Duke University has partially lifted a sorority suspension handed down after a student was hospitalized in an alcohol-related incident, Larry Moneta, the school’s vice president of student affairs, said in a statement.
The statement provided few details, but the school paper, The Chronicle, citing an email from an administrator and the president of the Panhellenic Council, reported Wednesday that the student, a new sorority member, was in critical condition following the Tuesday night incident.
Moneta has said the student is expected to recover.
Moneta’s initial statement announcing that all sorority activity had been suspended came earlier Wednesday. It noted there were “concerns about activities that have taken place during the most recent rush and bid periods, heightened by the hospitalization of a student for an alcohol-related issue.”
The university’s student-affairs staff would be meeting with 10 sorority chapter presidents and the Panhellenic Executive Board “to ensure compliance with policies on social events, rush and alcohol use,” Moneta said early Wednesday.
Later, he issued a statement saying that the participants in the meeting had a “candid and productive conversation focused on steps that can be taken to undermine a social culture, not unique to Duke, that is excessively focused on alcohol use and abuse. All agreed that what happened last night was unacceptable and that steps must be taken to prevent any similar recurrence.”
As a result, he said, the suspension of sorority activities was partially lifted and the chapters may continue to host study breaks, “sisterhood events,” chapter meetings and philanthropic activities.
“Further sanctions are expected to be lifted in the near future,” he wrote.
