Men’s fraternity Galaxy will return to campus on probationary status after they have completed all of the required service hours and educational meetings as per their suspension terms.
In an email sent to officers and sponsors of the respective Greek Life organizations on campus, Dr. Tamara Long, vice president of enrollment and student life, outlined the details of Galaxy’s return to campus, citing that any violation of their terms of probation will result in immediate removal from campus.
While on probation, Galaxy will be allowed to take a class of new members but will not be allowed to host any New Member Orientation events outside of rushing, offering bids and a supervised bid night. Galaxy also will be allowed one social event this spring.
Long said Galaxy members were not involved in creating the terms of their probation.
“We did not include them in the decision making process or in the suggestion of what was needed,” Long said. “Dr. Ryan Richardson and I kind of went back to the best areas of change management, student development and education. We really leaned into that in terms of ‘how do we get to a place where we feel confident that the deeper organizational problems are addressed?’”
A meeting for Greek Life officers took place Monday to address concerns about Galaxy returning on a probationary basis. In the meeting, officers of fraternities and sororities on campus were allowed to discuss their thoughts and frustrations with members of the Office of Student Life. Topics discussed in the meeting included the clarification of Galaxy’s original terms of suspension and a forming of an inter-fraternity/sorority council.
Long said Galaxy’s original suspension was caused by a culmination of events.
“They had been on probation the semester before, then they had the potential hazing incident and then you have an incident involving a goat between Sub T-16 new members and Galaxy’s new members,” Long said. “That event even with limited evidence and limited confirmation of what actually could have occurred, there was enough there that it was very clear to us. This is a concerning situation and we can’t just not acknowledge this isn’t good.”
Plans are being created for the formation of an inter-fraternity/sorority council in the near future to give students involved in Greek Life a chance to have first hand involvement in decisions similar to this.
“We’ve got to listen to students,” Long said. “I think giving them space where they genuinely feel they can be honest without repercussions is really important. We’re not going to have a true sense of where we need to work on things or where we need to grow or that we can keep improving unless we do that.”
This is a developing story.
