The houses on Florida State's Greek row are quieter than usual under an indefinite ban on all fraternity and sorority activities. It's unclear, however,if the ban will succeed in creating what FSU President John Thrasher has called a "new normal" and "new culture" for Greek life at Florida State University.
Thrasher's decision to shut down Greek life activities came after the death of Andrew Coffey, a 20-year-old pledge at Pi Kappa Phi who was found unresponsive after a party the night before. Police suspect alcohol was a factor in his death.
During the ban, FSU fraternities and sororities are prohibited from hosting new member events, chapter meetings, tailgates, socials, philanthropy events and homecoming events. Students are allowed to continue living in their Greek houses.
On Friday, the Pi Kappa Phi national organization decided to shut down the FSU chapter permanently.
While other universities have deployedsimilar punishment for fraternities and sororities— a decision that solicited Thrasher praise and criticism — it's hard to measure if aban can turn around fraternity and sorority culture.
[Vigil for Andrew Coffey set for next week]
[FSU students weigh in on Greek Life suspension]
Leaders at University of Central Florida, just a few hours south of FSU in Orlando, made a similar decision back in 2013. Today, they stand behind their decision to temporarily ban Greek activities,after a photo surfaced showing Sigma Chi pledges being forced to drink. The photo was posted online with the caption "Forcing a pledge to chug while two others puke in misery."
"We are confident that it had a positive impact on our community,"Kerry Welch, associate vice president for student engagement, said, referring to the decision to suspend Greek life. "We were concernedthat we were heading down the wrong road" so a ban was put in place "before an incident like the one at FSU occurred."
Welch explained that it was not just that one photo that prompted the decision.
Clemson University in South Carolina, University of Virginia and West Virginia University have also in the past temporarily banned Greek life after campus tragedies.
But experts say it's the actions and dialogue that follow in the wake of a ban that have the power to change campus culture, not necessarily the ban itself.
At this point, it's not clear what next steps Thrasher will take.
“For this suspension to end, there will need to be a new normal for Greek Life at the university,” Thrashersaid. “There must be a new culture, and our students must be full participants in creating it.”
But Thrasher gave little detail about how that new culture would be created. The FSU websitesays the university will work"to provide opportunities for students, advisers and alumni to engage in dialogue and discussions" to improve the Greek life experience. Thrasher did not specifythe problems— hazing, partying, substance abuse or crime —he wants to address. Police are still investigating what led to Coffey's death.
At UCF, the 2013 suspension led to the formation of an anti-hazing task force, made up of sports teams, Greek chapters, students and staff. The university also brought in an outside consulting group to help chapters develop strategic plans.
Additionally, the university developed a support group for students new to Greek life and implemented moratoriums on alcohol use during certain times of the year.
"You can't make it all go away by standing up on a pulpit and saying, 'This is no more.' It takes alot more than that to truly address the problem," said Alison Kiss, the executive director of the Clery Center,a nonprofit that educates colleges and universities about preventing campus violence and hazing.
Kiss fears that the fraternities with problems will ignore the suspension and go underground, something that's becoming more and more common at U.S. colleges. In 2015, one of UCF's oldest fraternitiestransformed into a "no rules, no regrets" unregistered student organization — now the subject of a BBC documentary — after losing its charter foralcohol possession, public urination and trashing school property.
"You can't just make a 180 turn.It's a process," Kiss said.
Hank Nuwer, a journalism professor at Franklin College in Indiana who has tracked hazing deaths for 40 years, is concerned that the decision to suspend Greek life essentially shuts down the opportunity for open dialogue.
"Had he come forward and said,'We’re going to do a task force' — now we’ve got a dialogue going.Now, the hose is turned off,"Nuwer said.
Nuwer would like to see Thrasher lead the charge to put together a task force and campus-wide strategic plan, similar to what UCF has done since 2013, as well as enlist presidents from other universities.
"They’re not going to reform on their own," Nuwer said of the fraternities at FSU."They need to have their feet held to the fire."
But the problem goes deeper than Greek life. Through the years, hazing, substance abuse and campus violence have haunted sports teams and other extracurricular activities, most notably the Florida A&M University marching band.
['We've got a serious problem,' FSU President Thrasher says]
[President Thrasher: 'There will be a new normal for Greek Life']
According to Nuwer's research, since 1838, there have been more than 200 hazing-related deaths nationwide.
Although UCF, like most universities, has not seen the end of controversies in its Greek chapters since the infamous 2013 ban, Welch said the solutions they've implemented seem to be working.
"I mean, knock on wood, we have been fortunate not to see some of the extreme behavior that is popular in the news," Welch added.
In recent years, fraternities atUCF have come under investigation for alleged rape, fights, alcohol abuseand property destruction —actions that have been met with suspension, probation and charter revocation.
But now, Welch said, fraternities and sororities know the university takes these problems seriously, and keeps a campus-wide ban in its arsenal for potential punishment.
"The halt has a sort of urban myth about it and it may, in some ways, helpstudents recognize that we do care and we will take action," Welch said.
Caroline Glenn is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact herat caglenn@floridatoday.com or 321-576-5933, andfollow her on Twitter @bycarolineglenn and like "Education at Florida Today" on Facebook.
