The Washington State University IFC and Panhellenic Councils have voted to suspend all social events hosted by fraternities and sororities on campus. Not all social events with alcohol, all social events period. The moratorium went into effect last night at 5:00 P.M. PST and will continue until the beginning of next semester. The announcement was made via a letter that was sent to the fraternities and sororities.
The WSU IFC and Panhell councils came to the decision after learning about a “concerning rise in the number of assaults, rapes, falls, and hospitalizations due to the overuse of alcohol and/or drugs by Greek members in the community.” The two councils hope that the time off from parties and social activities will help their members “refocus their priorities on bettering the ideals in which their respective chapters were founded on.”
It’s hard to argue that there hasn’t been a rise in unfortunate incidents this semester at Washington State University. There have been multiple accusations of rape, a death in the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house (possibly from overdose or alcohol poisoning), and tons of other arrests. Both the IFC and Panhellenic Council probably saw this decision as the only option to curb the negative press before the school itself did anything. No one’s happy with the decision, but sometimes in leadership positions you have to make hard decisions.
The part that really sucks is that WSU Greek Life members had plenty of formal events and other social events that they’ve already spent thousands of dollars on. One Reddit user casually mentioned that his fraternity had already spent $15K, which is now gone.
Read the full letter in the embedded image below.
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Washington State University Has Cancelled All Greek Life Events For Semester
