Students Consider Transparency in Greek Organization Conduct Reporting
By Sophie Lange, Staff Writer
Alpha Tau Omega’s fraternity house (Photo Will Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
In 2017, the Office of Student Activities and Greek Life (OSAGL) began publishing conduct reports for all fraternities and sororities on campus that recorded all policy violations by these organizations. The reports were organized in a spreadsheet format, with the first tab being a tally of violations and the second tab being a basic description of the policies violated. These were published beginning in the fall semester of 2017, yet OSAGL stopped publishing them after the spring semester of 2019.
OSAGL Director Jon Allen explained that his office ceased to publish the reports after 2019 due to staffing shortages and the need to prioritize other tasks during the pandemic. While the most recent conduct reports have not been released, Allen said that OSAGL identified the need to release the reports from previous years and return to the practice of updating them regularly. Currently, the reports are housed in a Google Sheets format, so they can be easily altered as new misconduct reports arise.
Allen explained that the reporting process for organizational incidents is very similar to that of individual conduct reports.
Students can report incidents using an online form or by having a discussion about the incident with either Campus Safety or the Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities. OSAGL is able to take reports to the Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities for follow-up meetings. However, they report anything found as individual misconduct rather than organizational misconduct.
He also mentioned that although it is an option, self-reporting by organizations is extremely rare, and the vast majority of reports come from people within the campus community or Campus Safety.
Further, Allen noted that whether the organizations involved in incidents are responsible for organization misconduct is determined through the College’s judicial process.
Allen stated that OSAGL defines organizational responsibility using the following criteria: “The organization is a sponsor; it occurs in conjunction with or as a result of an activity that is sponsored by the organization (ex. after parties); organizational resources, including financial resources, are used; some or all members are required, or believe they are required, to participate in by the organization; it occurs in a facility controlled by the organization including residential buildings and reserved venues on or off campus; it occurs in a residence that is controlled by members of an organization; the majority of those present are members of the organization; or a person could reasonably believe the organization is a sponsor or has the authority to act to prevent a violation of College policy.”
The entire organization does not have to be directly involved in an incident for OSAGL to find the organization responsible.
Allen explained that the criteria for organizational responsibility by an individual or several individuals involves the individual(s) being representatives or acting on behalf of the organization; believing that they need to do something, which can be due to someone within the organization specifically telling them or simply a belief that they are required to do something based on inferences; or using resources belonging to the organization to carry out the action.
These violations are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and according to Allen, “If none of those criteria are met and/or the organization as a whole took reasonable measures to try to prevent the violation and/or the organization could not reasonably have known that the violation was occurring, barring any other aggravating or mitigating circumstances, they would not be found responsible.”
Zach Davis ’25 disagreed with these criteria, stating, “I believe that an organization is responsible for the actions of the collective and the individuals associated with it. If an individual associated with an organization violates school policies during an event the organization is hosting, both the individual and the organization should be held responsible.”
Allen also discussed the individuals in charge of determining whether organizational misconduct occurred. Who conducts the process is dependent upon how significant the incident was, the necessity to protect the identities of those involved, the extent to which the OSAGL was involved in the reporting or investigation, and other recent violations by the organization.
If possible, incidents are reviewed by the Interfraternity Council (IFC) Judicial Board, but if this is not possible, Allen or another staff member within OSAGL will review reports. If the case is reviewed by IFC, the Judicial Board members work closely with an advisor to make recommendations for appropriate sanctions based on the incident.
Allen reviews the report and the associated sanctions and decides whether they are suitable. He either approves them, approves them with a modification of the sanctions, or denies them. If the proposed sanctions are denied, the organization involved is referred to a conference process with a staff member.
When asked why sexual assault and Title IX violations were not included in the existing reports, Allen said that this was because “no chapter has been charged with a sexual misconduct or Title IX violation, and we only report when a chapter has been found responsible for a policy violation. If a chapter were to be found responsible for one of those violations, we would include it in that year’s report.”
Students indicated that if these reports were more visible to the student body, then the findings may influence their decisions about which Greek organizations to interact with on campus.
Annie Bolenbaugh ’26, said, “I feel that it is very important to understand the conduct of these organizations, especially when so many people interact with them. By reading these conduct reports, students can actually understand where they will be safe on campus.”
Rachel Herr ’26 shared a similar perspective. She said, “A few of my friends and I have discussed Greek Life before—from both the perspective of which frats we want to visit and to joining particular sororities next year; having some type of resource to see where certain conduct issues have arisen in the past would help us as first years make more conscious decisions about our potential involvement in Greek Life.”
Additionally, students within Greek organizations viewed these conduct reports as important to inform how they plan events with other organizations.
Tri Sigma member Hannah Repole ’25 said that she was “glad there was transparency from OSAGL regarding Greek life on campus.” She continued, “In my opinion, we should know about the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to Greek life. These reports would shine a light on Greek life at Gettysburg. Maybe we will get more transparency with these reports. As a member of a Greek life organization, I believe it would be beneficial to know about these reports.”
Similarly, Ronald Moyer ’23, a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of Sigma Chi, commented, “I believe that these reports could be important in allowing the campus community to develop an understanding of the issues that Greek life perpetuates. Many of these issues are constantly repeated by the same and different organizations. As a member of a Greek organization, I do believe that these reports need to be more accessible to a broader audience of students. Without transparency, Greek Life can hide behind the mainstream narratives of the party scene and continue to lay claim to the dominant source of social life.”
This article originally appeared on pages 10–11 of the December 2022 edition of The Gettysburgian magazine.
