This university cracked down on Greek life. Here’s how it’s going

Inside a nondescript brick house overlooking West Virginia University’s picturesque campus, Nolan Burch stood with his fellow pledges, laughing and joking around as he held a necktie to his eyes. The time had come for the Gamma Phi chapter of Kappa Sigma’s “Big/Little ceremony” – the final rite in a grueling, alcohol-soaked gauntlet the college freshman understood as necessary to join the fraternity – and soon the chapter house’s security cameras captured him blindfolded by his tie, being led out of the house with one hand on the shoulder of the young man in front of him. Then he vanished from view.

When Burch reappeared in the security footage later that night, he was no longer on his feet. A group of fraternity members hauled the passed-out pledge into the house by his arms and legs and laid him face down on a table. He remained still as the others kicked at his side, thrust their hips toward his head and snapped photographs of him. All the while, his body was shutting down: his blood alcohol content was more than six times the legal limit, according to the Morgantown Police Department, the result of downing a bottle of whiskey at the command of his brothers-to-be.

By the time they noticed Burch’s face had turned blue and called 911, it was too late. An outgoing kid from the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, who adored his little sister, Burch never regained consciousness. He had been well-liked growing up, a baseball and hockey player who announced on the drive home from his first campus visit that he wanted to be a Mountaineer. He declared a major in business, but he had years to figure it out, and he had mentioned a budding interest in law to his family. Now he was dead just a week after turning 18.

The 2014 fatal hazing incident, followed by continued reports of sexual assaults and drug and alcohol issues in the school’s fraternities, galvanized administrators to crack down on Greek life at West Virginia’s flagship university. In 2018, then-president E. Gordon Gee announced drastic action: the university was putting a six-month moratorium on most activities for chapters in the Interfraternity Council, while convening a working group to comb over each fraternity and sorority chapter’s history and determine which ones would be allowed back the next semester. The group would also come up with new standards aimed at changing the culture of Greek life on campus.

“We have two paths before us,” the seven-time university leader said at the time. “One is the path that many of our peers have chosen: Shut down Greek life. Or two, work together as partners – the University, students, alumni and our national leaderships – to create real change. I wish to choose the latter.”

Age-old questions about the unholy marriage between higher education and Greek life have been thrust back to the forefront after a former Cornell University student filed a lawsuit alleging she was sexually assaulted by multiple members of Chi Phi at their chapter house in 2024. The Ivy League school’s president, Michael I. Kotlikoff, faces growing demands from some students and faculty to abolish its Greek system; one associate professor, Andrew Moisey, declared to a local news station that “Cornell is in an abusive relationship with fraternities and has been since 1873.” That year, a blindfolded Cornell student fell off a cliff during an initiation ceremony in what is considered the US’s first recorded fraternity hazing death.

Cornell University professors debated a vote of no-confidence in university President Michael Kotlikoff during a contentious Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday, pressing him over student safety, fraternity culture and what they called his inaction following an alleged sexual assault at the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024.

Kotlikoff on Tuesday announced a ban on parties and social events at campus fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year as officials review fraternity life at Cornell to determine “whether and how it can safely continue.” He has expressed skepticism about more aggressive interventions, telling faculty and other university leaders in a closed-door meeting, “I have to make the point that this doesn’t only occur in fraternities” and “I worry about pushing this into the shadows.”

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Universities have long grappled with how to manage the Greek-letter organizations that have become synonymous with American higher education over the last two centuries. Every new school year brings new hazing scandals, and research has found fraternity members are more likely to commit sexual assault and their houses are among the most common sites of sexual assaults on college campuses. Yet abolishing Greek life altogether is far from an easy proposition.

The Greek system, founded to offer camaraderie outside the tight control of 19th-century university administrators, is backed by powerful national organizations and by devoted alumni, who populate corporate C-suites and the halls of Congress and donate generously to their alma maters. Advocates of Greek life say fraternities and sororities play an important role in the lives of their members and for the schools that host them, touting benefits like friendships that endure long past graduation and involvement in community service projects. Most fraternities and sororities are associated with philanthropic groups at both the local and national level.

The presence of Greek life on campus, with its stately houses, exuberant social events and starring role in American pop culture, can also be a lure for students, the lifeblood of academia. That’s especially in a time of dwindling enrollment, soaring tuition and stiff competition between schools. Many entering the Greek system are newly experiencing independence as they enter adulthood and, as part of the generation kept home under COVID-19 restrictions, craving opportunities to connect.

Ithaca mayor calls for moratorium on campus Greek life

Eric Barron, president of Pennsylvania State University from 2014 to 2022, described problematic behavior in Greek life as a significant challenge for administrators, “made more so by the sense that you’re not in complete control.” After sophomore Tim Piazza died in a highly publicized hazing incident in 2017, the university leader’s frustration was palpable in an open letter to the Greek community, where he listed a decade’s worth of unsuccessful efforts to address the issues of sexual assault and excessive drinking.

“If new rules can just be ignored, or behavior just goes underground, and if there is no willingness to recognize the adverse impact of excessive drinking, hazing, and sexual assault, then is there any hope?” he asked in the letter.

A 19-year-old’s death became a ‘turning point’ for America’s fraternities

A short-lived fraternity member himself, Barron told CNN he believes Greek life switched at some point to being a “net negative.” He described facing “incredible pushback” from alumni while trying to rein in problematic behavior. Still, he continues to believe that the best of fraternities and sororities can be recaptured.

“I did feel like it had impact,” he said of his efforts. “But you also can’t yield. This isn’t something where you can relax back.”

As a freshman at Cornell in 2023, Caitlin Gallagher reluctantly joined her new girlfriends in rushing a sorority, she said. Once she was in, she was swept up in the excitement – even signing up to live in the Alpha Chi Omega’s Zeta Phi chapter house. But by the end of her sophomore year, she was becoming disillusioned by a system that she told CNN seemed to be “defined by how men view women.”

The breaking point came after university administrators sent a crime alert about the now notorious 2024 Chi Phi sexual assault allegations in the days after getting a report from Jane Doe. As a member of the executive board, Gallagher pressed for her sorority to issue a statement denouncing what allegedly occurred – a move she saw fitting for a group whose philanthropic cause was domestic violence awareness.

She was shocked, she said, when others on the board didn’t want to get involved.

“I wanted us to be the organization to condemn it, but they didn’t even want to do that,” Gallagher said. “And I just – I just couldn’t understand that.”

So she left Greek life behind . Before long, she was questioning the entire enterprise. In an article published by the Cornell Sun before her graduation last spring, she pointed out that results from a campus Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct survey showed 20% of instances of nonconsensual sexual contact reportedly occurred in fraternity chapter houses or annexes. “What percentage of sexual assaults,” she asked, “have to be linked to fraternity houses until Cornell eliminates them from campus entirely?”

As outrage mounted after Jane Doe’s lawsuit brought the Chi Phi allegations to national attention, Cornell’s chapter of Alpha Chi Omega released the kind of statement Gallagher wanted to see two years earlier.

“The sisters of Alpha Chi Omega’s Zeta Phi chapter at Cornell University stand with survivors of sexual and domestic violence,” it began.

During a recent town hall at the Ivy League school, one student raised the question of a Greek life ban, asking student organizers if taking that step might improve the culture on campus.

Reaction was mixed, with one organizer raising the importance of Black fraternities and sororities on campus. Cornell is home to the first intercollegiate historically African American Greek-letter fraternity. Another student said she worried the Greek system creates a “party culture” and helps feed “toxic masculinity.”

Angelina Katsanis/Reuters

Greek-letter organizations have been run out of some private liberal arts schools, like Swarthmore College, where administrators announced a ban in 2019 amid a backlash over leaked documents containing racist and misogynistic comments allegedly written by past fraternity members. For public institutions, though, the right to freedom of association essentially takes that option off the table, according to Adam McCready, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut who studies Greek life and belonged to Theta Delta Chi as an undergraduate at George Washington University.

“The challenge for public institutions,” he said, “is you can choose not to recognize these groups. But then they continue to exist off campus without any oversight or resources – which may only exacerbate the problems.”

At Katy Love’s small private school, Drake University, “everyone was Greek,” she said. Through Delta Gamma, she met friends she’s still in touch with today, 24 years after graduating. She married a guy from the fraternity next door, and the bridesmaids and groomsmen were her sorority sisters and his fraternity brothers. The two have since divorced, but she looks back on the experience fondly.

Now a mother of five kids, including a daughter who is eager to rush when she heads off to college next year, she has now found herself wondering, in the wake of the Cornell case, whether Greek life has a future in her family.

“It was just this legacy to hand down to my children,” said Love, who shares parenting advice on her Instagram account . “And now I’m really second-thinking it.”

Nolan Burch’s parents were never part of Greek life in college. When their son told them he was joining a fraternity, TJ and Kim Burch thought of it like any other student organization. Only later did they learn that Kappa Sigma’s national office had pulled the West Virginia chapter’s charter two days before the “Big/Little” ceremony, a familial ritual connecting each incoming member with an established one. It was then, after Nolan’s death, that they started to realize he had shown telltale signs of hazing during the pledge process. He didn’t look like himself; he wasn’t smiling. Asked about it, he told his parents he was tired and just had to get through a few more weeks before rush would be over.

“Never in our wildest dreams would we think sending our kid off three months into his freshman year we would be bringing him home and planning a funeral,” his mother said. “It’s not right; it’s not normal. It’s devastating, is what it is.”

Courtesy of the Burch Family

After Nolan was taken off life support, West Virginia University administrators suspended Greek activities. Kappa Sigma’s national headquarters issued a statement saying the organization was “distraught and saddened by the news” and that it had notified the university and chapter two days before the ceremony that its charter was withdrawn following “previous, unrelated violations” of its code of conduct.

Kappa Sigma would remain dormant at WVU. Two of its former members – Nolan’s fraternity big brother and the master of ceremonies for the event that killed him – were arrested on misdemeanor hazing charges. They entered pretrial diversion agreements which required completing community service and serving two years of probation. The Burch family sued the university, Kappa Sigma Fraternity, the Gamma Phi chapter, the two charged fraternity members and others, eventually settling for $3 million, the bulk of which was paid by the two ex-fraternity members, according to student newspaper the Daily Athenaeum .

Gee, the university president and himself a Pi Kappa Alpha alum, called on the Greek community to “work smart and play smart.” But when problems persisted even four years later,he announced the fraternity crackdown. In an interview with CNN, he said what happened to the student was “just appalling to me.” But as a believer in the freedom of association and in fraternities and sororities as a way of finding community if done right, he did not see an outright ban as the right path.

“First of all, we exist because of students at university and second of all, we need to understand our students and make them our partners,” said Gee, who retired last year after 45 years in higher education leadership. “And by and large when you do that – when you treat them as adults and as partners – they act that way.”

The university raised the minimum GPA requirement for Greek life participation, shortened the new member initiation period, placed new limits on social events and pushed recruitment to the spring semester, according to a report and recommendations released at the time. The working group of administrators and Greek life representatives created action plans for each chapter to resume operations in fall 2018 based on a blind review of their previous four years.

But five fraternities facing sanctions broke off from the university rather than getting into compliance. The organizations, which maintained recognition from their national groups, created their own fraternity council. An incensed Gee announced they would be banned from campus for at least 10 years. He said the university would take other drastic steps: notifying parents and students of the chapters’ lack of recognition, encouraging other recognized student organizations not to associate with them and prohibiting them from using university resources or logos.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File

“This is not the wild west,” Gee told a Morgantown radio show at the time. “The old days of a fraternity being able to do anything they want to is not what should happen — nor should it happen with any organization.”

Leaders of the breakaway organizations claimed their due process rights were being violated – an argument backed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which wrote the university arguing that the fraternities had not been given enough notice or opportunity to contest the sanctions. Gee refused to budge, saying the 10-year ban was firm and accusing the national organizations of encouraging the break.

Barred from using the university’s name, the spinoff fraternity council’s social media profile offered this description: “The new and improved Independent Interfraternity Council in Morgantown, WV.”

Eight years later, at the start of this academic year, West Virginia University announced that three of the disaffiliated fraternities – Kappa Alpha Order, Phi Sigma Kappa and Delta Chi – were on their way back to the university fold. The trio is now listed on a university webpage for “upcoming expansions.” They join 19 registered fraternities, up from the eight that remained after the 2018 crackdown.

Leadership at the university turned over last year, with the president, the dean of students and the director of Greek life all departing. Kyle Shatto, WVU’s interim director of Fraternity and Sorority life, told the student newspaper he hopes to reengage students in Greek life and reverse low membership trends in fraternities. He forwarded a CNN interview request to a university spokeswoman, who declined to make officials available and did not provide answers to a list of questions.

“The three fraternities that are now registered organizations — Alpha Sigma Phi, Sigma Chi and Theta Chi — have worked with new University leaders to meet the requirements for full recognition,” West Virginia University spokeswoman Shauna Johnson said in an emailed statement, adding that the school “does not condone hazing or any dangerous activities that threaten student safety or well-being.”

Gee, who used to pop into fraternity parties unannounced to keep tabs on them, said he is not bothered by the reintegration of the three formerly rogue organizations. Instead, he described it as part of a “success story.”

“I think that these disaffiliated fraternities discovered that without university support, many of them started to dwindle on the vine,” he said.

Nolan Burch’s parents also welcomed news that the fraternities would once again be affiliated with the university, with his father saying “some oversight is better than zero.”

But the oversight hasn’t prevented all allegations of wrongdoing. Just last week, West Virginia placed Lambda Chi Alpha on an interim suspension after receiving multiple anonymous reports of hazing. The school did not release details of the claims, and the chapter did not respond to a request for comment. The national organization told CNN Lambda Chi Alpha “strictly prohibits hazing and takes all allegations seriously” but was unable to comment on specifics because of an ongoing investigation.

TJ and Kim Burch, whose son would have turned 30 this year, remain frustrated by what goes on inside fraternities. But they fault the national organizations more than the universities.

“It’s been going on for years before Nolan, and still years after Nolan,” TJ said. “And they’re not doing anything about it.”

“I think they’ve lost sight of what they’re supposed to be about,” Kim said. “It seems like it’s a free-for-all. And it just keeps getting worse.”

For the past 12 years, the couple has tried to teach students to recognize when someone is at risk and step in, through a documentary about their son’s death, through a speaking tour of middle and high schools and through the Remember Nolan Project . Hearing of cases where no one intervened – where other young men died while pledging, where a young woman said multiple fraternity members joined in her assault – can make them wonder what the point is.

“It’s like a sucker punch,” Kim Burch said. “You know, you turn the news on, and here we go again. And you’re out there fighting constantly, and you feel like you’re not making a dent.”

But trying, she added a moment later, “is all we can do.”

CNN’s Avery Wang, Jeff Winter, Gloria Pazmino and Taylor Galgano contributed to this article.

在西弗吉尼亚大学风景如画的校园里，一栋毫不起眼的砖房内，诺兰·伯奇正和他的新成员们站在一起，一边说说笑笑，一边用领带蒙着眼睛。卡帕西格玛兄弟会伽玛菲分会的“大小兄弟会”仪式开始了——这是大学新生加入兄弟会前必须经历的一系列艰苦卓绝、酒精熏陶的考验中的最后一项——很快，兄弟会会所的监控摄像头拍下了他被领带蒙住双眼，一只手搭在前面年轻人的肩膀上，被领着走出房子的画面。然后，他便消失在了监控录像中。

当晚晚些时候，伯奇再次出现在监控录像中时，他已经昏迷不醒。一群兄弟会成员抓住他四肢，把他拖进屋里，脸朝下放在桌子上。其他人踢他的肋部，用臀部顶他的头，并给他拍照，他一动不动。与此同时，他的身体机能正在衰竭：据摩根敦警察局称，他的血液酒精含量超过法定限值的六倍多，这是因为他听从了准兄弟们的命令，喝下一瓶威士忌。

当他们发现伯奇脸色发青并拨打911时，一切都太迟了。伯奇是纽约州布法罗郊区一个性格外向的孩子，他非常疼爱自己的妹妹，却再也没有醒来。他从小就人缘很好，是棒球和冰球运动员，第一次参观校园回家的路上就宣布他想成为一名登山者队队员。他选择了商科专业，但他还有几年时间慢慢考虑，而且他还曾向家人提到过自己对法律的兴趣。如今，他刚满18岁一周就去世了。

2014年发生的致命入会仪式欺凌事件，以及随后不断爆出的兄弟会性侵、毒品和酒精问题，促使西弗吉尼亚州这所旗舰大学的校方开始严厉打击兄弟会和姐妹会活动。2018年，时任校长E·戈登·吉宣布了一项严厉措施：学校暂停兄弟会理事会下属各分会的大部分活动六个月，同时成立一个工作组，审查每个兄弟会和姐妹会分会的历史记录，并决定哪些分会可以在下学期恢复活动。该工作组还将制定新的标准，旨在改变校园内兄弟会和姐妹会的文化。

这位七次担任大学校长的领导人当时表示：“我们面前有两条路。一条是许多同行选择的道路：关闭兄弟会和姐妹会。另一条路是携手合作——大学、学生、校友和国家领导人——共同努力，实现真正的变革。我希望选择后者。”

在康奈尔大学一名前学生提起诉讼，指控其于2024年在Chi Phi兄弟会会所遭到多名成员性侵后，高等教育与兄弟会之间由来已久的“不正当结合”问题再次被推到风口浪尖。这所常春藤盟校的校长迈克尔·I·科特利科夫面临着来自部分学生和教职工日益高涨的废除兄弟会制度的呼声；一位名叫安德鲁·莫伊西的副教授向当地一家新闻电视台宣称：“康奈尔大学与兄弟会之间存在着一种虐待关系，而且这种关系自1873年以来就一直存在。”那一年，一名蒙着眼睛的康奈尔大学学生在入会仪式上坠崖身亡，这被认为是美国有记录以来首例兄弟会欺凌致死事件。

周三，康奈尔大学教务委员会召开了一场激烈的会议，教授们就对大学校长迈克尔·科特利科夫的不信任投票进行了辩论。他们向科特利科夫施压，要求他解决学生安全、兄弟会文化以及他们所称的在 2024 年 Chi Phi 兄弟会发生的一起性侵犯事件后不作为等问题。

科特利科夫周二宣布，康奈尔大学将禁止本学年剩余时间内在校园兄弟会会所举办派对和社交活动。校方正在审查康奈尔大学的兄弟会生活，以确定“兄弟会生活是否以及如何才能安全地继续下去”。他对采取更激进的干预措施表示怀疑。在一次闭门会议上，他告诉教职员工和其他大学领导：“我必须指出，这种情况并非只发生在兄弟会里”，“我担心把这个问题掩盖起来”。

安娜·莫尼梅克/盖蒂图片社

过去两个世纪以来，兄弟会和姐妹会几乎成了美国高等教育的代名词，如何管理这些组织一直是大学面临的难题。每个新学年都会爆出新的欺凌丑闻，研究发现，兄弟会成员更容易犯下性侵犯罪行，他们的会所也是大学校园里性侵犯事件频发的场所之一。然而，彻底废除兄弟会和姐妹会绝非易事。

希腊式社团制度创立的初衷是为了在19世纪大学管理者的严密控制之外，为学生提供一处自由的友谊空间。如今，它背后有强大的全国性组织和忠诚的校友支持，这些校友遍布企业高管和国会，并慷慨地回馈母校。希腊式社团的支持者认为，兄弟会和姐妹会不仅对成员的个人生活至关重要，对学校也意义非凡。他们强调，加入兄弟会和姐妹会能带来诸多益处，例如毕业后依然长久的友谊以及参与社区服务项目的机会。大多数兄弟会和姐妹会都与地方和国家层面的慈善团体有着密切的联系。

校园里兄弟会和姐妹会的存在，包括其气派的会所、热闹的社交活动以及在美国流行文化中的重要地位，对学生——学术界的命脉——来说，具有极大的吸引力。尤其是在入学人数减少、学费飙升以及学校间竞争激烈的当下，这种吸引力更为显著。许多加入兄弟会和姐妹会的学生正值步入成年之际，体验着刚刚开始的独立生活；同时，作为受新冠疫情限制措施影响而居家隔离的一代，他们渴望与他人建立联系。

伊萨卡市长呼吁暂停校园兄弟会/姐妹会活动

宾夕法尼亚州立大学2014年至2022年任校长埃里克·巴伦(Eric Barron)曾表示，兄弟会/姐妹会中的不良行为对校方管理者来说是一项重大挑战，“尤其令人感到无法完全掌控局面”。2017年，大二学生蒂姆·皮亚扎(Tim Piazza)在一次备受瞩目的入会仪式欺凌事件中丧生。此后，巴伦在一封致兄弟会/姐妹会的公开信中，坦率地表达了他的沮丧之情。他在信中列举了过去十年间为解决性侵犯和过度饮酒问题所做的种种努力，但都以失败告终。

他在信中问道：“如果新规可以被忽视，或者不良行为可以转入地下，如果人们不愿意承认过度饮酒、欺凌和性侵犯的不良影响，那么还有希望吗？”

一名19岁青年的死亡成为美国兄弟会的“转折点”。

巴伦本人也曾短暂加入过兄弟会，他告诉CNN，他认为兄弟会和姐妹会的生活方式在某个阶段发生了转变，变成了一种“负面影响”。他描述了在试图遏制不良行为时，如何遭到校友们的“强烈抵制”。尽管如此，他仍然相信兄弟会和姐妹会最美好的一面可以重现。

“我的确觉得我的努力产生了影响，”他谈到自己的努力时说。“但你也不能就此放弃。这不是可以放松警惕的事情。”

凯特琳·加拉格尔 (Caitlin Gallagher) 说，2023 年她作为康奈尔大学新生时，很不情愿地和新认识的闺蜜们一起加入了姐妹会。一旦入会，她就被那种兴奋的气氛感染——甚至还报名入住 Alpha Chi Omega 姐妹会的 Zeta Phi 分会宿舍。但到了大二结束时，她开始对这个体系感到失望，她告诉 CNN，这个体系似乎“是由男性如何看待女性来定义的”。

在简·多伊报案几天后，大学管理人员就臭名昭著的2024届Chi Phi姐妹会性侵指控发布了犯罪警报，这成为了事件的导火索。作为执行委员会成员，加拉格尔力促她的姐妹会发表声明，谴责所指控的事件——她认为这对于一个致力于提高人们对家庭暴力认识的慈善组织的宗旨而言，是恰当之举。

她说，当董事会其他成员不愿参与时，她感到很震惊。

“我希望我们这个组织能够谴责这种行为，但他们甚至连这个都不愿意做，”加拉格尔说。“我简直——我就是无法理解。”

于是她离开了兄弟会/姐妹会。不久之后，她开始质疑整个兄弟会/姐妹会的运作模式。在她去年春天毕业前夕，《康奈尔太阳报》发表了一篇文章，文中她指出，校园性侵犯及相关不当行为调查结果显示，20%的非自愿性接触事件据称发生在兄弟会/姐妹会的会所或附属建筑内。“究竟要有多少性侵犯事件，”她问道，“与兄弟会/姐妹会有关的事件，康奈尔才会彻底将它们从校园中清除出去？”

在 Jane Doe 的诉讼将 Chi Phi 的指控带到​​全国关注之后，随着愤怒情绪的不断高涨，康奈尔大学 Alpha Chi Omega 分会发表了 Gallagher 两年前就希望看到的那种声明。

“康奈尔大学 Alpha Chi Omega 姐妹会 Zeta Phi 分会的姐妹们与性暴力和家庭暴力的幸存者站在一起，”声明开头写道。

在最近一次常春藤盟校的市政厅会议上，一名学生提出了禁止兄弟会/姐妹会活动的问题，询问学生组织者采取这一步骤是否会改善校园文化。

各方反应不一，一位组织者强调了黑人兄弟会和姐妹会在校园中的重要性。康奈尔大学拥有美国历史上第一个跨大学的非裔美国人希腊字母兄弟会。另一位学生则表示，她担心希腊字母兄弟会会滋生“派对文化”，并助长“有毒的男子气概”。

安吉丽娜·卡特萨尼斯/路透社

一些私立文理学院已经取缔了希腊字母兄弟会/姐妹会，例如斯沃斯莫尔学院。2019年，由于泄露的文件中包含据称由前兄弟会成员撰写的种族主义和厌女言论，引发强烈反弹，该校校方宣布禁止此类组织。然而，康涅狄格大学研究希腊字母兄弟会/姐妹会的副教授亚当·麦克雷迪表示，对于公立院校而言，结社自由权实际上排除了这种可能性。麦克雷迪本科就读于乔治·华盛顿大学，曾是Theta Delta Chi兄弟会的成员。

他说：“公立机构面临的挑战在于，你可以选择不承认这些团体。但这样一来，它们就可以继续在校外存在，没有任何监管或资源——这只会加剧问题。”

凯蒂·洛芙就读的德雷克大学是一所小型私立学校，她说：“那里几乎人人都是兄弟会/姐妹会成员。” 通过德尔塔·伽玛姐妹会，她结识了至今仍保持联系的朋友，即便毕业24年后依然如此。她嫁给了隔壁兄弟会的成员，伴娘伴郎分别是她的姐妹会姐妹和他兄弟会的兄弟。两人后来离婚了，但她仍然对这段经历充满美好的回忆。

如今，她已是五个孩子的母亲，其中一个女儿明年即将上大学，渴望加入兄弟会或姐妹会。在康奈尔事件之后，她开始思考，兄弟会或姐妹会在她的家庭中是否还有未来。

“这原本是我打算留给孩子们的一份遗产，”洛芙说道，她经常在Instagram上分享育儿经验。“但现在我真的开始重新考虑这件事了。”

诺兰·伯奇的父母大学时从未参与过兄弟会/姐妹会活动。当儿子告诉他们要加入兄弟会时，TJ和金·伯奇夫妇只是把它当作普通的学生社团。直到后来，他们才知道卡帕西格玛兄弟会的全国总部在“大小兄弟”仪式（一种将每位新成员与一位老成员联系起来的家庭式仪式）举行前两天撤销了西弗吉尼亚分会的特许状。诺兰去世后，他们才开始意识到，他在入会过程中表现出了明显的欺凌迹象。他面容憔悴，笑容不再。当被问及此事时，他告诉父母自己很累，只想熬过几周，等招新结束就好了。

“我们做梦都没想到，送孩子上高一三个月后，我们竟然要把他带回家，筹办他的葬礼，”他​​的母亲说。“这太不公平了，太不正常了。这简直是毁灭性的打击。”

承蒙伯奇家族惠允

诺兰被撤掉生命维持系统后，西弗吉尼亚大学校方暂停了兄弟会和姐妹会的活动。卡帕西格玛兄弟会全国总部发表声明称，该组织“对这一消息感到悲痛欲绝”，并表示在仪式举行前两天已通知大学和分会，由于此前“与本案无关的违反行为”违反了其行为准则，该组织的特许状已被撤销。

卡帕西格玛兄弟会（Kappa Sigma）在西弗吉尼亚大学（WVU）一直处于停滞状态。该兄弟会的两名前成员——诺兰的兄弟会“老大哥”和导致他丧命的那场活动的司仪——因轻罪欺凌指控被捕。他们签署了审前分流协议，要求完成社区服务并接受两年的缓刑。伯奇一家起诉了西弗吉尼亚大学、卡帕西格玛兄弟会、伽玛菲分会、两名被指控的兄弟会成员以及其他相关人员，最终以300万美元达成和解，其中大部分由两名前兄弟会成员支付，据学生报纸《每日雅典娜报》（Daily Athenaeum）报道。

吉伊是大学校长，他本人也是Pi Kappa Alpha兄弟会的成员。他呼吁兄弟会和姐妹会成员“聪明地学习，也聪明地玩乐”。但四年后，问题依然存在，于是他宣布对兄弟会进行严厉打击。在接受CNN采访时，他表示，这名学生的遭遇“令我感到震惊”。但他相信结社自由，也认为如果运作得当，兄弟会和姐妹会是建立社群的一种方式，因此他并不认为彻底取缔兄弟会或姐妹会是正确的做法。

“首先，我们之所以存在，是因为有大学生；其次，我们需要了解我们的学生，并让他们成为我们的合作伙伴，”去年从高等教育领导岗位退休的吉说道。“总的来说，当你这样做——当你把他们当作成年人和合作伙伴对待——他们也会以同样的方式对待你。”

根据当时发布的一份报告和建议，该大学提高了参与兄弟会/姐妹会活动的最低GPA要求，缩短了新成员入会期，对社交活动设置了新的限制，并将招新活动提前至春季学期。由校方管理人员和兄弟会/姐妹会代表组成的工作组，在对各分会过去四年的情况进行匿名审查的基础上，为每个分会制定了在2018年秋季恢复运营的行动计划。

但面临制裁的五个兄弟会选择脱离学校，而不是遵守规定。这些组织虽然仍保留着各自全国性组织的认可，却成立了自己的兄弟会理事会。愤怒的吉伊宣布，这些兄弟会将被禁止在校园内活动至少十年。他还表示，学校将采取其他严厉措施：通知家长和学生这些分会已失去学校认可，鼓励其他获得认可的学生组织不要与它们有任何关联，并禁止它们使用学校资源或标识。

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images/文件

“这里不是蛮荒西部，”吉当时在摩根敦的一个电台节目中说道。“过去那种兄弟会可以为所欲为的时代不应该重现——任何组织都不应该如此。”

这些脱离兄弟会的组织领导人声称他们的正当程序权利受到了侵犯——这一论点得到了教育个人权利基金会的支持。该基金会致函大学，指出兄弟会没有得到足够的通知或机会来对制裁提出异议。吉伊拒绝让步，称十年禁令不可更改，并指责全国性组织怂恿兄弟会脱离。

由于被禁止使用大学的名称，该衍生兄弟会理事会的社交媒体简介是这样描述的：“位于西弗吉尼亚州摩根敦的全新升级的独立兄弟会理事会”。

八年后，在本学年伊始，西弗吉尼亚大学宣布，三个曾被学校除名的兄弟会——Kappa Alpha Order、Phi Sigma Kappa 和 Delta Chi——即将重返校园。这三个兄弟会目前已列入大学网页上的“即将扩建”名单。它们的加入使该校注册兄弟会的数量从2018年整顿行动后仅剩的八个增加到19个。

去年，西弗吉尼亚大学领导层发生更迭，校长、学生事务主任和兄弟会/姐妹会事务主管均已离职。该校兄弟会/姐妹会事务临时主管凯尔·沙托告诉学生报，他希望重新激发学生参与兄弟会/姐妹会活动的积极性，扭转兄弟会成员人数下滑的趋势。他将CNN的采访请求转给了大学发言人，但发言人拒绝安排校方人员接受采访，也未回答一系列问题。

西弗吉尼亚大学发言人肖娜·约翰逊在一份电子邮件声明中表示：“目前已注册的三个兄弟会——Alpha Sigma Phi、Sigma Chi 和 Theta Chi——与大学新领导层合作，以满足全面认可的要求。”她还补充说，学校“不容忍欺凌或任何威胁学生安全或福祉的危险活动”。

吉伊过去常常不打招呼就闯入兄弟会的派对，监视他们的动向。他说，他对这三个曾经的非法组织重新融入主流并不感到困扰。相反，他将其描述为“成功故事”的一部分。

“我认为这些脱离大学的兄弟会发现，如果没有大学的支持，它们中的许多兄弟会就开始逐渐衰落，”他说。

诺兰·伯奇的父母也对兄弟会将再次与大学建立联系的消息表示欢迎，他的父亲说“有些监管总比没有监管好”。

但监管并未阻止所有不当行为的指控。就在上周，西弗吉尼亚大学在收到多起匿名举报后，暂时停办了Lambda Chi Alpha兄弟会的活动。该校并未公布指控详情，该兄弟会分会也未回应置评请求。Lambda Chi Alpha全国组织告诉CNN，他们“严禁欺凌行为，并严肃对待所有指控”，但由于调查仍在进行中，无法就具体细节发表评论。

TJ和Kim Burch夫妇的儿子今年本该30岁了，他们仍然对兄弟会内部的种种现象感到失望。但他们认为，比起大学本身，全国性的兄弟会组织才是更大的责任。

“这种情况在诺兰之前就存在了，诺兰之后也依然存在，”TJ说。“但他们对此却无动于衷。”

“我觉得他们已经忘记了自己最初的宗旨，”金说道。“现在的情况就像一场混战，而且越来越糟。”

过去12年来，这对夫妇一直致力于通过一部关于他们儿子去世的纪录片、一次中学和高中巡回演讲以及“纪念诺兰项目”，来教导学生们如何识别他人身处险境并及时伸出援手。然而，当他们听到一些无人干预的案例——比如其他年轻男子在入会仪式中丧生，或者一名年轻女子声称多名兄弟会成员参与了对她的性侵犯——时，不禁会质疑这一切的意义何在。

“这就像被人狠狠打了一拳，”金·伯奇说。“你知道，你打开新闻，结果又来了。你一直在努力奋斗，却感觉毫无成效。”

但她过了一会儿又补充说，尝试一下“是我们唯一能做的”。

本文由 CNN 的 Avery Wang、Jeff Winter、Gloria Pazmino 和 Taylor Galgano 共同撰写。