Fort Collins – Colorado State University severed ties with one fraternity and penalized seven other Greek organizations Thursday because of a dawn drinking rite held before class.
School officials and students said the Sept. 1 incident marking the end of sorority recruiting could not have come at a worse time for the university, which is working to clean up its beer- soaked image.
The incident is a “widespread violation of policy,” said Mark Koepsell, CSU’s director of Greek life, in an e-mail to Greek chapter presidents. “I was strongly reminded today that the Greeks at CSU will not survive another negative incident.”
The moves came while CSU and its Greeks are launching several reforms after last year’s death of 19-year-old sophomore Samantha Spady.
She died of alcohol poisoning, and her body was found at the Sigma Pi fraternity house Sept. 5, 2004. Her death sparked several reforms aimed at quieting the drinking culture at CSU, including the Greeks banning all alcohol in their 17 houses.
That rule was broken about 5 a.m. Sept. 1, when sorority and fraternity members drank alcohol at several fraternity houses and private homes to celebrate the end of sorority recruiting during a “Rise and Ralph” ritual, officials said.
The drinking came to light because of noise complaints from neighbors and from some Greeks who objected to the activity, said Anne Hudgens, director of campus life at CSU.
As a result, Pi Kappa Alpha was stripped of its student-organization status.
The fraternity loses all privileges at CSU. It was punished most severely because of a pattern of problems, Hudgens said.
Another fraternity – Pi Kappa Phi – and two sororities – Chi Omega and Delta Delta Delta – were suspended from engaging in any Greek-related activities for one academic year. Another fraternity – Sigma Phi Epsilon – and three sororities – Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi and Gamma Phi Beta – were put on social probation for one academic year and therefore can’t hold parties or formals.
Nichole Borman and Elizabeth Reider, sophomores who participated in “Rise and Ralph” last year, said it’s a long-standing tradition.
“We wake up at 5, and we just go out and drink and go to classes drunk,” Reider said.
Borman said it’s a coincidence the event happened near the anniversary of Spady’s death.
“We would never drink to remember Samantha Spady,” Borman said. “We all took (her death) very seriously.”
Still, officials and students Thursday were disappointed that the messages put out by CSU and the Greeks in the aftermath of Spady’s death have not made an impression on some students.
“It certainly is a setback,” said student body president Courtney Healey. “We weren’t anticipating problems of this nature.”
In his e-mail, Koepsell chastised chapter presidents for allowing “Rise and Ralph.”
“After all the stories about Greeks changing their ‘Animal House’ image … can you imagine them getting ahold of an event where nearly every sorority and many of our fraternities participate in an event self-titled to encourage getting up and drinking till you puke?”
CSU president Larry Penley met with the presidents of sororities and fraternities Thursday, telling them he would not tolerate irresponsible drinking.
“It’s too bad when a few misbehave that so many end up punished,” Penley said. “When it comes to the issues of discipline, the rules are clear. The consequences are the ones that students choose.”
Penley didn’t invite Pi Kappa Alpha president Jason Schneider, who said he received word Wednesday that the fraternity had lost CSU recognition.
He said the university was treating the “Pikes” unfairly by not giving them a chance to defend themselves.
“There was no hearing, nor a chance for appeal,” Schneider said in a written statement. “There was no time for the university to gather sufficient information in regards to what actually occurred.”
Schneider, who would not discuss the “Rise and Ralph” festivities, said the fraternity’s national chapter was not going to pull the fraternity’s charter.
“We are not going to fold,” he said. “This will make us a strong chapter even though CSU will not recognize our existence.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
