All activities at the University of Georgia’s Pi Kappa Phi fraternity are suspended through Jan. 1, 2011, as part of several hazing-related sanctions handed down from the Office of Judicial Programs.
Also, fraternity members -- with the exception of the fall 2009 pledge class -- will not be able to participate in Pi Kappa Phi, and no new pledges may join, according to an informal resolution agreement obtained earlier this week by the Red and Black, the campus daily newspaper.
According to the document, Pi Kappa last Friday accepted the sanctions, which allow the fraternity to operate again after Jan. 1 next year, but it must follow certain restrictions until May 15.
Until then, "we don't recognize that organization," said Eric Atkinson, assistant to the vice president for student affairs at UGA.
UGA last month suspended the fraternity because of allegations of pledge paddling -- the extent of which was in question after an investigation by Pi Kappa Phi's national office.
The university's informal agreement states that the fraternity "violated published policies when the organization condoned the hazing of new members. It is alleged that members of the organization physically abused new members and those actions disrupted the academic pursuit, rights, and/or privacy of other individuals."
The university began looking into the incident after it received the anonymous letter, reportedly sent by a parent of one of the fraternity members.
In the letter, the parent said his son “has serious abrasions and bruises and cuts all over his buttocks.” The parent asked what happened and was told, “They stood in line and one by one received a severe paddling.”
Mark Timmes, national chief executive officer, proposed a number of sanctions, including immediately suspending Pi Kappa Phi’s charter and activities until Aug. 1 and barring all student members – other than the fall 2009 pledge class – from any involvement with the fraternity for no less than four years.
A couple of days later, however, Timmes sent out a news releases questioning the allegations, which arose out of an anonymous letter sent to the Greek Life Office.
“The authenticity of this letter is highly suspect and appears to be a fabrication or hoax designed to instigate a furor along the lines of the Duke lacrosse scandal of 2006,” Timmes wrote. “After a thorough investigation interviewing new members from the class in question, brothers, officers and parents, it appears the allegations are unsubstantiated and we do not believe them to be true.”
Timmes' news release also said, “We are, however, able to state that while we found that some paddling had taken place, it doesn’t resemble in any way what was described in the anonymous letter in either context or severity.”
Atkinson said Timmes has made four visits to the campus during the past month, and the university has worked with the national office to investigate the letter. Atkinson said officials weren't able to substantiate all of the claims in the anonymous letter.
The list of nine sanctions, signed by Pi Kappa Phi chapter president Brent Stringer and UGA Assistant Dean of Students Brandon Frye -- bans the fraternity from holding any social events where alcohol is available. It also said the chapter must recruit, hire and train an adviser who will live in the fraternity house.
"The group took responsibility and signed off on the informal agreement and agreed to be held accountable," Atkinson said.
UGA has 60 fraternities and sororities on campus. Atkinson said "the vast majority are doing the right thing."
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