Rollins College suspends all fraternities for 'high-risk behavior'

Suspension does not affect sororities at Winter Park school

WINTER PARK, Fla. – All fraternity life activities at Rollins College in Winter Park have been suspended because of "high-risk behavior," officials said.

Dr. Meghan Harte Weyant, Rollins dean of students, sent a letter addressed to the campus community, saying the decision was "made for the safety and wellbeing of all our fraternity and sorority life students and the community at large."

The letter did not address the specific type of behaviors that led to the suspension of the school's six frats.

The suspension does not affect sororities, Rollins College said. 

The letter said all chapter privileges are denied and chapters are not allowed to conduct meetings or activities during the temporary suspension.

File: Fraternity Life Temporary Suspension Notification

"In the upcoming weeks, I will be working closely with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, Interfraternity Council and chapter presidents to determine a best plan of action to more closely align the vision and values of the fraternity experience with the academic mission of Rollins," Weyant said in the letter. "We will work to strengthen the fraternity community at large, as well as work with individual chapters to support their positive growth and engagement within the campus community."

News 6 reached out to the North American Interfraternity Conference that works with two Rollins College fraternities, Chi Psi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

"The safety and well-being of students is our number one priority," the organization said in a statement. "We will always be supportive of accountability for not meeting shared expectations, but we oppose blanket actions that impact students who are following the rules."

With nearly half of the school's population involved with Greek life, several students told News 6 they were instructed to not speak to the media.

Some students said Rollins College is being proactive.

"Rollins is a great school and stuff, but I mean you hear different things happen in different frats all the time," said sophomore Martin Rodriguez. "I think it's good that Rollins actually sent out an email and like let's their students know and actually is involved in making sure all of their students are safe."

Another student said several of his friends are relieved to take a break from the rushing process because of the suspension.

"They are a little relieved I think at this point because they are going through a lot of hard times at rush, and they get a little break," said Freshman Luke Horan. "We have a saying 'Tars don't haze.' I think they definitely being cautious here. They don't want to step over any boundaries, so they just shut it down."

When News 6 asked Winter Park Police about any recent incident involving Rollins College students, the department sent information about a physical fight at a Winter Park apartment complex on Sunday evening. In that incident, one person was taken to the hospital. A neighbor at the complex told News 6 that he heard a lot of commotion down the hall on Sunday evening.

Weyant said the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life will hold open office hours Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. to answer any questions or concerns.


About the Authors:

Daniel started with WKMG-TV in 2000 and became the digital content manager in 2009. When he's not working on ClickOrlando.com, Daniel likes to head to the beach or find a sporting event nearby.

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.

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