The two UVA fraternity chapters whose national organizations issued statements earlier this week saying they wouldn’t sign a new rules agreement with the University have capitulated, according to a recent news release.
UVA’s Kappa Alpha Order and Alpha Tau Omega fraternities have signed a new Fraternal Order Agreement, or FOA, which defines the frats’ relationship with the University, according to a joint statement from the two national organizations. The new rules were drawn up by student fraternity leaders during a more than month-long suspension of Greeks at UVA that followed a now discredited Rolling Stone story alleging a woman was gang-raped at the school’s Phi Kappa Psi chapter in 2012. Today was the deadline for fraternity leaders to agree to the rules addendum, or risk severing their official relationship with the school.
The two fraternities earlier this week took a defiant stand, claiming the school violated its existing FOA and the constitutional rights of brothers when it suspended all Greeks in the wake of the story’s publication. They also claimed the new regulations, which largely aim to make parties safer, were not as strict as the fraternities’ existing rules.
Fraternity lobbyist Kevin O’Neill, who also serves as legal counsel to the two frats and many others, said at the time that the right thing for UVA to do would be to “allow them to continue to operate, and if the University chooses not to do that, this could escalate.”
But the fraternities ultimately backed down—for now.
“The University has made it clear in writing today that our organizations will remain suspended if we do not sign the new FOA immediately and have rejected our requests for an extension to continue discussing our concerns,” the two national organizations said in a joint statement. “Given the threat of further sanctions and retaliation by the University the chapters reluctantly have agreed to sign the FOA so that our students can resume normal operations.”
“The current FOA expires May 15 and we anticipate more equitable treatment by the University in any possible future agreement,” the statement concludes.
Fraternity rush, the approximately two-week-long period during which prospective fraternity members “shop” chapters, began this week and will culminate in Bid Day at the end of the month.
Fraternities and other student organizations can technically exist at UVA as independent groups without a signed agreement such as the FOA. The agreement does grant groups the right to use University-owned buildings, use space on UVA servers and participate in intramural sports.
But O’Neill said Friday evening that University officials made it clear that Kappa Alpha Order and Alpha Tau Omega would face consequences if they chose to take a stand.
“It’s very difficult on campus to recruit and operate as an unrecognized organization, as it creates a series of barriers that may keep the best student leaders from considering such groups,” he said. “Dean [Allen] Groves sent an e-mail to the organization saying that they would not be recognized as a student organization if they failed to sign today. It’s fair to say that the students wanted to preserve their rights but the university created conditions where nonconformity would be punished on many levels.”
O’Neill said many national Greek organizations are still concerned that UVA violated the rights of fraternities and sororities when it suspended them late last year, and some are considering “legal remedies.” The North-American Interfraternity Council, an umbrella organization represented in Washington by O’Neill, has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all documentation of the school’s decision-making process leading to the suspension, something O’Neill said was “the first step in considering legal action against the University.”
UVA praised its Greek community for efforts to adjust its rules. “We commend the hard work of our student leaders who led the development of addenda to the existing fraternal organization agreements (FOA) for each of the respective four Greek councils, which include important steps the students identified to improve safety,” reads a statement released by the University Friday evening. “These student-driven, thoughtful agreements have now been signed by all of the fraternities and sororities as part of their FOAs with the University. We are grateful for the leadership shown by our students in achieving this result. We have jointly committed that the University and Greek council student leaders will revisit the FOA in May–upon the expiration of the existing agreements–to evaluate any adjustments or improvements that may be warranted.”
Below is the full text of the joint statement from Kappa Alpha Order and Alpha Tau Omega:
Kappa Alpha Order and Alpha Tau Omega National Fraternities commend their chapters at the University of Virginia for standing on principle in their resistance against signing the
University’s FOA. As we have said from the beginning the fraternity men and sorority women at the University of Virginia were harmed by the suspension in December and deserve to regain their rightful standing as leadership organizations on campus. It is extraordinarily disappointing to see a university of this caliber sacrifice the ideals of freedom of association and due process on the altar of public opinion. The University has made it clear in writing today that our organizations will remain suspended if we do not sign the new FOA immediately and have rejected our requests for an extension to continue discussing our concerns. Given the threat of further sanctions and retaliation by the University the chapters reluctantly have agreed to sign the FOA so that our students can resume normal operations.
The principled stand of our student members spotlighted the University’s ham-handed approach to this issue. ATO and KA national organizations stand behind our chapters and recognize their leadership in doing their best to resist the coercion of the administration. The treatment of fraternities and sororities in this affair falls far short of the ideals Mr. Jefferson intended when he founded this great University.
The fact that our chapters are signing the FOA does not alleviate the coercion, duress or other wrongdoing of the University through this entire process. Given the University’s poor handling of this matter, we are now exploring the right to pursue any legal remedies.
The national organizations are unable to insure any additional duties imposed on the chapter or its members by the new FOA and call on the University to provide education, support and
indemnification for the legal duties the administration has unilaterally imposed.
We call on Congress and the Virginia House of Delegates to enact legislation that ensures the
protection of individual student and student organizational rights from this sort of unprecedented action taken against our students and organizations.
The current FOA expires May 15 and we anticipate more equitable treatment by the University in any possible future agreement.