DKE Heavily Sanctioned; Greeks Get Stern Warning
The Greek Judicial Board has handed down heavy sanctions to Delta Kappa Epsilon for what it
found to be violations of alcohol policy
in the early days of the fall semester. The
student board cited two violations at a
party held slightly more than two weeks
after the Aug. 23 death of DKE President
Courtland Smith and during a time when
the fraternity was facing an investigation
by the University and the judicial board.
The judicial board’s one-year social
probation also covered what it called an
extensive two-year record of violations.
Shortly after the semester began,
Greeks at UNC found themselves under
increased scrutiny for bad behavior. On
Sept. 20, at an
annual meeting for
new fraternity
members, Winston
‘There is
rarely a weekend
Crisp ’ 92 (JD), assistant vice chancellor
for student affairs,
used strong language
in challenging
pledges to help the
that goes by
that we’re not
responding
to some incident
that’s fueled
Greeks turn away
from their reputation for alcohol,
drug and sexual
abuse.
by alcohol abuse
or drugs or
some reports
of sexual abuse.’
“If you don’t,
times are changing,
and the organizations are either
going to change
with them or not
survive,” Crisp told the group. “The days
when my office is willing to stand in the
breach [are] over. I’m tired of looking like
a damn idiot. I’m tired of standing up for
you and having you spit in my face.
Winston Crisp ’ 92
(JD)
assistant vice chancellor
for student affairs
“The tolerance of the University of
cleaning up disasters on a weekly basis is
over.”
Crisp was quoted by The Daily Tar
Heel. In an interview three days later, he
stood by the statements and said he was
quoted accurately. Crisp cautioned that
the University community should not get
the impression that the bad behavior was
unique to Greeks. And, having told the
group that UNC’s relations with its
Greeks were at an all-time low, he added
that “there is some level of hyperbole in a
speech like that.”
But, he said, “there is rarely a weekend
that goes by that we’re not responding to
some incident that’s fueled by alcohol
abuse or drugs or some reports of sexual
abuse.”
On Sept. 15, seven people were
arrested, some on cocaine trafficking
charges and some on the lesser charge of
cocaine possession. Five of the seven were
current or former students, and four held
fraternity or sorority ties at Carolina.
DKE’s one-year social probation
includes all formals, informals, mixers,
cocktails, tailgates and alumni events for
the fall and spring semesters. The sanction
is scheduled to be lifted May 7, the last
day of exams.
The judicial board also forwarded the
DKE chapter to the Fraternity and Sorority Standards Review Board. This body is
a team of people from local, campus,
alumni and national levels holding the
option, if warranted, to remove recognition of a fraternity’s or sorority’s chapter.
DKE also had its pledge period shortened to four weeks from eight weeks.
The judicial board cited sanctions that
are yet to be completed from a fire violation last year as another contributing factor in its ruling. It also adopted self-imposed sanctions proposed by DKE,
such as the 2009-10’s social budget being
spent to sponsor and build the Courtland
Benjamin Smith Memorial Habitat for
Humanity House. The chapter also will
implement positions for three new vice
presidents and a mandatory substance-abuse prevention program.
Jenny Levering, assistant dean of students for fraternity and sorority life, said
she hopes the self-governing decision can
have a positive effect on the Greek system. “Though a rough start to the year,”
she said, “it’s an opportunity to do a lot
of work to build a stronger Greek community.”
The administration wants to continue
to maintain the system in place for
Greeks to self-govern and self-regulate,
Levering said. “We want to uphold the
honor system and the student self-gover-nance system to the best we can,” she
said.
The Greeks are self-governing through
four separate organizations:
n The Interfraternity Council, which
covers 22 fraternities that typically own
houses;
n The Panhellenic Council, covering
sororities;
n The Greek Alliance Council, which
covers religious and multicultural-based
fraternities and sororities that typically do
not have houses; and
n The National Panhellenic Council,
which covers eight historically African-
American fraternities and sororities.
The second line of governance, for
more serious offenses, is the dean of students office. Crisp, in his Sept. 20 talk
(which was limited to the IFC pledges),
was participating in an annual event. He
was invited to speak on the subjects of
drug abuse and hazing.
The honor system also can factor in
for suspected honor code violations. The
IFC houses are all private, located off
campus.
Crisp said that his talk was “a tough,
in-your-face challenge to change those
behaviors.” He said it was difficult to
quantify problems with drugs, alcohol and
hazing. Emphasizing that the problems are
not exclusive to Greeks but that students
living in residence halls have a significantly higher level of University supervision, he elaborated on each:
“There is clearly an alcohol problem
here, as there is on every college campus
in America.” He specified the problem
as binge drinking — drinking to get
drunk.
Crisp said he could not say whether
drug abuse is in a surge period. He added
that one relatively new issue is prescription drugs: “That appears to be an emergent, deepening problem.”
On hazing he said that “more than
not,” the 22 IFC fraternities “are doing
what we want. Is hazing a problem? Yes. Is
it a problem in every single organization?
No.”
More detailed reporting is
available online at alumni.unc.edu about
the investigation into the shooting death of
Courtland Smith and the arrests of students
and others on cocaine charges.
