Six Greek organizations await OSC investigation results, repercussions

The fates of six Greek organizations could range from educational programs to social probation to suspension, when the Office of Student Conduct is scheduled to complete its investigations this week.

Beta Theta Pi, Tau Epsilon Phi and Zeta Beta Tau are the fraternities being investigated. The sororities under investigation are Alpha Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta and Sigma Delta Tau. The six separate investigations began shortly before spring break.

In the event that the OSC finds a fraternity or sorority collectively responsible for violating hazing or alcohol policy or the Code of Student Conduct, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs would then contact the undergraduates in that organization, its national office and its alumni to develop a formal agreement of responsibility.

"The agreement of responsibility is a pretty lengthy agreement that goes into a lot of educational components..., outreach into the community..., usually social probation and if there's an alcohol violation, there's usually alcohol education like First Step that [the Office of] Health Education provides," OFSA Associate Director for Programming Lea Shafer said.

"When a chapter is found in violation, there's not always a typical outcome," Shafer added.

And even if the investigations result in uncovering no violations, OFSA will still work with the chapter members to determine what could have happened in the hopes of preventing a similar action in the future.

"We'll do some work with the executive board and figure out why there was a problem there," Shafer said. "There's nothing formal, but we still do a lot of educational things with chapters.

"When there's an investigation, there's something that's perceived, so we want to make sure that they've learned from the investigation."

"I expect our office to submit our reports to OFSA within the next few days," OSC Director Michele Goldfarb wrote in an e-mail.

Contained within those reports will be a complete account of the investigations from start to finish.

Upon receiving the OSC reports, OFSA will work with each of the national offices of the organizations involved. Both the national offices and OFSA have the authority to suspend a chapter, and they will be in constant communication until a plan is determined.

Shafer stressed that the agreement of responsibility is not easy to fulfill.

"The agreement of responsibility that we draw up is very aggressive," Shafer said. "It's something that looks at making a behavioral change, not just a punitive one.... It's something that will have a long-lasting and a positive effect on the chapter in the end."

According to Goldfarb, the OSC findings will describe how the incident arose and how the case came to the OSC's attention. The allegations and rules that may have been violated will be listed, along with whether or not they are substantiated.

A detailed review of the investigation follows, in which interviews -- which may number in the "dozens," Goldfarb indicated -- conducted by the OSC are summarized, and documents or other relevant reports are included.

The report also includes a summary of how the organization responded to the investigation, and finally, it states the conclusions of the OSC "regarding whether there were violations which were substantiated by the investigation, and whether the organization is -- in our view -- collectively responsible for the violations," according to Goldfarb.

In its findings, the OSC includes an explanation of their reasoning in reaching its conclusions and may also express its "impressions, given our experience with numerous investigations over the years, of the relative seriousness of the misconduct" if misconduct is found, Goldfarb added.

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