University of Arizona suspends fraternity activities as reports of misconduct persist

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The University of Arizona has suspended activities at its fraternities following persistent reports of misconduct, including assault, hazing, and drug and alcohol-related behavior, a university official said.

Just seven weeks into the fall semester, the university’s Dean of Students Office was investigating multiple misconduct reports involving nearly half the school’s Interfraternity Council chapters, Dean Chrissy Lieberman said Monday in a letter to the school’s fraternities and sororities announcing the suspension.

The reports follow misconduct findings against some interfraternity chapters in the spring and multiple criminal investigations, according to the letter.

“The number of cases under investigation and the severity of the concerns is egregious,” Lieberman wrote.

University spokesman Nick Prevenas did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the criminal investigations on Wednesday.

The Associated Press left messages with the university’s police agency. Officer Frank Magos, a spokesperson for the Tucson Police Department, said he was unaware of recent cases involving fraternities that were investigated by the city’s police agency.

Prevenas also did not say whether the suspension was triggered by recent public outcry over how Cornell University handled allegations that multiple fraternity brothers sexually assaulted a woman in 2024. Lieberman’s letter noted that “the value of the Greek experience is under scrutiny nationwide.”

The suspension prohibits fraternities from hosting, attending, participating in and sponsoring any organizational activities at least until their advisers have met with Lieberman at one of three meetings that were scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Oct. 12, according to the letter.

The letter said the dean’s office had reached “capacity” to investigate misconduct reports, and that reports continued even after the university’s president warned Interfraternity Council presidents at an August meeting about the possibility of additional consequences.

“It is time for the University of Arizona Greek community to step up and set an example for good,” the letter said. “It is time to have difficult conversations with each other and the members of the community.”

The university had previously suspended activities at the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity after new members last year were reportedly forced to consume large quantities of alcohol and live goldfish and were subjected to screaming, degradation, and threats, according to a Sept. 2 letter from a university official to the fraternity.

An email and phone message at the fraternity’s national headquarters were not immediately returned. The AP also reached out to six other fraternity chapters at the University of Arizona’s campus via social media seeking comment on the suspensions.