Leaders of Greek organizations at Syracuse University have differing views over how effective a proposed audit of fraternity and sorority chapters will be following the permanent expulsion of Theta Tau.  

In the wake of campus-wide outrage after The Daily Orange published videos showing Theta Tau fraternity members using racial slurs and miming the sexual assault of a person with disabilities, the university has announced a “top to bottom” review of Greek life and policy. Student Association President James Franco has also called for an “audit” of Greek culture at SU.

“It definitely was something that had been discussed before the Theta Tau incident. And it was supposed to happen from what we heard, and we’re not sure about this, but it was supposed to happen going into the fall,” said SA Vice President Angie Pati on Tuesday night. “I think Greek life can improve in a lot of ways.”

In a statement on Tuesday, a university spokesperson said SU’s review has already started and will focus on “diversity and inclusion,” leadership development and hazing prevention, among other things. There are more than 50 officially recognized fraternities and sororities at SU.

Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

“We definitely know from all the forums that the video wasn’t a one-time thing. It just happened to have occured on video,” Franco said. “We know there are things that happen every day that may not be egregious as that, but definitely are harmful to a lot of students’ experience at Syracuse.”

Experts said audits of Greek culture are not unusual in the United States and can identify issues of hazing and sexual assault.

Eduardo Gomez, president of the Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity, said he doesn’t think an audit would have any effects on the university’s Greek community. Gomez also said he doesn’t think an audit would reduce the amount of hazing at SU, in the long term.

“I personally believe it’s a waste of time because the audit has been announced and people are expecting it, and obviously when people are being investigated they wouldn’t act up. Everyone’s going to be on their best behavior,” Gomez said.

The Theta Tau videos were posted in a secret Facebook group called “Tau of Theta Tau” by a user named David Yankowy III, recordings obtained by The D.O. show.

In one recording, a person, using anti-Semitic language, yells at two other people.

“You f*ckin’ k*kes, get in the f*ckin’ showers,” he says, and the two people run out of the room as others laugh.

In another recording, a person sits down in a rolling chair and a different person yells, “He’s drooling out of his mouth, because he’s retarded in a wheelchair.”

Lambda Upsilon Lambda is a Latino-based fraternity. Gomez said he thinks an audit is necessary “to a certain extent,” but knows the university “won’t see the reality of what truly goes on.”

Abby Monahan, president of Phi Alpha Delta, a co-ed professional pre-law fraternity, said she doesn’t see a problem with the university auditing Greek life.

“I think what happened with Theta Tau really sheds light on the frustrations of me as someone from a professional fraternity, because social fraternity is what I think people would expect that behavior to come out of,” Monahan said. “But for it to be a professional fraternity really shows that there’s a problem that students think that they’re allowed to joke around about race and homosexuality.”

Rachel Mitchell, president of Lambda Alpha Theta, a Latinx sorority, said she thinks that placing “so much” of an emphasis on the audit takes away from systemic university issues that extend beyond Greek life. Mitchell said there’s evidence of those issues in Greek life, but that’s mostly attributed to “white, male-centric organizations, for the most part.”

Mitchell said she thinks it’s counterproductive to audit all Greek organizations. There should be more of a focus on certain aspects of Greek life, she said, but added that she doesn’t know enough about the specifics of an audit to discuss what effects it might have.

Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

“I think there will be increased accountability when it comes to organizations that might be including systemic racism in their pledging process, like Theta Tau was,” she added, though. “I think that there is some sort of room for re-education definitely, for education for those who haven’t been educated on marginalized groups and these issues.”

Eight other fraternity and sorority presidents on Tuesday did not respond to a request for comment. Andrew Fowler, president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, did not respond to a request for comment.

An external audit of fraternities and sororities is not uncommon in the U.S., experts said. Universities have been hiring private consultants to assess Greek culture more frequently since four fraternity pledges died in the U.S. last year, said Hank Nuwer, a journalist and author of “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives.”

“Most colleges usually opt to hire outside companies to conduct reviews, form task forces to analyze Greek culture or shut down Greek life on campus, entirely,” Nuwer said.

In 2017, for example, the University of Missouri hired Dyad Strategies, a consulting firm based out of Pensacola, Florida, to provide a campus assessment on fraternity and sorority chapters and complete a review of the university’s Office of Greek Life. Dyad was paid $22,000 to conduct that review, according to the University of Missouri.

That action followed another university report, a review of campus-wide services and programs conducted by Keeling & Associates LLC, a higher education consultant, which recommended a closer look at Greek life.

According to an update published in early April, the University of Missouri has implemented a new Interfraternity Council judicial process and trained 20 staff members on how to help with hazing investigations. Both of those actions were recommended in the Dyad report.

Other major colleges including Pennsylvania State University, Indiana University and Florida State University have conducted audits of Greek life, Nuwer said.

“I think given all the deaths that have occured I would say that every major college at the size of Syracuse should be having one, but on occasion,” Nuwer said of an audit of Greek organizations. John Hechinger, the author of “True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America’s Fraternities,” said Greek audits have often found problems of drinking and sexual assault.

Ghufran Salih, president-elect of SA, said she knows little about Franco’s proposed audit. Salih is not a current member of SA and had no formal experience in the organization before she ran for president.

“I hadn’t heard of the audit before all this started. I didn’t know that this was going to be a thing,” Salih said on Tuesday afternoon. She said she plans to discuss the audit more with Franco, SU’s administration and Greek life leaders. Laura Williams-Sanders, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, did not respond to a request for comment.

Salih said sometimes it “takes an outsider’s perspective to see the flaws in the system that you’re a part of.” The incoming president also said that, as far as she knows, she will be working with the university’s FASA, and a private company, as the audit progresses.

“Again, I’m not in Student Association so this is part of a conversation that I haven’t been part of,” Salih said. “And when James mentioned the audit I was like, ‘Oh, alright! We’re doing that!’

“I can see both positive and negative effects. I see us, by us I mean students, coming closer together and when this audit does happen, when they look at those traditions and those chapter meetings, (it) can make people grow a lot closer. But it can make people scared,” Salih said.

Theta Tau is the fourth fraternity suspended from SU during the 2017-18 academic year. SU announced the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity’s suspension this month after an investigation into hazing. SU suspended Alpha Epsilon Pi in February for conduct that threatened the safety of a student participating in the new member process. The SU chapter of Delta Tau Delta was suspended in fall 2017 for conduct violations that included hazing.

— Asst. News Editor Kennedy Rose contributed reporting to this article.

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MORE COVERAGE:

• Second Theta Tau video shows mimed sexual assault of person with disabilities
• SU will not publicly release names of students in Theta Tau investigation
• Complaints filed against 18 people present at Theta Tau event
• Multicultural Greek organizations find inspiration for activism in Theta Tau videos

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Published on April 24, 2018 at 10:39 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek