Boise State suspends fraternity after more than two years of ‘repeated violations’
Boise State University is suspending official recognition of a campus fraternity after “more than two years” of repeated violations of university policies and the Student Code of Conduct.
The Office of the Dean of Students issued the five-year suspension for Pi Kappa Phi based on a recommendation by the university’s Conduct Hearing Board, according to a Monday afternoon press release.
“Consequences this severe do not come lightly or easily, but all members of our university community have a responsibility to each other to be respectful and safe,” said Christian Wuthrich, Boise State’s State dean of students.
Boise State hasn’t suspended a fraternity for this “significant length” of time since the 1960s, spokesman Greg Hahn told the Statesman. The university can issue a suspension for one egregious violation or a pattern of repeated violations, Hahn said, but there is no prescribed number of violations that triggers such punishment.
Boise State’s Pi Kappa Phi chapter incurred 41 conduct violations during the 2018-2019 academic year, according to Boise State statistics posted online. University officials have not answered Statesman questions about the nature of the violations. Specific details from student conduct hearings are typically excluded from public release, according to Boise State.
“We try to work with the students and their national organization and provide as many educational opportunities as possible,” Hahn said. “We basically are always looking for an ability and willingness to change.”
Boise State’s student conduct code defines a group offense violation as the coordinated actions of three or more people that result in one or more violations of the law or university policies.
“Repeated individual violations of the Student Code of Conduct may constitute a group offense if there is a nexus between the behavior and an activity or location in control of the group (for example, multiple alcohol or drug-related medical transports from, or arrests made at, a group-controlled property or as a consequence of a group-sponsored event over the course of a semester),” the code reads.
Members of the fraternity retain their status as Boise State students, despite the group’s suspension.
Boise State has more than 20 fraternity and sorority chapters on campus. The university’s Pi Kappa Phi chapter was chartered in December 2014 and is one of more than 180 chapters at colleges across the country, according to Pi Kappa Phi’s national website.
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This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 5:44 PM.
