President and Chancellor Renu Khator has announced the immediate suspension of the Epsilon Xi chapter of Sigma Chi after allegations of hazing within the fraternity.
“I am shocked, dismayed and deeply disappointed that allegations of this nature have arisen on our campus,” Khator said in an email to faculty, staff and students.
In addition to the fraternity itself, the University has suspended five students while an investigation, which was turned over to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office today, will determine if charges will be filed.
If the allegations are proven, the students face disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from UH.
“Those who engage in such reckless and immature behavior will be punished to the full extent of the law and in accordance with University policies,” Khator said in the email.
These allegations come after racist chants at the University of Oklahoma were reported, garnering national attention and bringing to light potentially dangerous activities by fraternities and sororities.
“I expect all of our students, regardless of whether they belong to a Greek organization, to understand the obligations they have as members of our community,” Khator said. “These include upholding the highest values in their decisions and actions, and personifying a campus culture based on treating every person with respect and dignity.”
Correction: Originally this article stated that the racist chants at OU were part of a hazing ritual, which is incorrect.
Glad you did not disclose student names or the type of allegation that has occurred because now it’s a legal matter. Such a shame that this happened here. WE are better than this.
Racist chant wasn’t a part of a hazing ritual
Because, after all, we should always punish groups and individuals prior to any gathers of facts. It’s not like people have ever been wrongly accused of things at other universities like the entire Duke Lacrosse team or anything.
One thing puzzles me. I thought their(Sigma Chi) frat. house was off campus. Why did the University of Houston Police investigate this? Did the hazing occur on campus or at the fraternity house? Will this affect any possible prosecution, if it is warranted? If U.H.P.D. chooses to go outside their normal jurisdiction, that shows a bias and would possibly affect the pursuit of legal remedies to address any possible wrong doing? Guess we’ll have to wait to hear, if this incident(s) occurred at an on campus or off campus location. If it occurred off campus, someone should ask why the appropriate agency was not informed and allowed to take the lead in the investigation.
This involved current UH students. It only makes sense that the school (and school PD) would be as involved as they can be in bringing information to the UHPD for prosecution. I sincerely hope all those frat members that aided the hazing in any way are named and expelled from this school.
There is no jurisdictional issue. A university police department’s jurisdiction is countywide wherever the university has property.
In response to some of the other comments: There is most likely no jurisdictional issue under state law, but there probably is by tradition and long standing agreements concerning areas of operation. If the determining factor for UHPD to investigate something is merely the persons affiliation to the university, then someone needs to notify the Harris county Sheriff’s Office and the Houston Police Department that they can call UHPD to handle any criminal incident(DWI, illegal narcotics, assault, etc…) involving a U.of H. faculty, staff, or student.