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Hazing News

Syracuse Zeta Psi ousted for unspecified reason(s)

FC | Fraternity had opportunity to save itself
IFC Executive Board

Issue date: 8/29/07 Section: Opinion

The Interfraternity Council was informed on July 28 that Zeta Psi’s National Headquarters, the chapter’s Alumni Association and Syracuse University had decided that Zeta Psi should no longer be a recognized fraternity at Syracuse University.

It is our responsibility to be the self-governing body of the fraternity system, to promote unity and to help our member fraternities reach their full-potential.

Our Peer Review Board, the disciplinary body of the IFC which consists of members of the IFC Executive Board, had dealt with Zeta Psi on many occasions. Most recently, they came before us for numerous issues, including two counts of assault.

In coming to our decision on these matters, we consulted the presidents of all other member fraternities. Fourteen of the 18 voting fraternities advised us to withdraw Zeta Psi’s IFC recognition, which would have removed them from our campus.

We took this decision into account and decided not to remove their recognition, but instead to impose fines on them according to our IFC Constitution. These fines included a provision saying if Zeta Psi were to break any more IFC rules, Zeta Psi National, University, State or Federal laws before June of 2009, we would be forced to withdraw their recognition.

There were suspicions that Zeta Psi may have violated their University suspension near the end of last semester, but nothing had been confirmed.

We are releasing this statement because we want to move forward from this situation. We hope our member fraternities will learn from this and continue to act as respectable fraternity men.

As for the members of the former Zeta Psi fraternity, we hope they hold themselves to the traditions and values of all greek organizations. This was an unfortunate situation, and we hope to never encounter it in the future.

The Interfraternity Council Executive Board consists of President Mike Schottenstein, Vice-President of Internal Affairs Seth Chase, Vice-President of External Affairs Matt Abdifar, Secretary Brian Schreiner, Recruitment Chair Chad Fury, GAME Chair Louis Santoro, and Philanthropy Chair Evan Goldberg.

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His new book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer, former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird, finished a stint as managing editor of the Celina Daily Standard to accept a new position as managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com.

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