TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The University of Arizona has suspended activities at its fraternities following persistent reports of misconduct, including assault, hazing and drug and alcohol-related behavior, a university official said.
Just seven weeks into the fall semester, the university’s office of the dean of students was investigating multiple reports of misconduct involving nearly half of the school’s students. Interfraternity Council ChaptersDean Chrissy Lieberman said Monday in a letter to the school’s fraternities and sororities announcing the suspension.
The reports follow findings of misconduct against some interfraternity chapters in the spring and multiple criminal investigations, according to the letter.
“The number of cases under investigation and the seriousness of the concerns are stark,” Lieberman wrote.
University spokesman Nick Prevenas did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for additional information about the criminal investigations.
The Associated Press left messages with university police. Officer Frank Magos, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said he was not aware of any recent cases involving fraternities that city police had investigated.
Prevenas also did not specify whether the suspension was triggered by the recent public outcry over the how Cornell University handled allegations that several fraternity brothers sexually assaulted a woman in 2024. Lieberman’s letter noted that “the value of the Greek experience is being examined nationally.”
The suspension prohibits fraternities from hosting, attending, participating in and sponsoring organizational activities at least until their advisors have met with Lieberman at one of three meetings scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Oct. 12, according to the letter.
The letter said the dean’s office had reached “capacity” to investigate reports of misconduct, and that the reports continued even after the university president warned interfraternity council presidents at a meeting in August of the possibility of additional consequences.
“It is time for the University of Arizona Greek community to step up and lead by example for good,” the letter said. “It’s time to have difficult conversations among ourselves and with community members. »
The university previously suspended activities of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity after new members were allegedly forced last year to consume large quantities of alcohol and live goldfish and were subjected to yelling, degradation and threats, according to a Sept. 2 letter from a university official to the fraternity.
An email and phone message sent to the fraternity’s national headquarters were not immediately returned.
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