kappa would be strongly felt in the community, Magney said.
"There are a lot of alumni who associate with the college because of us, because they were part of the fraternity," he said.
College professors and some of the monks at Saint Martin's Abbey are former members, he said.
Students have been working to improve relations with administration for about a year, he said. It's important to continue that, he said.
"We (should) be able to learn from this, rather than having the door shut on us," Magney said.
The college has been working for a while to curb alcohol use among students, Richardson said.
The college's buildings are alcohol-free zones, except in some specific circumstances, she said. The freshman seminar curriculum was revised to address issues related to alcohol use and abuse.
And, most recently, the college was awarded a National Collegiate Athletic Association grant, one of 10 in the nation, to assess and reduce alcohol consumption by students.
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