October 24, 2021

By Emma Flannery and Katie Taranto

Photo by Holden Green

Content warning: This story contains content that mentions sexual violence, alcohol abuse and hazing.

After the hospitalization of an MU freshman for alcohol poisoning on Wednesday, MU has withdrawn recognition of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, also known as FIJI. 

On Friday evening, a mass email sent by Bill Stackman, vice chancellor of Student Affairs,  announced that MU has found the chapter responsible for multiple violations of MU’s Standard of Conduct through a university investigation. This comes after Stackman announced Wednesday evening that FIJI would be temporarily suspended, and halted all MU fraternity activities. 

Friday evening’s email continued the pause on fraternity activities, citing a need to give MU “an opportunity to review [MU’s] current culture … this review will inform new strategies for alcohol safety, hazing awareness, and healthy relationships for all students on campus.” 

Following the student’s hospitalization, MU has launched two investigations: a policy investigation by the Office of Student Accountability and Support and a police investigation by the University of Missouri Police Department. The Columbia Missourian reported that the freshman was in critical condition at University Hospital Thursday evening. It also reported that the freshman was a pledge, a student seeking fraternity membership, and that the incident stemmed from alleged hazing at the fraternity house.

The MU Interfraternity Council — the student leadership council for fraternities — worked with administration to “halt all fraternity activities, including any social events,” after the council learned of the incident Wednesday, Stackman wrote in the Wednesday night email.

The IFC declined to comment on Wednesday’s incidents 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, MU spokesperson Christian 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, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life published a 24-page-long report focusing on hazing prevention as well as 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 the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. 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 2021. 

MU’s FIJI chapter is not the only one facing university sanctions. This month, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shut down its FIJI chapter through 2026 after a sexual assault was reported at its house in August, spurring multiple protests both on and off campus. 

Similar to MU, the University of Kentucky announced a shutdown of all fraternity events on Wednesday following the death of a freshman FarmHouse fraternity member due to “presumed alcohol toxicity,” according to ABC News.