SDSU puts 7 fraternities on interim suspension in latest controversy involving its huge Greek system (2024)

San Diego State University has placed seven fraternities on interim suspension while it investigates alleged code of conduct violations in a Greek system with a history of behavioral problems, including hazing and underage drinking.

The university did not specify the nature of the alleged violations or who reported them. But it confirmed that all of the concerns have surfaced since the fall semester began on Aug. 17, when SDSU opened with a record 37,087 students.

The fraternities under investigation include Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Phi Delta Theta, Kappa Alpha Order, Pi Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Phi, SDSU said. Sanctions against the organizations, if warranted, could range from safety training to probation to expulsion.

“Interim suspensions are put into place as part of an effort to address behavioral concerns within a recognized student organization while the concerns are investigated,” SDSU said in a statement.

“(The school) prioritizes the health and safety of our campus community and takes reports of alleged misconduct seriously.”

A view of fraternity row at San Diego State University on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 in San Diego, CA.

(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Like most universities’, SDSU’s code of conduct prohibits a wide range of behavior, including hazing, underage drinking, physical abuse and sexual misconduct.

The new disciplinary action comes about six months after a former SDSU student filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court saying he almost died during an alcohol-fueled hazing incident in 2021 while he was pledging the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

One year earlier, an investigation by the San Diego Union-Tribune revealed that 19 of SDSU’s fraternities and sororities had found themselves in some level of official trouble with the university from 2014 to 2019. The figure represented nearly 40 percent of at least 49 Greek chapters that were active at the time.

Some problems were minor. Some were serious. Most involved underage drinking, hazing, sexual harassment and assault and noise complaints, according to confidential university documents the Union-Tribune obtained through the California Public Records Act.

The paper’s investigation was published one year after Dylan Hernandez, a freshman who had earlier become drunk at an off-campus fraternity party, fell out of a bunk bed in an on-campus dorm and struck his head, suffering a fatal injury.

In San Diego’s College Area neighborhood, where SDSU is located, residents have complained for years about the heavy partying that fraternities and sororities do off campus. There also has been frustration over the fact that the university has very little authority to control student behavior in private homes used for parties.

Some parties have attracted huge crowds that spill into the streets.

From fall 2015 to fall 2019, at least 365 students were taken to hospitals for alcohol and drug-related issues, according to SDSU. It was unclear how many of those incidents directly involved fraternities and sororities. But the Greek system dominates social activities in the College Area.

The neighborhood of Del Cerro is seen looking across the campus at San Diego State University.

(Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

University records from that period say that a fraternity member who was supposed to minimize risk poured hard liquor down an ice luge for partiers to consume. A different fraternity “forced consumption of alcohol ... and group violence,” records said. A third fraternity claimed that “lewd and obscene” behavior had been directed toward SDSU’S Pride Center, which serves the school’s LBGTQ+ communities.

A fourth fraternity was reprimanded for reportedly forcing members to live in a single room with a live chicken.

The problems did not dissipate at the start of the fall semester in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was rapidly expanding.

At the time, SDSU’S School of Public Health was getting praise for helping fight the virus regionally. But the flow of students back and forth between campus and private bashes nearby contributed to a COVID outbreak. In September, about 2,600 students were confined to campus housing to help bring things under control.

SDSU President Adela de la Torre publicly acknowledged the situation, saying the virus was spreading, in part, due to a “plague of parties.”

The tension grew worse in late October of that year when county health officials sent cease-and-desist orders to eight College Area homes where Halloween parties were scheduled to be held. The county said six of the homes were SDSU fraternity and sorority houses.

By the time the Thanksgiving break was getting underway, more than 1,400 SDSU students had tested positive for COVID — the highest number of any college or university in California.

Staff reporter Lyndsay Winkley contributed to this story.