According to the Cornell Hazing website, the New York Epsilon chapter of Sigma Phi has been found to have hazed its potential new members in Spring 2022. Sigma Phi will be on probation through December 2023.
As a result, Sigma Phi’s operations will be immediately suspended if it is found in violation of any rules during its probation. Sigma Phi holds a long-term lease on a Cornell-owned house at One Forest Park Lane, just behind the Noyes Community Recreation Center on West Campus.
What Happened?
Although definitions of “hazing” differ, the Cornell Hazing website listed the following infractions:
- New members were expected to be at the fraternity house for extended periods of time beyond what would be considered reasonable for new member education and would reasonably impact a new member’s academics and personal well-being.
- Alcohol was present and made available to new members as part of the new member process.
- New members were responsible for completing brother interviews in a line up format.
- On bid day, brothers picked up potential new members, took their phones away and drove potential new members off-campus to an undisclosed location. At the time, in-person events for Bid Day were prohibited due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Rather than contest these facts, Sigma Phi opted to negotiate its punishment. According to Cornell Hazing, they agreed to these sanctions:
- Deferred Suspension through the end of the fall 2023 academic semester. If Sigma Phi Society, NY Epsilon Chapter violates the Code while on deferred suspension, it will be suspended for two academic years, effective immediately.
- During the Deferred Suspension period, the fraternity will meet monthly with its assigned Sorority and Fraternity Life Chapter Coach.
- Sigma Phi Society, NY Epsilon Chapter agrees to complete the following educational steps:
- Hazing Prevention Education to be completed by 100% of its active members.
- Creation of a detailed and comprehensive New Member Education Plan that must be approved by the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards.
- Creation of Internal Accountability Protocol that details how behaviors will be reported and addressed, including matters that must be reported to appropriate University offices.
What was traditionally called “probation”, is now called “deferred suspension.”
How Did This Happen?
By the spring semester 2022, many Cornell students had grown tired of COVID, and many students felt pressure to make up for the virtual-only recruitment process that was in effect that year. It is likely fraternities wanted to maximize in-person contact once such activities were permitted.
Historically, Cornell allowed an eight-week “pledge period” to on-board new brothers, but in 2012, Cornell mandated that the process be cut back to three and half to four weeks. They also prohibited alcohol at recruitment or new member events.
Other reforms included requiring a live-in advisor in fraternity houses and compelling a detailed “New Member Education Plan.” These plans were to be reviewed and approved by the live-in advisor, the alumni advisor, the fraternity’s national office and the Cornell Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life (OSFL). Apparently, the plan Sigma Phi submitted for approval did not match what actually happened or the last-minute changes to the COVID rules.
Cornell has not disclosed how Sigma Phi’s violation came to its attention, but Cornell has an online and phone hotline for making anonymous reports. Cornell had also repurposed Athletic Department staff to patrol for COVID-19 policy violations.
Sigma Phi’s Record
Some national fraternities have over 200 active chapters, so many transgressions can escape national supervision. However, Sigma Phi has only six active chapters. One would expect that a national that can’t afford to lose any more chapters would keep a careful watch over its remaining ones. However, in 2022, Sigma Phi suspended its University of Michigan chapter for admitting women members since 2019 while telling its national that it was men-only. As of 2019, the Sigma Phi Educational Foundation has only $502,000 worth of total assets.
Cornell now publishes the disciplinary history of each fraternity back to 2019, along with all hazing violations back to 2004-05. This was Sigma Phi’s first hazing violation during that period, but Sigma Phi’s scorecard shows seven other adjudications since 2019 for theft, public urination, underage drinking, and drinking games.
This presumably has been an embarrassment to Sigma Phi’s alumni, which include:
- Phil Will, Jr ‘30, a former Trustee who designed the Engineering Quad
- Ken Dryden ‘69 NHL star and Canadian Minister
- Ezra Cornell ‘70
- Robert Harrison ‘76 who stepped down as Chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees in June 2022 after 10 years
- Jay Walker ‘74, founder of Priceline.com
- Dan Mansoor ‘76, who spearheaded a Cornell committee to reimagine fraternity recruiting.
In general, Sigma Phi has an engaged alumni group.
How Did the Judicial System Perform?
In August 2021, Cornell shifted from the Campus Code and the Judicial Administrator to a new Student Code and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (OSCCS). In addition, OSFL was removed from enforcement of the Student Code or COVID rules but remained involved in Greek-specific violations. Although Cornell has yet to post its new Greek Judicial documents, that has not prevented Greek participation in mediating alternative resolutions.
It is difficult to take seriously a sanction to write a New Member Education Plan when all fraternities were already required to regularly submit such plans for approval. Though Sigma Phi allegedly broke Cornell’s COVID policies, it is unclear whether Sigma Phi had followed its plan as submitted or whether last minute changes in Cornell’s policies made the approved plans non-compliant.
Nor is it clear that Cornell is defining “hazing” in a clear and consistent manner. Having new members line up to be interviewed as a group in itself would not necessarily be humiliating or harmful. Until 2021, the definition of “hazing” was judged by a panel of student peers. Nobody knows who is applying the law to the facts, until the new Greek procedures are finalized and posted. Another inequity is the time lag between the incident and the end of the probation. Students who join Sigma Phi in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 will be living with the consequences of misconduct in February 2022 – which may have occurred prior to their arrival on campus.
Finally, Cornellians should be entitled to equal justice under the law. Is the Sigma Phi sanction in line with what others received for similar conduct? The only other “hazing” case this semester involved the Delta Sigma Pi, a pre-professional business fraternity. The “hazing” was described thus: “Specifically on bid night, new members were instructed to walk through Sage Hall while lined up with a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them.”
Many Cornell students would not consider Delta Sigma Pi’s infraction to be “hazing,” and it is roughly comparable to the interview line for which Sigma Phi was punished. In any case, both organizations received probation rather than a suspension, reflective essay or monetary penalty. If nothing else, it seems that organizations are being treated comparably for comparable conduct.
Although the Sigma Phi case raises many important legal issues about due process and the scope of student rights, Sigma Phi agreed to put those off for another day, and the new Cornell judicial system remains untested.
