Student organizations listed among fraternities in conduct report

Diana Ho, Contributing Writer

VCU’s Division of Student Affairs released a conduct report listing registered student organizations that are sanctioned since fall 2021 and fall 2022. 

Among the listed are fraternities Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Chi and Lambda Phi Epsilon.

The VCU Sigma Chi chapter returned to its national organization and is no longer recognized as a student organization at VCU, according to an email to the VCU Greek life community from Joe Wheeless, director of fraternity and sorority life.  

Lambda Phi Epsilon is suspended from Jan. 26 until Jan. 1, 2031, according to the report. Pi Kappa Phi is suspended from Sept. 17, 2022 until January 2024.  

The violations include hazing, assault and battery, alcohol distribution and failure to comply with university regulations, according to Wheeless’ email.

Hazing is the mental or physical requirement, request or obligation placed upon a person — through a reckless or intentional situation — that could cause discomfort, pain, fright, disgrace or injury; or that is personally degrading, according to the VCU hazing prevention and discipline policy. 

“They did name a lot of things. But I think a majority of the things that they named were from the past. So we’re getting charged for things that were happening a couple of years ago,” said Connor Mackenzie, former member of Lambda Phi Epsilon and chemical engineering student.

The hazing included blindfolding, confinement, kidnapping, verbal abuse, interrogation, paddling, forced consumption of alcohol and forced excursions, according to Wheeless’ email.

Mackenzie said he served as the sergeant of arms, historian and academic chair for Lambda Phi Epsilon while the investigation was conducted.

“I was told that we were reported for hazing and starting from today, we can no longer meet up or talk to each other or do anything fraternity related and that we were suspended from now on,” Mackenzie said.

Lambda Phi Epsilon’s induction process is a “dry process” with “no alcohol involved at all,” according to Mackenzie.

During the investigation, members of Lambda Phi Epsilon were interviewed by the Division of Student Affairs, Mackenzie said. He was initially nervous, but when he walked in, he answered the questions, Mackenzie said.

“We [the board] didn’t think that the investigation would be that bad,” Mackenzie said. “But I guess they decided to be harsh on us and suspended us for eight years, when there was no actual video or evidence.”

Interviews were conducted with members of Lambda Phi Epsilon and the suspension was issued at the beginning of the spring semester, one to two weeks after the report was received during Halloween 2022, according to Mackenzie.

“Our national board instantly took away our letters without asking us about anything,” Mackenzie said. “I was like, ‘that’s pretty messed up.’”

Among the fraternities listed on the RSO conduct report are cultural organizations, including Filipino Americans Coming Together, or FACT, and the Vietnamese Student Organization, or VSA.

FACT is on deferred suspension until May 16 for an incident that engaged psychological hazing, according to the RSO conduct report.

“When I first became president, I got an email that FACT got a charge regarding hazing,” said Phillip Palanca, FACT president and computer science student. “I went through the whole process talking to them. It was for our Kuya/Ate program and some of the challenges that we would give the littles to do.”

Palanca said the report stated that “big and little challenges” were perceived to be hazing but did not list specific challenges. The Division of Student Affairs explained what hazing was to Palanca, because Palanca said he was not a part of Greek life and did not have a concrete definition of hazing.

“I think anyone can experience hazing, especially in big groups,” Palanca said. 

FACT was given two options for the sanction: a deferred suspension or to challenge the allegation, said Kelsi Tomeldan, external vice president of FACT and health, physical education and exercise science student. 

“We didn’t want to take away an organization that helps people meet new people, but we also didn’t want to invalidate that allegation. If someone thought that our program was hazing, we wanted to amend it, obviously,” Tomeldan said.

Tomeldan said the board was shown FACT’s Facebook page as evidence for the challenge that was considered to be hazing. Challenges that are done in public — such as dancing in public — could be seen as humiliating, Tomeldan said.

“Our plan from this, we’ve implemented a new mentor-mentee, we’re getting rid of challenges, and having a passport system to make it interactive. Even though it was scary having that hazing incident, it helped us realize how to manage a group,”  according to Tomeldan.

Palanca said he sent emails to FACT stating that it is not FACT’s mission to be selective and there was never an intention for hazing.

VSA declined to comment on the organization’s suspension in the fall semester.

Rachael Tully, the hazing prevention coordinator, is part of the staff for the Division of Student Affairs.

“I’m the first hazing prevention coordinator,” Tully said. “We’ve been addressing and implementing Adam’s Law first by figuring out the organizations that meet the definition of Adam’s Law that says student organizations with new members. At VCU, we’ve identified these as selective organizations.”

Adam’s Law, named after VCU freshman Adam Oakes who died from hazing, took effect on July 1, 2022. The law requires universities to provide hazing prevention and education training, according to the Virginia Legislation System. 

During the registration process, student organizations were asked three questions. Based on the responses, student organizations were flagged as possible selective organizations and were told to attend hazing prevention training, according to Tully.

The hazing prevention website is available on RamsConnect. The list of selective organizations is available under the “Resources” tab on the website. The hazing prevention sessions are in-person by law. The sessions last approximately one hour, using the curriculum from the Gordie Center. 

“We do an activity called the hazing spectrums: we place hazing behaviors or activities on a spectrum from low risk to high risk. We talked about alcohol consumption and the risk associated with alcohol consumption,” Tully said. “We do a case study about Gordie Bailey, who was the student who passed away, in which the Gordie Center is named after. We talk briefly about Adam Oakes.”

The Division of Student Affairs is currently working on consequences for not attending training. Selective organizations that do not have its members trained by a time period may face consequences such as blocks to space reservation and registration, Tully said. 

Reuben Rodriguez, associate vice president and Dean of Students, said students will sometimes send reports through emails or the VCU helpline, but most reports are received through the reporting forms. 

Most of the reports regard other types of behaviors but can include hazing. Involvement with possible alcohol or drug use or other types of behaviors are usually reported, according to Rodriguez.

“His [Adam Oakes’] death has brought about a lot of changes,” Rodriguez said. “Recognizing some of the things indicated in Adam’s Law such as increased training for students who may be part of or considering these types of organizations.”

Both VCU policy and Virginia law, states that an individual cannot consent to being hazed. 

Rodriguez said in the past, as long as an individual gave “consent,” it was not considered hazing. It has shifted both by law and by perception, according to Rodriguez.

“I would hope that, in general, that what we’re doing is preventing hazing. We can’t possibly know every single thing that all of these organizations are doing. They know their organization best,” Rodriguez said.  “Hopefully, they’re taking this information and making the changes that need to be changed.”