As students begin their collegiate careers, they are encouraged to seek out new opportunities and find their place on campus. For a small portion of the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNC Greensboro) student body, Fraternity & Sorority Life (FSL) has been a place our students call home. While these organizations provide a space for student learning, growth, and development there are, on occasion, times when members fail to uphold the university values and policies. For those reasons, the Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities (OSRR) and Fraternity & Sorority Life at UNC Greensboro have partnered together to develop a process when members of fraternal organizations must go through the formal conduct process for infractions related to organizational activities. Through this experience we have found that it is crucial to develop collaborative and supportive approaches in place but also recognize the challenges and barriers that we are working to overcome.
Opportunities
Student Support
With everything we do in student affairs and student conduct, one of the main priorities is to educate and support our students’ success. Through the student conduct process, it is essential to provide a clear understanding of the process and resources available. When a student or fraternal organizations are going through the conduct process (hazing, disorderly conduct, etc.) it is important to provide them with faculty or staff who can adequately advise them regarding the conduct process and their rights, responsibilities, and obligations. In many cases, chapter advisors are not university administrators so they may not be able to provide the necessary information and support. One of the areas where we have found an opportunity for collaboration is at the point where a misconduct report is filed. In these cases, the office of student conduct notifies the office of Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) and a member of the FSL team becomes a neutral person point of contact for the members/organization involved. This FSL staff member can provide insight into the organization that the student conduct staff may not understand.
Benefits of Collaboration for Student Support:
- Organizations have someone they know or recognize present throughout the process.
- Eliminates the perception of bias. Through investigations, students often feel the university is their adversary. With a support person in place, it provides someone they can seek information from and not feel it will compromise their process,
- Students have someone who can adequately represent the university’s process and help them understand it versus an off-campus advisor who may be unaware of the university’s process.
Investigations
Investigations are crucial to an effective conduct process. It is helpful to collaborate with FSL or student activities when conducting investigations. FSL cases are complicated. Often, conduct offices do not have enough staff to complete investigations without assistance. To address this, it is important to establish investigation teams in collaboration with other offices. A partnership between FSL and student conduct is helpful. Student conduct staff leads these investigations and designs the process and procedures. It’s important to note this process should be applicable across all student organizations and not limited to fraternities and sororities. Additionally, this approach allows team members to provide student conduct staff with knowledge about the different organizations, their structures, cultures, procedures, etc., that they may not know. This is a key benefit for collaboration with these offices.
Create a student organization misconduct investigation team.
- This team would be trained staff members from various offices on campus. The key is to get members involved that would have significant student or student organization interaction. For example, FSL office, student activities/Student Government Association, housing, athletics, dean of students, etc. You will utilize this team when a case comes forward and call on members who would have been trained and can maintain a neutral position.
- Create training or outsource training for your investigation team. It is important to have these individuals trained properly before a potential investigation. Keep in mind training is essential because some administrators will not have experience in how to conduct investigation interviews. The team should go through specific training on how to conduct investigations. The initial training can be outsourced and refresher trainings offered each year. It is important to train these members in specific investigation/interviewing techniques (especially with hazing cases). Most team members will not have the specific training in their roles, so this is necessary for a successful team.
Sanctioning/educational outcomes
After an organization has been found responsible, it is helpful to work in conjunction with the FSL team to ensure the sanctions imposed are educational and align with the type of violation. While we want to show violations of misconduct are taken seriously, it is never the intention to penalize organizations so harshly that students feel fraternities and sororities are no longer wanted or supported on campus.
- Utilize best practices in the field. Our colleagues from other institutions are some of the best resources when looking to sanction an organization. It is helpful to see what other campuses may have done when faced with the same situation. As always, any sanction must be tailored to the violation, and it is not a one size fits all.
- Work with national/international offices or headquarters (HQ) on sanctioning, when applicable. This way, both groups will have a clear understanding of the sanctions and how to move forward.
- Furthermore, this can be an opportunity to collaborate with other offices and utilize programs and events already planned as part of the sanctions. This can lessen the burden that FSL and student conduct staff can feel if an educational program or training is part of a sanction.
- Based on how each campus operates, it is helpful to know the role student conduct leads and fraternity & sorority life play in the investigative process. When we are dealing with misconduct of a fraternity or sorority, we take a two-prong approach with the investigation.
- Once a report is submitted, conduct office or appointed officials review the allegations and determine interim measures (cease and desist). The conduct office will gather the information and form an investigation team.
- The designated FSL staff will serve as the contact person to communicate with fraternity/sorority members, meet with the local organization to review the charges with student conduct, schedule investigation interviews, and serve as a support person for any FSL students that may have questions about the process.
- At the completion of the interviews, student conduct will review information gathered and decide if charges can be brought against the student or organization. Together with FSL they will make a recommendation regarding the next steps and share with upper-level administration.
Aftermath support
No matter the outcome of the investigation, resources and support should be available for all those who may have been impacted by the investigation. This could include the FSL community, affected individuals, alumni, and staff.
- Based on the outcomes of the investigation, consistent messaging that can be shared with the community and other stakeholders will be essential. If removing a chapter from campus, working with the university communications team to prepare that messaging is helpful.
- Offering support to affected chapter/organization members- counseling services based on the potential impact, keeping FSL team updated on things. Let students know they are not in it by themselves. One area we know is important is chapter president support. These cases are not only a lot of responsibility for them, but also come with a lot of pressure from their peers and can be difficult to process and understand.
Barriers
Office structure/org chart
One area that we found to be a potential barrier is the structure of offices that work in collaboration. For example, the student conduct office and FSL office may be under different departments and/or different supervisors. This can be a potential barrier if discussions or updates need to be provided to separate people, but also knowing who needs to be a part of important conversations. In our case, we are in different departments, but the same division. We have different Associate Vice Chancellors (AVC), but both are aware of the need for collaboration and work well to include one another. This barrier can cause tension, but it is important to bring up with your team and figure out how to work around.
Tips for addressing office structure barriers:
- Plan a meeting with important stakeholders (i.e., AVCs or AVPs) to work on the collaboration and ways to review processes and procedures to include communication across the collaborating offices.
- Review policies and procedures now, before you need them for a case. Make sure you have this type of collaboration worked out in advance.
Outside university communication
One area that has been challenging is collaboration and/or communication with outside contact. The chapters are part of the national/international organizations. Their different levels of activeness or involvement may create barriers that challenge our ability to collaborate with our HQ colleagues. As a university it is important to ensure you are efficient in following your policies and procedures. Headquarters representatives may not know your specific codes of conduct, so it is important to keep that in mind. Some organizations also have active alumni, which can complicate the situation when outcomes affect them and they are either unaware of the process or influenced by rumors.
Investigation Team Barriers – Employee Turnover/volunteer position
These teams are essential in helping the investigations, but this is usually a volunteer program. Sometimes you can make certain positions part of someone’s job description, but this is not always an option. It may be helpful for you to present this investigation team as a professional development program to gain more supervisors to support.. Employee turnover can also be challenging, as it can be difficult to sustain a team when you lose vital members. Make certain to keep track and add new members as people leave. It may be helpful to review the interview team roster on an annual basis and have them confirm their placement on the team. Additionally, supervisors should notify the student conduct office when an investigation team member has left the department or institution.
Collaboration with Police Departments
There are conduct investigations across campuses that collaborate with the police department. It can be difficult when a student organization case could potentially result in criminal charges. In situations when criminal charges are possible, coordination with the university police department or local police department is vital. Criminal charges may require different information than what the university conduct process requires. It is important for the conduct team to understand the needs of each department as they collaborate.
Conclusion and Future Goals
As we continue this collaborative work, we are finding new areas to improve or add to this work and ways to navigate these challenges. These are the areas we want to continue building in the future:
- Constructing, implementing and training a new investigation team.
- Education and early intervention. Review areas that need more education and improvement. Adding more communication so students know where to come to ask questions and ask for help.
About the Authors
Ashley L. Jones is the assistant director for Fraternity & Sorority Life at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. In her role, she is committed to empowering students to become engaged, responsible, and active members of their campus communities. Beyond her professional expertise, Jones is deeply invested in the holistic development of students, ensuring that their time in college is not only academically rewarding but also personally fulfilling. She holds a master’s degree in Student Personnel Administration in Higher Education from UNC Greensboro and a bachelor’s degree in health education & Family and Consumer Science from Western Michigan University.
Jennifer Cotto-Ecklund is the assistant dean of students and director of the Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where she oversees a range of student conduct operations, including academic integrity cases, hazing investigations, and Title IX hearings. With extensive experience in both student conduct and campus crisis management, Cotto-Ecklund is dedicated to advancing student development, maintaining campus safety, and supporting the academic and personal growth of students in higher education. She holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from Stony Brook University and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Mercyhurst University.
