In March of this year, the University of Southern California ended a roughly five-month suspension of fraternity activities. Previously, multiple chapters were involved in sexual misconduct allegations that shook the campus. The highly ranked private nonprofit institution worked with Greek life student leaders last academic year to redraft health and safety rules for parties, including requiring fraternities to issue wristbands to students 21 and older and to station security at entrances and at stairways and hallways leading to bedrooms.

However, USC said these policies caused dissatisfaction among fraternity members, and by Friday afternoon, at least eight chapters had chosen to break away from university oversight. These fraternities formed their own coalition called the University Park Interfraternity Council (UPIFC). The new coalition said this move freed them from USC's suffocating rules, but the university said it would no longer promote these chapters, and they would also lose educational opportunities and rights to use the university's logo and branding.

However, they are not the first Greek life groups to "break up" with their universities. Last year, a group of fraternities severed ties with Duke University; in 2018, several chapters at West Virginia University followed suit. These fraternities typically cite deteriorating relations with the university or restrictions on activities and recruitment as reasons for leaving.

These breakaway chapters pose a huge challenge for administrators, as universities try to regulate organizations that help sustain campus culture and attract alumni interest and donations. Greek organizations can become breeding grounds for drug and alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct, and dangerous or even deadly hazing rituals, and once they refuse campus oversight, these problems can spiral out of control.

Complicating matters further, the national associations representing fraternities and sororities do not reject these breakaway chapters. In fact, they have historically tended to try to overturn strict Greek life policies rather than side with the institutions enforcing them.

So severing ties is "a nightmare" for administrators, said John Hechinger, a journalist and author of "True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America's Fraternities." "The biggest club they have is closing a chapter," Hechinger said. "Now that club is gone."

What happened at USC?

Last fall, USC's Sigma Nu chapter faced numerous allegations of drugging and sexual abuse. The fraternity removed its chapter president, who was at the center of the sexual assault allegations, and police also named him a suspect in an assault case.

USC suspended Sigma Nu and several other fraternities after protesters accused the university of failing to properly oversee Greek life. Students also protested that the university delayed notifying the campus after the Sigma Nu incidents were first reported. The chapter said in October 2021 it would fully cooperate with the investigation.

Some critics called on USC to permanently disband fraternities, but the university did not do so. Although over the past nine years, 12 Greek life chapters have lost university recognition for violating the campus code of conduct.

According to media reports, USC launched investigations into several of the suspended fraternities, and those investigations are still ongoing. Meanwhile, the university began implementing new safety rules that it developed jointly with student groups, including Greek life chapters, during the last academic year.

However, administrators began hearing rumors that fraternities might break away. USC's interim vice president for student affairs, Monique Allard, and the director of fraternity and sorority life, Devin Walker, sent a letter to fraternity chapters on August 6, warning that cutting ties with the university would have "serious consequences." In the letter, they wrote that chapters not affiliated with the university could not use USC's logo or branding in advertisements, would lose eligibility for career development opportunities, and could not participate in fall and spring student organization fairs.

Administrators also threatened to discourage students from joining these breakaway chapters. USC subsequently posted a list online naming some of these chapters and advised students not to join or associate with them.

Their pleas were unsuccessful. On August 12, six fraternities announced they were breaking away, and other chapters followed.

"Of course, as individuals, every USC student will continue to receive our full support," USC said in a statement afterward. "While the departure of these fraternities affects only a small portion of our student body, we deeply care about the well-being of our students. This decision is harmful and goes against 130 years of tradition."

The newly formed UPIFC said in a statement that these groups' "partnership with USC has severely deteriorated" and that they had become "largely nonfunctional" after the university suspended fraternity social activities. UPIFC also said it is committed to ensuring the safety of its members and outsiders.

Independent Greek life poses challenges for administrators

Hechinger said administrators find it difficult to crack down on fraternities and sororities that misbehave outside their jurisdiction. For one, universities cannot punish a Greek life chapter as an organization, such as forcing it to disband or cease social activities. Universities can still enforce the code of conduct against individual students, such as penalizing students who drink underage.

But Hechinger noted that without university-imposed party restrictions, Greek life chapters may drink more recklessly, increasing the risk of sexual violence. A 2020 survey by the Association of American Universities of 33 four-year institutions found that the most commonly reported incidents of nonconsensual contact among women occurred in fraternity houses.

The community then has to rely on law enforcement to monitor and punish such incidents. Hechinger said local police find it difficult to act on minor incidents and even harder in major cases like sexual assault. In other words, when administrators lose touch with chapters that go independent, an important behavioral check disappears. Hechinger said this is a problem because universities may be the most effective institutions for changing the climate.

Stevan Veldkamp is the executive director of the Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research and Reform at Pennsylvania State University. The center is named after a fraternity pledge who died in a hazing ritual in 2017.

Veldkamp said a deep problem pervades Greek life: some chapters are straying from their core purpose of driving positive change. Fraternities and sororities were designed to be "immersive training experiences for living and leading in a democratic society," he said in an email.

"Whatever the reasons for the separation decisions, and whatever the merits of either side of the argument, what does it teach students, or ultimately mean, if they emulate divisive tactics—that we can leave or walk away from the conversation if we disagree?" Veldkamp said.

How the West Virginia breakaway happened

Matthew Richardson witnessed the aftermath of the breakaway. He is the director of West Virginia University's Center for Fraternal Values and Leadership, which runs its "Project 168" initiative aimed at bringing more meaning to students' out-of-classroom experiences.

In 2018, five fraternities broke away from West Virginia University. Richardson said four of them remain separated from the university to this day. Their departure was a response to measures the university took to curb alcohol abuse and other misbehavior, rules that were introduced after a hazing-related death in 2014.

Richardson said the breakaway fraternities must enforce safety protocols themselves, but he believes this is not always achieved. Women in sororities are also more reluctant to attend events sponsored by these chapters because there is "no guarantee of risk management standards," unlike those adopted by West Virginia University, Richardson said.

Fraternity chapters affiliated with the university have agreed to random spot checks of their registered sponsored events, he said. Greek life staff or university police can make unannounced visits to such parties, and the chapters welcome this, Richardson added, noting that the checks are not intended to be punitive.

Importantly, breakaway chapters lack the education on issues such as sexual misconduct, drug and alcohol abuse that the university provides, meaning they must address these topics with little support, Richardson said.

If the university catches a member of a breakaway chapter drinking underage, it must penalize that person as an individual. He said this could result in harsher individual penalties than if the university took action against the entire group.

Richardson said there is little communication between West Virginia University officials and these breakaway groups. If the university receives a police report involving these chapters, it forwards the information to the fraternity's national headquarters. "Sometimes they accept it, sometimes they don't respond at all," Richardson said. This illustrates how difficult it is for national Greek organizations to monitor chapters remotely, often located in other states, he said.

The lukewarm response of national Greek organizations

Richardson said the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), which represents 56 fraternities, is also of little help in these situations. The NIC worked with West Virginia University to try to persuade its fraternities not to break away, but they ultimately did so "behind the NIC's back," he said.

Richardson said the NIC is primarily a trade association aimed at protecting the interests of its paying member chapters, even if they lack university affiliation. For example, he said, the NIC opposes deferred recruitment, a strategy some universities have tried that requires first-year students to complete a full semester or even a year before joining a Greek organization. Because chapters do not want recruitment delayed, the NIC supports them, Richardson said, despite evidence that students who join fraternities in their first year may not successfully integrate into academic life.

The NIC argues that deferred recruitment is unfair because other student organizations can add members at any time. It has also actively opposed the practice—Bloomberg reported in 2013 that years after a first-year student died in a hazing incident, the NIC sent industry experts to review California Polytechnic State University's recruitment process. The university subsequently banned Greek organizations from recruiting freshmen during their first semester on campus.

The investigators called Cal Poly's recruitment "dehumanizing and superficial" and said Greek life was centered on alcohol. But their report still called for an end to deferred recruitment in Greek life, arguing it went against students' freedom of choice.

West Virginia University requires students to complete at least 12 credit hours and maintain a 2.75 GPA before joining a sorority or fraternity. USC has similar standards, requiring students to complete 12 credit hours and achieve a 2.5 GPA to join a chapter. Several USC Greek life groups filed lawsuits over the policy, but a Los Angeles Superior Court judge upheld the university's position in 2020.

When asked for comment on USC, NIC spokesperson Todd Shelton cited a statement the organization released on August 13, saying it is committed to working with the new breakaway fraternities and prioritizing the health and safety of all students. "The NIC remains hopeful that through two-way listening and constructive, solution-oriented dialogue, we can build bridges to successful partnerships that address the concerns that led to this situation," the statement said.

A spokesperson for the National Panhellenic Conference, which represents 26 sororities nationwide, directed Higher Ed Dive to its position statement on unaffiliated chapters. The statement says these organizations operate no differently than university-affiliated chapters and should adhere to the same Panhellenic policies and procedures. They "operate with the goal of continuing to provide a valuable sorority experience on campus," the statement reads, "and the NPC and member organizations take a leadership role in providing the resources needed for success."