OSU Suspends All IFC Activity

Ohio State University is the latest example of fraternal activities being suspended on a campus in reaction to misconduct.  On November 16^th, OSU’s Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life suspended “all social, recruitment and new member activities for Interfraternity Council chapters until further notice.”

Eleven IFC chapters were under investigation for possible violations of the Student Conduct Code.  The University statement said “this is an unacceptably high number and the University will not tolerate behavior that puts the health and safety of students at risk.”  OSU indicated it would allow essential activities to continue, but only after a list of such activities was provided and approved by the University.  These could include “chapter/executive board meetings and/or long standing philanthropic events.  Social activities of any kind are not essential activities, nor are any activities that include alcohol.”

An interesting twist was that this suspension of activities applied only to IFC organizations and did not reach other Greek groups on campus, including Panhellenic members.  To that extent, the University has made a sharp distinction between the fact that a large number of men’s groups are under investigation for misconduct, while women’s groups are not.