SANCTIONING GREEK-LETTERED ORGS.

Using Restorative Justice, Education and Support for Sanctioning Greek-Lettered

Organizations

Virginia G. Felton

Western Carolina University, Higher Education Student Affairs

HESA 670: Professionalism in Higher Education- Becoming a Practitioner

Dr. April Perry

April 8th, 2024

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Using Restorative Justice, Education and Support for Sanctioning Greek-Lettered

Organizations

“Fraternity placed on cease and desist for hazing.”, “Sorority under investigation for

hazing.”, “Protest outside fraternity house after recent reported sexual assault.”, “Sorority placed

on cease and desist for endangering others, alcohol, hazing.”. These are example of headlines

that are all too familiar for those who are involved with Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) on a

variety of college campuses. Hazing, specifically, has been found in a recent study that hazing

occurs in organizations to “…weed out less committed fraternity pledges and control ‘free riders’

who try to reap the benefits of fraternity membership without putting gin the work” (Bellows,

2022, para.11). From the same study, it was also concluded that “There are a couple of boxes

that you need to check to consider yourself a full-fledged member. One is drinking, one is

hazing, and the other one is living in a house surrounded by men of the same age” (Bellows,

2022, para. 16).

Chapters who purposefully choose to cause harm should be penalized within necessary

means. Along with penalization should also be educational opportunities. To make this happen,

better systems need to be put in place. Students are constantly learning and evolving, and

mistakes are bound to happen. These valued members of our Greek and educational community

deserve a chance to enhance their learning from making bad decisions and gain the skills to be

not only a succesful member of an organization, but also a more dignifying person professionally

and personally. Giving direct support to students, who are part of organizations that are removed

from campus, can minimize the potential for underground activity and will still make these

students feel part of their campus community. In this paper, a background of sanctions for Greek
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Organizations, ways to improve the sanctioning process, and how to reframe sanctioning will be

presented.

About Greek Organizations and Sanctions

A goal of sanctioning Greek organizations can be seen as “…to preserve the best and

prevent the worst of the Greek system. Of course, fraternities aspire to the ideals of leadership

and service, and often achieve them. But then, too often, initiates get hurt-or die” (Lipka, 2011,

para. 2). While there is some discourse over their troubled history, Greek organizations can excel

on campuses and promote the good of their organizations. “Greek-letter organizations are

instrumental in engaging and involving students on campus and have become a familiar

symbolism of institutions in the United States” (Banks et al., 2020, p. 25). Astin’s Involvement

Theory “…posits that students learn more the more they are involved in both the academic and

social aspects of the college experience” (Hunt, 2009, p. 133). For many, they find meaning,

community, and a sense of belonging when joining Greek Organizations. “There are an

estimated 750,000 fraternity and sorority members in college and more than nine million alumni

in the United States” (Barshay, 2021, para. 6). In a poll by Gallup, it was found that “fraternity

and sorority members were more likely to say they formed relationships with mentors and

professors, were extremely active in extracurricular activities and worked in internships where

they could apply what they were learning in their college classes” (Barshay, 2021, para. 2). Amid

the positive outcomes, these can be overshadowed by the hazing, binge drinking, and traditions

that lead to chapter suspension or closures.

It is important to define what common sanctions are, and how each university has a

different definition for some of these rulings. Some chapters will receive a cease and desist,

which is usually a letter sent to an organization to let them know to stop all activities, such as
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meetings, events, gatherings and more (Bird, 2022, para. 1). Another ruling can be probation,

which can mean different things on every campus. Probation can be limitations on social events,

recruiting events or new member intake, or even chapter-based events. Suspension is also used in

conduct cases and the implications of that are “when a student organization is suspended, the

student organization loses its recognition from the college or university and cannot operate as a

student organization on campus or represent itself as an organization affiliated with the college

or university” (Paterson, 2013, p. 11). Educational programming is also used when organizations

violate the rules of their campus or headquarters. This is typically a required session for members

to attend and learn more about the topic at hand. This can be alcohol awareness programming,

sexual assault awareness, and more. Fines can be used as well for smaller violations, such as,

submitting event paperwork or going over capacity at events. There can be other sanctions that

campuses put on organizations, but these are the most common.

Student Support

While it is important for students to be held accountable for their actions by their campus

and/or organization’s headquarters, there also needs to be a conversation about support for these

students. The media hears about a fraternity going on probation or going under investigation and

that tends to be the end of the story. Due to the nature of the media and scanning over the news,

it appears that there are not many stories who follow up with the final decision of an

investigation or republish a story to get the full picture out to the public. According to Taylor et

al., “77% of publications mentioned a specific fraternity, yet less than half of these publications

included an official, fraternity-issued statement” (2018, p. 10). The media can skew the image of

fraternities, sororities, and the campus in a negative way. The story that usually gets told is an
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organization is on probation for X number of semester/years and lists the ruling of the conduct

case. However, there is something missing.

Improving the Sanctioning Process

Campuses need to provide educational opportunities for members to fully understand

what they did was wrong and allow for learning to occur. Many question why it is difficult to

change the narrative of ensure student safety and in an article, it states that “the answer begins

with deep-pocketed fraternity alumni who fondly remember the traditions of their fraternity

days” and “universities often defend the fraternity system as a whole” (Reilly, 2017). It is

important for institutions to ensure student affairs professionals are available to educate and

support students who are navigating these issues. On the other side of this, national headquarters

of organizations also need to be equipped to also hold educational sessions and help navigate life

after a negative incident. For students, being part of something as large as a Greek organization,

and for it to all go away quickly, can affect their mental health and their sense of belonging on

their campus.

Examples of educational programming can vary from campus to campus, depending on

resources available and the type of incident that occurred. For example, if an organization was

closed or suspended due to a hazing incident, the educational programming could be attending

workshops about building safe and positive bonds between members or working as a group to

unpack the incident and do team building workshops to help bring moral back up.

Building trust is another important aspect. It can be started by establishing trust and

cooperation between the institution’s Fraternity & Sorority Life Office and the organizations

they serve. It starts with “entities can work together to achieve the goals of the institutions, and

to create an environment that is conductive to positive student development and student success”
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(Yates, 2020, p. 6). From the beginning, holding new member training and getting to know new

members as much as possible is a good place to start. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

(1954), students need to be sure that they are safe in their environment, along with base level

needs are covered to be able to grow and develop (Freitas & Leonard, 2011).

A way to build trust between professionals and students is looking at how to approach the

conduct process. Restorative justice is a method that campuses are shifting more towards, due to

the outcomes and how the process is more educational than punitive. Restorative justice allows

“…opportunity to promote empathy, restore dignity, repair harm, and promote authentic

accountability for students” (Gregory et al., 2020, p. 8). Approaching Greek conduct cases with a

restorative justice mindset can help ease the pressure and allow for true learning to occur from

the mistakes that occurred. Removing the organization from campus may be enough action, but

where is the true learning from their mistakes, which may not simply be taking away their letters.

Even when organizations are removed or put on probation, Student Affairs professionals

need to remember that these are usually young adults who are still a part of the campus

community. We must evaluate how to keep students involved with campus and feel like they

belong, even without their letters. This connects to research on student involvement theory

(Astin, 1984), and sense of belonging. Building on this research, it is important to find

connection points for and with students, offer educational opportunities, and even just being a

listening ear for students who are standing on the other side. More specifically, actionable

strategies include:

1. Providing time and professional support for students to process their actions.

2. Offering guidance and educational opportunities to learn from their mistakes and reflect

in depth of what they did wrong.

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3. Ensuring holistic student support for all groups involved (including the group that

committed the alleged action).

4. Being clear with expectations and the process during the investigation and what to do

after the investigation is closed.

Conclusion

This paper included an overview of the sanctioning process for Greek organizations,

students, and presented ways to improve practices and better support students. Hazing has made

a prominent appearance in FSL. Cases have occurred, students have been penalized, and social

media has helped punish accusers, yet damaged the reputation of a whole organization for a

chapter’s negligence. Actions need to be taken to ensure that students are being held responsible

for their actions. Also, it is key to remember that removing them from campus only does so

much. Using restorative justice, educational programming, and providing support for these

students is critical to our work in student development. We need to see students as more than

their letters, especially in times of crisis. They are still students, and as practitioners we need to

support them. Using the practice of understanding, educating, supporting, and having clear

expectations for all parties involved can allow for healing and learning to occur. Letters are one

thing, but a student is a student, no matter of their affiliation. All students deserve respect,

support, and reflective opportunities to learn, develop and grow.

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