Campus Council voted to remove the organization’s charter after reviewing the group’s past conduct
Mariah Joyce
Editor in Chief The fraternity Phi Omega Sigma has been de-chartered by Campus Council (CC), and the organization has appealed the decision to the Office of the President. “From my individual perspective and general observations, the decision was made largely as a consequence of the fraternity consistently engaging in conduct fundamentally incompatible with the values of The College of Wooster community,” said Campus Council Chair Jack Johanning ’17. CC voted to de-charter Omega on February 9, 2017. The decision came a little more than a year after the fraternity threw a party at their then off-campus house during reading days. At that party, underage students were served alcohol and several students reported experiencing symptoms of drugging. Though no one in the fraternity was found to have drugged any beverages, the fraternity was held responsible for the incident because it occurred at their event. After that incident the fraternity was suspended pending investigation. The administration lifted the suspension in December 2016, and CC decided to exercise its right to de-charter organizations in the first meeting of the spring semester and began a process of charter review. CC heard testimonies and deliberated in their meetings on February 23 and March 2. On March 9 the organization entered an executive session where only voting members were permitted to be present and voted to de-charter the organization.
During the February 23 meeting, CC discussed a more recent incident where individuals who identified themselves as Omegas were chanting homophobic slurs; the phrases “we’re the Omegas, who the fuck are you” and “fucking queers” were both parts of the chant, though Omega President Cole Buehler ’17 maintained that he did not think the chant said “queers.” Also discussed in that meeting were the changes that Omega had implemented, including instating a new advisor and having several members undergo bystander intervention training.
During the March 2 discussion, CC members continued to question Omega leadership about the chants, their proposed constitution changes, and their New Member Education process. One proposed constitution change was the addition of a “risk management chair” to ensure the safety of attendees of Omega events, as well as bystander intervention training for fraternity members.
At-large representative Rudy Fatehpuria ’19 questioned the leadership about whether they would be willing to draft a letter to the campus taking responsibility, and how they were modifying their organization to ensure the safety of students. A representative said that they would be willing to draft a letter, that “we need to continue to educate ourselves” and the fraternity would build better leadership and encourage bystander intervention training for all members.
Gender and Sexual Diversity Representative Heather Smith ’17 questioned the fraternity about their chant, which she had been told included the phrases “Fuck a Zeta, beat a Beta” and “fucking queers.” An Omega representative said that the chant was not supported by the fraternity and was perpetrated by alumni. Smith also asked why the fraternity had sent an email to The Wooster Voice saying that the conversation about the December 2015 incident needed to be “put to rest.”
“What we were trying to get at with putting this conversation to rest was these were alleged incidents that happened over a year and a half ago, and they keep bringing these alleged incidents up and putting the entire thing in a negative light, which not only affects us but it also affects the community, it affects the freshmen who come in with little to no knowledge of us and Greek Life as a whole, so to continue this discussion of what may or may not have happened doesn’t really help anyone out, in the long run,” said an Omega representative.
At-large Representative Jordan Griffith ’19 asked the fraternity why New Member Education activities took place following the suspension; another meeting attendee involved with that investigation noted that while it was determined that new members were participating in pledging activities, they were doing it of their own volition and not at the encouragement of any active Omega members.
Griffith also noted that the proposed constitution gave alumni almost full membership rights in the fraternity, and asked how the fraternity could support the alumni when they “espouse misogynistic and homophobic language.”
An Omega representative responded that they had made it clear to all current members that those chants were not acceptable and would communicate the same thing to the alumni.
At-large representative Brandon Burkey ’18 noted that “With the drugging it wasn’t you: it was some unknown source; with the pledging it wasn’t you: it was some prospective members acting on their own; with the party during finals week it was an unclear email; with the chants it wasn’t you: it was the alumni. So all of these events seem to pass blame onto others, and I can’t prove otherwise.”
“Let’s assume that’s true and it really was always other people’s fault,” said Burkey. “In what way would your new constitution attempt to address all of this negativity and all these negative allegations surrounding your organization?”
An Omega representative said that the constitution was only a piece of paper, and that their actions, such as undergoing bystander intervention and alcohol safety training, were what would dispel the negative allegations surrounding the fraternity.
CC also discussed allegations of harassment and retaliation against members of Omega, including harassment on social media and the vandalizing of some members’ carrels in Scovel Hall. Griffith called the harassment unacceptable, and said that he too had been a victim of harassment due to the process.
“That is wholly unacceptable across the board,” said Griffith. “That’s not how adults should be interacting with each other.” Johanning agreed.
After CC voted to de-charter the fraternity, Omega had until March 31 to appeal the decision to the Office of the President, which they did. Bolton said that she could not yet give a specific timeline for the appeal, but that she would carefully review the materials submitted, might request additional information if needed and would then determine the outcome. The fraternity could not be reached for comment regarding their appeal.