Please see below for messages regarding unrecognized groups from the Office of Student Conduct and Community Expectations.
TO: Members of the Lehigh University Greek Community
FROM: Christopher Mulvihill, Associate Dean of Students
RE: Co-sponsorship / Participation with Dissolved or Formerly Recognized Chapters by Recognized Chapters.
Lehigh University has a long standing tradition of excellence in its Greek Community. The member
organizations are among the finest in the country and our Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs is at the cutting edge of programing and education in developing a meaningful Greek experience for individual members.
Being a part of that tradition of excellence is a privilege and it requires that organizations meet certain standards of behavior, as found in the Lehigh University Code of Conduct and as evaluated by Lehigh’s nationally recognized accreditation program. When organizations fail to meet those standards, and fail to utilize the incredible resources available to assist them in doing so, they are removed from our community. Most recently this applies to Kappa Sigma Fraternity. It also applies to other groups that are no longer a part of our community such as Delta Phi and Lambda Chi Alpha, (a,k,a,) “Lambda”.
As these groups no longer enjoy the benefits or carry the responsibility of membership in the community, it is inappropriate for our currently recognized chapters to continue to have a relationship with these groups. Doing so diminishes the work that your organizations do and puts your members at risk, as these groups are not required to participate in the trainings related to health and safety issues that your organizations participate in.
Continuing to grant these organizations a sense of legitimacy through socializing and participating in events with these groups undermines the efforts of the Lehigh University Greek Community to provide life-long benefit to your member’s experiences. It also undermines the messages concerning the positive nature of Greek Life as these unrecognized groups are the antithesis of the best in what Fraternity and Sorority Life represent. At a time where the benefit of Greek Letter Organizations is in question because of the lack of concern for the health and safety of others that is sometimes demonstrated, why would you continue to provide a place for groups that have demonstrated a complete disregard for the foundational principles of Greek Life to exist? Failing to hold these groups accountable for their failures makes those organizations that continue to recognize them complicit in the degradation of our community’s reputation.
Lehigh University has a duty to maintain the integrity of the Greek Community and does so by providing resources to the community that are unmatched for an institution of our size and enacting reasonable policies for the management of the community. With that in mind, the following policies are being enacted:
Organizations that participate in or co-sponsor events of any nature (social, service/philanthropic, or
educational) with formerly recognized organizations will be charged with violations of the Lehigh University Code of Conduct including (but not limited to):
- Failure to comply with the reasonable requests of University officials (including law enforcement) while acting in the performance of their duties.
- Violating any Lehigh University policies, rules, or regulations, including but not limited to, residential living policies (General Provisions for Occupancy) and policies related to the use of the University computer network.
- Encouraging or facilitating others in actions that violate the Code of Conduct. (Kappa Sigma is barred from participating in events sponsored by or affiliated with Lehigh University).
This memo should also serve to remind our Chapters that are members of the National Panhellenic Council of the NPC policy on Events with Recognized Fraternities and the congruent local NPC Policy as presented in the September 1, 2017 letter from Brigette Gardner.
I ask you as members of the Lehigh University Greek Community to take a stand and honor our excellent Greek Community by not giving away the benefits of membership to those organizations that have failed to live up to our standards.
TO: Members of the Dissolved Lehigh University Chapter of Kappa Sigma
FROM: Christopher Mulvihill, Associate Dean of Students
RE: ON-GOING ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITY BY FORMER MEMBERS OF KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY
Over the past several weeks it has come to the attention of the University that the members of the recently dissolved Kappa Sigma Chapter at Lehigh University are recruiting first-year students into the non-existent Kappa Sigma Chapter. Furthermore, there was an off-campus party the weekend of October 7, 2017 in which 5 former members were cited for having a disorderly house and over 150 students were seen leaving the party and another citation for a disorderly house over the weekend of October 28, 2017.
These actions clearly violate the sanction of Dissolution that was imposed on Kappa Sigma Fraternity on July 14, 2017. There are several repercussions from the continued existence and operation of the organization both for the now defunct organization and the individual members:
For Kappa Sigma Fraternity:
The Kappa Sigma Chapter was dissolved effective July 14, 2017 through July 4, 2019. The failure of the organization to adhere to the dissolved status jeopardizes the organization’s ability to return to campus at a later date. Additionally more active measures to disallow continued activity will be taken:
- No more than two former Kappa Sigma members may participate in intramurals on the same team.
- Any organization hosting or co-hosting social, service, or other events with the formerly recognized Kappa Sigma fraternity or a portion of its members is subject to disciplinary action.
- No former member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity can reserve campus spaces without direct permission from the Dean of Student’s Office,
- Any attempt to circumvent these limitations will result in the organization being barred from returning to Lehigh permanently.
Former members of Kappa Sigma Fraternity continue to act as an organization through recruitment and social events. That being the case, continued activity that could be construed as organizational activity on the part of individuals will be adjudicated through the University Conduct Process. As of the issuance of this letter, the minimum recommended sanction for this activity will be deferred suspension for one full semester. Furthermore, activity meant to circumvent the above limitations on organizational activity, will also be adjudicated through the University Conduct System.
All former Kappa Sigma members are required to provide the Office of Student Conduct and Community Expectations with their off campus addresses. Failure to do so will result in students being held accountable for failure to comply with this request. You can submit off campus addresses to the Office of Student Conduct at inosc@lehigh.edu.
Lehigh University imposed significant sanctions, including dissolution, against the Kappa Sigma Fraternity because of its repeated violations of the Lehigh University Code of Conduct. The former members of this organization are required to adhere to that decision. Failure to do so will result in significant consequences for the individuals and far reaching ramifications for the future status of Kappa Sigma at Lehigh University.
Lehigh University commends the Kappa Sigma National Office for severing ties with this currently
unrecognized chapter and hopes that they will hold their members accountable through their internal
processes as well.