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Indiana University suspends all fraternity social activities until spring

Posted at 4:04 AM, Nov 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-28 18:04:52-05

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University’s Interfraternity Council voted unanimously Monday night to suspend all fraternity social and new member activities until mid-spring.

The vote was announced late Monday night on Twitter by IU Vice Provost for Student Affairs Lori Reesor.

Dan Niersbach, IU’s student body president, also commended the vote on social media, writing that “now is the time to create real change” in the school’s Greek system.

While it wasn’t immediately cleared what precipitated the vote, the move comes following the suspension of several fraternities at IU over the past few years – most recently the Beta Eta chapter of the Sigma Nu fraternity.

In October, the Sigma Nu national organization said its IU chapter was expected to serve a three-year suspension over violations of the school’s alcohol and hazing policies.

"I think this is a great example of students having self governance over their own communities. I applaud them for being proactive in addressing the issues that our greek community faces before we have an incident like Penn State or FSU," said Niersbach.
 

MORE | IU closes Sigma Nu fraternity over hazing, alcohol violations

In January, IU suspended its chapter of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity over “multiple instances of hazing.”

That followed the voluntary surrender of the IU chapter of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity’s charter in December 2015, and the closure of the Alpha Tau Omega chapter house in October 2015 after the release of a graphic sex video purportedly filmed during fraternity activities.

MORE | National office of Alpha Tau Omega closes IU chapter after sex video surfaces

The vote was not believed to affect the school’s sororities – although they have not been free from problems either. In March, IU's Delta Omicron chapter of the Tri Delta sorority was closed by its national organization. At the time, the sorority said the IU chapter had “been involved in activities that do not represent the organization.”

All 13 fraternities at Ball State University agreed to a similar suspension in October. At the time, the school said the suspension was over a "pattern of different types of events not consistent with the Ball State's standards."

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