Penn State Cracks Down on Alcohol at Fraternities After Student Death

School cites of figures of high incidence of drinking, —ual assault among Greek organization members

Source: WSJ

By DOUGLAS BELKIN

March 30, 2017

The death of a 19-year-old student last month has prompted Pennsylvania State University to ban the fraternity he was trying to join and crack down on Greek life across the campus.

The new rules, announced by the school on Thursday, include a deferral of rush period to the spring semester from the fall, a ban on beer kegs and daylong parties and a reduction of the number of parties where alcohol can be served to 10 a semester, from the current limit of 45. The new rules will apply to all existing fraternities and sororities.

“Today, Penn State is drawing a line and imposing critical changes,” said Damon Sims, vice president for Student Affairs, in a statement. “Enough is enough.”

In its statement, the school cited research showing that sorority women at Penn State are 50% more likely than other female students to be —ually assaulted; fraternity men are 62% more likely to commit a —ual assault than non-fraternity men and all Greek members are four times as likely as the general student population to be heavy drinkers.

Following the death of Timothy Piazza last month, the school launched an investigation into the Beta Theta Pi fraternity where the sophomore was found. The investigation revealed “a persistent pattern of serious alcohol abuse, hazing, and the use and sale of illicit drugs,” according to the school’s statement. In the immediate aftermath of Mr. Piazza’s death, the school banned alcohol at all Greek events for the rest of the academic year. A criminal investigation into Mr. Piazza’s death is continuing.

Schools are in a tough spot when it comes to cracking down on fraternities, said Nicholas Syrett, chair of the history department at University of Northern Colorado and the author of “The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities.” Schools often depend on Greek organizations for social programming and housing and the schools fear an alumni backlash should they kick the fraternities out.

“While I don’t doubt that there are some very well-meaning people at Penn State, I think many are invested in the fraternities themselves and believe them to be crucial to the university,” Mr. Syrett said. “So it’s difficult for them to step outside long enough to see the system itself is not reformable and these minor tinkers are, in the end, not going to lead to substantial change.”

Penn State’s Mr. Sims said because the fraternities are private organizations they have historically been given a lot of latitude.

“We no longer believe that vesting so much responsibility in the self-governance of these groups will produce positive outcomes,” he said in statement.