Frats finish hazing-connected probations

By Kelsey Anspach, The Dartmouth Staff

Published on Monday, February 20, 2012

• Print
• Report an Error
• Share

With discussions regarding hazing still dominating campus conversation, two fraternities have recently finished College-mandated probationary sentences for hazing violations that occurred during Fall term. Alpha Delta fraternity’s probation, which began Nov. 8 for a violation of the Social Event Management Procedure policy and a hazing violation, ceased Feb. 13, according to AD president Jason Zins ’12. Theta Delta Chi fraternity’s probation, which began Nov. 17 for two SEMP violations — incurred for parties held over the summer — and a hazing violation in the fall, ceased Feb. 17, TDX president Will Mueller ’12 told The Dartmouth. Since their probation began in the fall, both brotherhoods have worked to modify their internal framework and refocus their missions as organizations, Zins and Mueller said.

Zins said many rumors about the relationship between hazing and AD’s probation are misguided.

“There were things printed in other publications and widespread belief of a story which is not entirely true — there was no alcohol, no nudity and no distinguishable difference between brothers and new members,” Zins said.

Allegations against TDX for hazing were similarly innaccurate, according to Mueller.

“The allegations were strong and nothing in comparison to what we had,” Mueller said. “But since those allegations, the whole Greek system has gotten onboard for change, and it’s been a lot easier to motivate their members to get on board.”

Social probation is a time when organizations can refocus on their mission and values without other distractions, according to Meredith Smith, assistant director of the Undergraduate Judicial Affairs office.

“Each [organization] has different founders, values and mission statements, and for a lot of organizations, it can be a real time of reflection,” Smith said. “It is what you make of it — it’s up to you and your organization to decide where you’re going to go forward from here.”

The UJAO works with GLOS to ensure that Greek organizations have a support network as they move forward in making these changes.

“Along with GLOS, we constantly make sure that between our two offices, and any other office on campus, any organization on campus knows that they have a place to turn to,” Smith said. “We remind organizations that although the judicial process is reactive, it lets these organizations be proactive to prevent future problems.”

Both AD and TDX have used their time on probation to refocus on their values as organizations and make structural changes in order to prevent future problems, according to Mueller and Zins.

“[AD] started with a retreat with the whole brotherhood at the beginning of the Winter term,” Zins said. “We went through all our documents with our entire brotherhood, including our code of conduct and risk management, and made and voted on amendments. We also revamped our governing documents, which was an ongoing process through the term.”

The house was retrained in SEMP policy and conducted discussions on the correct way to run a party and how members should act both inside and outside of the house, according to Zins. All junior members joined Green Team, he said.

“Starting at the retreat, we came up with a new vision statement,” Zins said. “We sat down multiple times with the entire brotherhood to refocus on what AD is about.”

The organization has taken steps to ensure that these changes continue to be effective in the future, he said.

“We’ve put a lot of this on paper to make sure that this continues when we’re gone,” Zins said. “We have a new member manual, and have scheduled meetings at the end of the term once or twice a year to make sure that everything we’ve done pays off in the future.”

The brotherhood at AD is optimistic about the positive impact that these changes will have.

“We’ve made a lot of progress since last term,” Zins said. “We’ve definitely put in a lot of hard work, and we’ve definitely grown from it as a house. We’re excited to be back.”

During its time on probation, TDX has restructured its internal framework, including the succession of officers, according to Mueller.

“We’ve given a new description of each position and how we want to pass them off,” Mueller said. “We also developed a framework for baseline qualifications for each member, a new description of morals and values and how we see each member upholding them.”

Mueller said that the brotherhood has also put measures in place to better enforce SEMP policies in the house and is taking steps to improve its image on campus.

“A lot of the problem is the message we send to campus, so one slip-up can hurt you more than the other positive things you do,” Mueller said. “We’ve taken a lot of positive steps since that point, including holding a ton of non-alcoholic events that help build the brotherhood in a positive manner.”

TDX will bring Richard Farnham to campus to speak on hazing on Feb. 28 in association with Greek Letter Organizations and Societies and other Greek houses, according to Mueller.

Farnham served in the athletics department at the University of Vermont for 30 years, and in 2000 dealt with a detrimental hazing incident with the UVM hockey team that resulted in the filing of a hazing lawsuit against the university, according to a brochure on Farnham’s program. Since then, he has worked to develop a hazing prevention and student leadership program to prevent hazing from taking place within organizations.

Mueller said he hopes the steps taken during TDX’s probation will continue to positively impact the house.

“We’re thinking that they are all strong steps in the right direction,” Mueller said. “It comes down to implementation now — working with new officers already elected who are coming in the spring to work toward these measures that we’ve put in place.”