An Important Message About Hazing

The following message was shared with the campus community on Dec. 12, 2018:

Dear Members of the Campus Community,

In advance of winter break, we are writing to inform all students, faculty, and staff of important legislation and campus action intended to help ensure the safety and welfare of our students.  As many of you are already aware, the recent enactment of Pennsylvania’s Timothy J. Piazza Antihazing Law addresses prevention, enforcement, and transparency around hazing activities on college campuses.  The law applies to student organizations of all types, including fraternities and sororities, athletic teams, and student clubs.

Lehigh makes every effort to investigate and address reported allegations of hazing.  In the interest of greater public awareness, an important provision of the Piazza Law is the requirement that all colleges and universities in our state will now post hazing incidents on a publicly accessible website.  Various offices are currently at work on creating our website, which will be operational by the required deadline of January 15, 2019.  Additional requirements and provisions include new or more clearly defined policies and provisions.  An overview of the law (introduced as Senate Bill 1090) can be found here.

As a timely reminder that Lehigh is not immune from such potentially dangerous activities, we have recently been made aware of alleged hazing by an on-campus fraternity.  The allegations will be thoroughly investigated by our Office of Student Conduct & Community Expectations and if a specific chapter or group of individuals is/are identified, the investigation will be followed by an on-campus hearing as outlined in the Code of Conduct.  It is important to note that athletic teams, clubs, and other organizations would be subject to similar investigation, adjudication, and if found responsible, university sanctions. 

As this particular case alleges hazing of prospective members of an Interfraternity Council (IFC) member organization, IFC leadership has been informed of the coming investigation.  Additionally, because a specific chapter was not named in the report, all IFC organizations have been informed that spring 2019 IFC recruitment activities will be suspended until this matter is fully investigated and/or adjudicated.  Consistent with our previous practice, the outcome of the case will be posted via the Lehigh Greek Community Blog.

Often lost in the national and even local dialogue on hazing are the overall positive accomplishments and contributions of fraternities and sororities.  Greek life has a strong history at Lehigh and remains an important part of our future.  We are confident that our students – including fraternity brothers/sorority sisters, club members, teammates, and friends - are concerned for the wellbeing of others within our community and will remain vigilant as we work together to end hazing.   

In the meantime, we will continue to take seriously, and appropriately address, any activity that subjects members of our campus groups, organizations or athletic teams to harmful, degrading and dangerous activities as a condition of membership or inclusion.  Hazing is not at all in line with Lehigh University’s values or ideals, and has no place in our community as we work together towards an even brighter future.

Sincerely,

John D. Simon
President

Patrick V. Farrell
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

Ricardo Hall
Vice Provost of Student Affairs