CSUN Incidents Prompt Tougher Stance on Frats

To Steve Mathews, a senior at California State University, Northridge, fraternity life on campus is different these days.

It’s “not as fun anymore,” Mathews said. An atmosphere of fraternal roguery has been replaced by one of restraint, he said.

“It’s all changing, and you could feel it coming,” said Mathews, who is majoring in management information systems. “When I ‘rushed’ back in ‘81, it was 10 nights of straight partying. You don’t get that anymore. There’s a crackdown going on, a real heavy crackdown.”

New Scrutiny

Fraternities, which have been a relatively unobtrusive part of campus life at CSUN for more than 25 years, are being challenged as never before by the school administration.

Mathews’ fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, was suspended last month after members were caught running a class-registration scam, and school officials threatened to kick the organization off campus if it got into further trouble this semester.

Two other fraternities, Lamda Chi Alpha and Sigma Chi, have been put on probation, and punitive action is being considered against a fourth fraternity.

‘Totally New’ Problem

“We have no previous history of this kind of behavior, and we certainly have never responded like this,” said Mary Cronopulus-Raz, assistant dean of students at CSUN, whose job includes overseeing student discipline.

Besides punishing the fraternities with probation and suspension--measures that severely limit their social activities on campus--school officials met last week to develop a code of ethics for Greek organizations and other student groups. There are about 1,200 fraternity members on the 29,000-student campus.

Dean of Students Edmund T. Peckham said the crackdown is not an indication that CSUN’s Greek system may be eliminated, as has happened at several colleges across the country in the past few years. But school officials expect fraternities to “take a harder look at themselves--their rights, responsibilities, privileges--and generally reaffirm their principles,” Peckham said.

The formation of the committee, which is composed of administrators, faculty members and students, comes at a time when the 18 fraternities at CSUN “are trying to develop a positive image after all the agitation we’ve caused,” said Jeff Weiner, president of the Associated Students and a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.

Fraternity incidents have been met with the following responses from school officials:

In January, Sigma Chi was suspended after a November party at its house got too loud and rowdy, prompting complaints from neighbors.

In February, Lamda Chi Alpha was suspended after four of its members made off with plaques and trophies from two nearby sorority houses, reportedly in hopes of using the loot to persuade the sorority women to have parties with them.

In February, Phi Delta Theta was put on probation after three of its members were caught in a scheme to skirt class registration procedures by allowing fraternity members to enroll in popular courses normally offered first to other students. The three students are awaiting further disciplinary action.

School officials are “still considering” imposing sanctions against Pi Kappa Alpha for a January incident at Mammoth ski resort in which a condominium that the fraternity was renting was heavily damaged, CSUN Greek adviser Tom Piernik said.

The fraternities for years have infuriated their residential neighbors to the north of campus, where most of the organizations are situated. Unlike fraternity rows at some college campuses, fraternity houses at CSUN are not next to each other, but are spread over a square-mile area.

Neighbors Complain

Neighbors frequently have complained to school officials about late-night parties, loud music, trash and the lack of on-street parking. Because of the uproar--including one incident in which a party was broken up by a resident armed with a shotgun--fraternities last October agreed to not hold parties on weeknights and to end their weekend parties at midnight, student President Weiner said.

Residents said the situation improved temporarily but that the old problems reappeared.

“They’ve taken over the neighborhood and raise hell on a regular basis,” said Carol Michalski, spokeswoman for the Northridge Homeowners Assn. who has asked CSUN officials to require the fraternities to hold their parties on the campus.

The code of ethics that CSUN President James W. Cleary called for after the Phi Delta Theta class-registration incident will be used as a “behavior barometer” when it is completed by summer and will let fraternities and other student groups “know where they stand when it comes to moral responsibilities,” Peckham said.

In the past, complaints against fraternities were heard by the Interfraternity Judicial Board, which at times struggled with disciplinary decisions because of a lack of a behavioral standard, Peckham said. When the code of ethics is established, he said, the board will be in a better position to know when sanctions should be imposed.

“Most of what I’m looking for in the code are just common-sense things--for example, you don’t get so drunk that you wind up urinating on someone else’s property,” Peckham said, adding that fraternities and other student groups will have to sign the code of ethics and abide by it or the university will not sanction the group.

Michalski, however, said she is afraid that the code of ethics will be “just another piece of paper that will be read and disregarded.”