Drexel pauses all undergraduate student events with alcohol following interim suspension of two fraternities
The pause came hours after the school said it placed two fraternities on interim suspension as it investigates allegations of sexual misconduct and hazing. The pause affects 300 student groups.
Drexel University has paused all undergraduate student events with alcohol and those involving the induction of new members as it investigates reports of misconduct, university leaders said in an email to the campus community Tuesday night.
The school said earlier Tuesday it had placed two fraternities — Pi Kappa Phi and Lambda Chi Alpha — on interim suspension while it conducts an investigation into hazing and sexual misconduct allegations. The suspension prohibits them from conducting new member activities or hosting events with alcohol.
Subir Sahu, Drexel’s senior vice president for enrollment management and student success, said in an interview Wednesday the university moved for the widespread pause after receiving a handful of additional reports of alleged misconduct after the initial two, most of them involving alcohol and hazing.
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“The reports vary in the nature of the concerns raised and the level of detail provided, and each is being reviewed through the university’s established processes,” Sahu said.
The university is investigating placing several additional Greek letter groups — not all of them fraternities or sororities — on interim suspension, he said.
“As these reports started coming in, I think many of us at the institution started to say, ‘What’s happening here?’” Sahu said. “‘Is there a pattern of behavior that we need to address?’
“So I think out of an abundance of caution, we said, ‘Look, let’s pause our new member initiation. Let’s pause our student activities with alcohol, just so we can understand what’s happening, so we can really dig into these reports.’ If these reports turn out to be true, we want to stop the behavior before it continues.”
Drexel, which enrolls about 12,400 undergraduates, did not say how long the pause would last. It applies to all undergraduate student organizations, a university spokesperson said, not just the 12 fraternities at Drexel.
Drexel has more than 300 student groups on campus that are affected by the temporary ban on events with alcohol, and more than 30 of them also induct new members, Sahu said.
Drexel president Antonio Merlo and Sahu said in the email to campus Tuesday night that Drexel had received reports of alleged misconduct involving “multiple student organizations.”
“Drexel is committed to maintaining a safe, respectful and supportive learning environment and does not tolerate hazing, sexual misconduct or other behavior that threatens the well-being of our community,” Merlo and Sahu wrote.
