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Chico State suspends Greek activity

After reports of alleged hazing, assaults and a recent alcohol-induced death, Chico State President Paul Zingg suspended activities of all fraternities and sororities associated with the campus, effective Nov. 15.

According to Joe Wills, director of public affairs and publications, Vice President for Student Affairs Drew Calandrella named 11 incidents that were either illegal or in violation of Greek guidelines including allegations of hazing, two reported assaults and alcohol violations within the past year.

Wills said that administration had reminded Greek leadership multiple times that there would be consequences resulting in changes to the conduct of Greek Chapters if serious incidents continued to occur.

Mason Sumnicht died from alcohol poisoning eleven days after his 21st birthday, when he had gone out with friends to celebrate. The suspension was announced on the day of his death, Nov. 15. According to Wills, Sumnicht was a Sigma Pi pledge.

Wills said the suspension has drawn both negative and positive feedback.

“Greek members and parents of members [are] upset [that] events and activities will be canceled, and feel like some chapters are being punished unfairly,” Wills said.

Despite some opposition, Wills said that Zingg reported that he has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from suspending fraternity and sorority activities, especially after administration explained why they had to resort to such drastic measures.

Wills said that members of the Greek system have been thanking administration, as they said they recognized that they could not police themselves and the Greek system was not headed in the ideal direction.

Wills said that administration will continue to work with these groups, and if chapters embrace reform, they will be eligible for reinstatement in the spring semester.

He said the social organizations will receive new guidelines at the beginning of the spring semester. In the meantime, they are required to cease activities and cover or remove their letters from their chapter houses. Although Chico State administration does not have the authority enforce these guidelines, Wills said that groups that ignore the university’s suspension are sending a message that they do not wish to be reinstated.

“All of us are firm in the conviction that we are acting in our students’ best interests, for the quality of their education and their health and safety as well,” Wills said.

Malcom J. McLemore, the coordinator for Student Life and Leadership at Chico State, said they are currently working with the university’s executive staff to formulate a process of evaluating Greek life.

“We feel it was a course that the university felt was needed to reassess where Greek life at CSU Chico is,” McLemore said.

While officials at Chico State said the suspension was a necessary action, some students at Cal State Long Beach said they feel the suspension was rash.

“I think [the suspension is] a knee-jerk reaction to preserve a positive image of Chico, but it’s unfair to ban [activity] from everybody,” Brandon Cosio, a junior business management major at CSULB, said.

Cosio said that he feels that the people involved in the destructive activities are the issue, not the Greek organizations themselves.

Will Phelps, a senior comparative world literature major, said he thinks that the particular measure taken is extreme, but something should be done to decrease alcohol abuse.

“There are a lot of Greek activities which are not revolved around alcohol whatsoever,” Phelps said. “It’s almost like by that action, it’s completely ignoring all the good that the Greek system does.”

Caitlin Roberts, assistant to student life and development at CSULB, said she thinks it is sad that the particular incident has had such a poor reflection on the Greek community as a whole.

She said some students have worked to change the reputation over the past few years, as Zingg has spoken with chapters multiple times about the immediate need for change.

“The community there has been warned that they need to be straightened up,” Roberts said. “They needed a wake-up call, and unfortunately that’s what it was.”

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