M The Maneater
The student voice of MU since 1955 | https://themaneater.com | Vol. 88 Issue 3 | November 3, 2021
FIJI SHUTDOWN
Protesters demand accountability outside Fiji Students protested the fraternity after an alleged hazing incident left a freshman in critical condition on Oct. 20.
CONTENT WARNING:
PHOTO BY HOLDEN GREEN
This story contains content that mentions sexual violence, alcohol abuse and hazing.
SAVANNAH SLEEVAR, KATIE TARANTO, EMMA FLANNERY, TADEO RUIZ
A
Reporters
n MU freshman was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning on Oct. 20 after attending a social event at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, also known as Fiji. MU withdrew recognition of Fiji Oct. 22, which means the fraternity is no longer an official organization on campus. The announcement came in a mass email from Bill Stackman, vice chancellor of Student Affairs after MU found the chapter responsible for multiple violations of MU’s Standard of Conduct. This comes after Stackman announced on the day of the hospitalization that Fiji would be temporarily suspended. MU also temporarily halted all fraternity activities. The suspension ended on Friday, Oct. 29, two days after the Interfraternity Council — one of the four councils within the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life — released a statement condemning hazing and sexual assault. The IFC said until Nov. 19, any fraternity chapter that wants to hold a social event must set up a meeting with the IFC president, advisor or vice president of risk management to discuss risk management policies. The statement also mentioned that should fraternity chapters fail to fol-
Students hold signs and chant during the protest outside the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at the MU campus in Columbia. The protest sparked from an announcement earlier Wednesday that a freshman who attended a social event at the fraternity had been hospitalized due to suspected alcohol poisoning. low these new policies, they’ll be held accountable through IFC judicial proceedings. Prior to these developments, on the evening of Oct. 20, student protesters stood outside the Fiji house as their chants of “you are the problem” echoed in Greektown. Prior to MU’s withdrawal of recognition, students at the protest demanded harsher punishments for Fiji than the suspension, including Students One
PHOTO BY HOLDEN GREEN
The student holds a sign during a protest outside the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at the MU campus in Columbia. Roughly 200 students gathered outside the house during the protest, many with homemade signs.
and Two, who are both members of Greek Life. “Fiji should be made an example of,” Student One said. “They should be kicked out indefinitely and not allowed to come back.” Student Two thought the suspension failed to address a larger issue. “It feels like they’re putting a BandAid on a problem as big as a bullet wound,” Student Two said. University of Missouri Police were present at the protest with the Columbia Police Department assisting, MU spokesperson Christian Basi confirmed. Police escorted Student One away from the house after they tried to put up protest signs that read “these hands don’t haze” on Fiji’s front entryway, which was within private property lines. Stackman’s Oct. 22 email also cited a need to give MU “an opportunity to review [Greek Life’s] current culture … this review will inform new strategies for alcohol safety, hazing awareness and healthy relationships for all students on campus.” Following the hospitalization, Basi said MU launched two investigations: a policy investigation by the Office of Student Accountability and Support and a police investigation by MUPD. The Columbia Missourian reported that the freshman was in critical condition at University Hospital on Oct. 21. It also reported that the freshman was a pledge — a student seeking fraternity membership — and the incident stemmed from alleged hazing at the fraternity house. No updates on the condition of the freshman have been publicly released since. At the protest, Sophomore EJ Haas
said that the situation did not feel new. Haas said fraternities foster a culture of toxic masculinity. “[There seems to be] a mentality that hurting people is a way to bond with them,” Haas said. The IFC declined to comment on the incident and the pledge’s hospitalization. MU’s “review of the Greek system” has been a “joint effort” that includes members of Student Affairs and IFC, Basi said. “[Student Affairs and the IFC are] going to be looking at anything that covers the safety and security of events to make sure that students are safe when engaging with events that fraternities host or are involved with,” Basi said. “They will be reviewing those rules and regulations that enforce safety, and make sure that they are being complied with.” This is not the first time Fiji or MU’s Greek Life system has been scrutinized. In 2019, FSL published a 24-page report focusing on hazing prevention and topics like diversity and inclusion. The report made several recommendations to improve Greek Life, including strategies to decrease hazing incidents, such as capping the new member period of rushing to six to eight weeks and encouraging houses to self-report hazing. MU acknowledged the report in a press release, but has yet to implement some of these recommendations, such as placing restrictions on freshmen living in Greek Life houses. Since Jan. 18, 2017, MU’s Fiji chapter has been recorded for violating university policies on six occasions, according
to FSL. Five of these incidents were related to alcohol distribution; the most recent alcohol violation took place Aug. 24. The other hazing-related incident took place in April. Similar to MU, the University of Kentucky recently announced a suspension of all fraternity events following the death of a freshman FarmHouse fraternity member due to “presumed alcohol toxicity,” according to ABC News. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Fiji chapter is facing university sanctions similar to the ones at MU. On Oct. 12, UNL suspended its Fiji chapter through 2026 after a sexual assault was reported at its house in August, spurring multiple protests on and off campus. Another MU Greek Life member at the Oct. 20 protest, Student Three, who is also a member of Greek Life, said that they were concerned Fiji’s history of sexual assaults nationwide is also a problem in the MU chapter. “You could probably walk across campus and run into more than 20 girls that have stories,” Student Three said. “Change needs to happen.” On Oct. 25, Haas said in an email that Fiji should have lost recognition long before the pledge was hospitalized. “Most of my anger comes from the fact that [the hospitalization] was preventable,” Haas said. “The university ought to have taken previous allegations more seriously [and kicked] them off then.” Edited by Emmet Jamieson and Namratha Prasad, ejamieeson@themaneater.com and nprasad@themaneater.com
