The St. Thomas Zeta Beta chapter of Gamma Sigma Sigma, a service-based sorority, lost its recognition as an on-campus club because of policy violations committed at its Dec. 4 winter formal in downtown Minneapolis.
The Student Organizations Committee, a group of Undergraduate Student Government class presidents and representatives, revoked club status after a review process and meeting with the Gamma Sigma Sigma executive board, according to Mike Orth, sophomore class president and SOC member.
“They’re no longer a club,” Orth said. “They had their winter formal and questionable things happened at that off-campus event. … There [were] definitely multiple violations, and we had documented evidence from various parties who were involved.”
Twelve Gamma Sigma Sigma members, including two executives, declined to comment.
Because of privacy rules, Campus Life could not provide details on the judicial process or violations, said Margaret Cahill, director of Campus Life.
Without club status, Gamma Sigma Sigma will not have access to school funding for at least a year, Orth said.
“It was a very difficult decision for us to make because these are our fellow students,” Orth said. “But given the facts that we found, it had been a situation that seemed to have occurred in the past. This time, it was something we could not ignore.”
National Gamma Sigma Sigma President, Keli Connor, sent a cease and desist letter to the members of St. Thomas’ Zeta Beta chapter regarding the violations.
The St. Thomas chapter is not allowed to meet “in any capacity” until its mandatory meeting Feb. 15 with the National Board of Directors. According to the letter, “failure to maintain cease and desist status will result in the immediate expulsion from Gamma Sigma Sigma.”
Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority declined to comment.
The St. Thomas chapter will have a chance to reapply for club status in 2012, said Greg Scharine, USG vice president of financial affairs.
But that does not guarantee it will be accepted.
“It’s not automatic, but they can apply again,” Cahill said. “It won’t be this semester. But a lot of that will depend on their relationship with the national office.”
Any student club affiliated with a national organization must be in good standing with that national organization to receive university funding, according to the Undergraduate Clubs and Organizations Handbook.
“We want all of our clubs to be successful. We do,” Cahill said. “And we don’t want to lose clubs. So it’s hard for us when policies aren’t followed and things happen.”
Jacqueline Destache contributed to this story.
Mary Kenkel can be reached at mlkenkel@stthomas.edu.
I’m wondering how they got caught, it was obviously for drinking? Facebook pictures?! Hmm…
This seems to have been handled well.
After reading the policy handbook for clubs, I think that the policies are not fairly enforced. There is clear reason to also remove the club status currently held by the Allies club. Three premises:
1. “Certain types of organizations cannot be recognized by any community. Such are those which are formed for immoral purposes or which are in any way subversive of the aims of the community.” (Undergraduate Clubs Handbook, VI)
2. “…tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life… Under no circumstances can they be approved.” AND “Homosexual persons are called to chastity.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2357 and 2359. Assumption: UST regards the CCC as its standard of morality. I see no better alternative.)
3. The Allies, while claiming “to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people” (UST Club site) are not doing this within the moral teachings of the Catholic Church (see both CCC quotes above).
Conclusion: The Allies violate the UST Club policy and should have their club status removed.
I have attempted to keep this respectful and strictly within the limits of UST club…
…policy. I would appreciate if others did the same. Let’s not let personal opinions on the morality of this issue blind us to the fact that this is still simply a policy violation. UST is holding a double standard in removing this club’s status, while allowing the Allies to remain. BL
Incidents like this are not only harmful to the image of St Thomas and its students, they also appear to have the added effect of validating St Thomas’ decision to not support Fraternities and Sororities on campus. Though, to be fair, I have no idea what the violations were.
This is the most UNFORTUNATE news. As a St. Thomas Alum and GAMMA SIGMA SIGMA sister, this is a terrible decision of the St. Thomas board of directors. How can you get rid of an organization based on community service and sisterhood that gives HUNDREDS of volunteer hours to the community EACH SEMESTER? Isn’t volunteerism a KEY VALUE St. Thomas is built upon? Isn’t charitable giving (another HUGE component of Gamma), the VERY component the university is built on? Without charitable giving, where would the university be? Way to get rid of the LARGEST club at St. Thomas, based on key St. Thomas values. Gammas should be PROUD of the work they have done for the community and stick TOGETHER! I advise attending the student panel discussion on leadership opportunities for women at St. Thomas and see what they have to say…Monday, Feb 7 – 4pm, OEC 103. Good luck current Gammas…sorry the University doesn’t support your cause. Personally embarrassed by this decision.
Saint Thomas has rules and regulations that its clubs must follow in order to maintain club status and receive funding. Violations of those rules and regulations come with prescribed consequences. Those rules were apparently broken, and consequences followed. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
8000 hours combined within the chapter of community service each semester and this is how we are thanked by st. thomas. and as for the SOC member that commented-nothing was supposed to be said, you were not supposed to comment, this was confidential and i am thoroughly disgusted with the publishers of this article for not abiding by our confidentiality.
After looking over the Student Organization Handbook, I saw that yes, Gamma has violated a number of policies, but this is something that is found in many of the on campus organizations, not just Gamma Sigma Sigma. There are so many good things that this organization does, including providing philanthropical donations to the University’s Arch March every year. St. Thomas has no qualms accepting a large check from us every year, but we were told that we’re not allowed to make philanthropic donations (one of the major pillars of our sorority & university). There’s a lot of hypocrisy in this situation, but I am not saying that there were no faults.
On a different note, there are several facts within this article that are not entirely true, but I cannot/will not comment on them at this time due to this being a private, confidential matter (as Kristina Renken, above already posted), and I am appalled by the need of the University to exploit the sorority. There is so much good that we do, and it has always been overlooked. Every single girl in the sorority upholds the pillars and beliefs of the University of St. Thomas to the highest degree, and they are now being punished for it.
How are we supposed to take SOC seriously, when one of their members cannot follow their own rules? Can we vote them out too? It is utterly disgusting that they would result in using TommieMedia as a means to broadcast this event. As this horrid article states, the members were going to be informed on Feb. 15th, and instead they had to find out by this publication. As an alumni of St Thomas, I am horrified by underclassmen voting out an organization that serves the community, not only on campus but off campus as well. Tell me, who is going to help support such organizations as Up til Dawn, and Arch March? Gamma is one of their biggest supporters. What about all of the hours the girls give to surrounding communities? What are they going to do now that they will not have this organization’s support, which they COUNT on all year round? Way to go St Thomas.
Bob Larson,My name is Jt Schuweiler, as it is displayed to the left, and I am the treasurer of the UST Allies. We are a group that educates its members and the UST community on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gendered, questioning and allies issues. As stated, we are a group that educates and does not advocate any sort of political affiliation or sexual activities. However, we do wish to educate people about LGBTQA issues such as discrimination, stereotyping, and how to deal with the emotions surrounding these issues. Now, all three points of your argument are based on homosexual acts, as in sexual activities. UST Allies does not promote sexual activities amongst our community. We do discuss how sexually transmitted diseases were attributed with the LGBTQ community because of the media and general public. For example, in the 1980’s and early 90’s, HIV/AIDS was called the gay cancer with the idea that only gay men could succumb to HIV/AIDS. The previous are certain topics that we discuss, yet we do not discuss how to be sexually active or certain tricks, activities, or ways to being sexually active. Also, the Conference of Catholic Bishops, in its Committee on Marriage and Family of 1997, has said to “welcome homosexual persons into the faith community, and seek out those on…
the margins. Avoid stereotyping and condemning. Strive first to listen. Do not presume that all homosexual persons are sexually active. Learn more about homosexuality and church teaching so your preaching, teaching, and counseling will be informed and effective.” Homosexuals are not immoral, but homosexual acts, intercourse, are immoral to Catholic Church teaching. Allies does not advocate for sexual actions and attempts to teach people about the issues of discrimination, stereotyping, and emotions surrounding the LGBTQA community. If you would like to discuss this more, please feel free to email me at schu1748@stthomas.edu. I do say that you are welcome, and anybody else in the UST community, to attend our meetings every Thursday at 6:00pm to 7:00pm to see for yourself. Posters will be around the campus as of meeting area.
Sorry it is blocky, it did not transfer well.
From the outside looking in it seems as if the Student Organizations Committee has made a sound decision. If there were violations (and as it seems the SOC has evidence to suggest that there were) then there should be repercussions stemming from those actions. I also believe that this isn’t a statement that the University doesn’t support the club and their activities, I’m positive that Gamma Sigma Sigma does good work in and for the community and will probably continue that tradition if or when they regain their recognition, however when they became a club they agreed to abide by a code of conduct; violations were made known to the committee and they had the duty to act based on that evidence, which they did.
If I may also make a comment on a statement that someone made about the members being informed about this at a later date. Without being close to the issue and admittedly not knowing all the information, but based on reading this article it seems that the University is not to be blamed for releasing this information. The Zeta Beta chapter received a Cease and Desist letter from the Gamma Sigma Sigma’s National Board of Directors. By their order the Zeta Beta chapter is not to meet before the 15th. The article does not state that the members were to be informed of this on the 15th but that the chapter would meet with the National Chapters Board of Directors on that date. So as it seems TommieMedia was free to print the information about the chapters loss of recognition.
Kudos to the SOC for enforcing policies among clubs. To the above ladies who have commented in defense of Gamma: ‘x’ amount of service hours does not equate to immunity from policies surrounding club status. Doing a bunch of good stuff does not in any way allow violations of policies. Furthermore, the University and members of the SOC have not done anything wrong in this situation. They have maintained confidentiality, as is evidenced by the lack of details surrounding the “policy violations.” Tommie Media is a media branch and has every right to report on a story such as this.
Finally, to Mr. Larson. This forum is a completely inappropriate place for you to expound discriminatory viewpoints. Let’s keep the discussion on topic, relating to the termination of Gamma’s club status.
Way to go, SOC. Clubs need to be held to the policy contract that they sign if they are to see any of our activities dollars.
I wonder how many other “clubs” out there at St. Thomas violate the rules then? Should every other club be scrutinized???
Clubs should be scrutinized if evidence is brought to light that they have committed violations. Obviously, some evidence came to Campus Life’s attention regarding these violations that prompted this response.
1. If Gamma members are so dedicated to performing community service, none of this should be that upsetting. Obviously, I understand the pride factor that comes with this sorority and that the situation is surprising, but none of this prevents any one from volunteering and doing all this great work in the community.
No one is punishing or criticizing Gamma for the good work it does. Its members broke the rules. There are consequences. The national Gamma chapter started this. Not St. Thomas.
If you all are as dedicated as you claim to be, the best thing to do would be accept your punishment and continue your good works. No one’s stopping you from volunteering.
2. Saying “I bet a bunch of other clubs break the rules too!” is childish. That isn’t the point. The point is that Gamma broke the rules and was caught doing so. Presuming that other clubs violate policy too does not justify the sorority’s behavior at all. Gamma members should take responsibility for their behavior, whatever it was, and work on rebuilding their reputation, not futilely attempting to spread the blame.
3. TommieMedia is a news outlet. Its purpose is to break news and report stories. Nothing about this story, from the publisher’s perspective, is “disgusting” or “appalling.”
So let me get this straight. It appears that the point some of you are making is that once you get a certain amount of community service hours, you should be immune to the rules Saint Thomas has for its clubs? Your club broke the rules, and you’re mad at Saint Thomas for taking the prescribed disciplinary actions!? I for one am glad that my tuition dollars will no longer be going to this club. Take responsibility for your club’s actions.
Ok Grant – from your response in part 2…are you saying that it’s ok for clubs to break the rules, as long as they don’t get caught? Sorry if I’m upset about something that was taken too far by UST…and the fact that this wasn’t supposed to be in the public until after the 15th and that most of the Active members didn’t even know yet. How would you feel if something you poured your time and energy into was ripped out from under your feet and you found out from pitiful TommieMedia? Sorry people have pride, dedication, and loyalty for a group that comes together for a good cause. And sorry that they try and celebrate a successful semester!
Dear Mr. Ben Larson,
First of all, I would just like to say that your argument regarding UST Allies is completely illogical, unsound, and untrue. I am not going to address your argument right now because I have much more important things to do and I simply am tired of addressing the same fallacies that are constantly being spread about UST Allies.
Let me just make one point that I hope you get clear. Assuming that the University and its officials understand Catholic Social Thought and the morality behind it, IF they believed that Allies was contradicting any part of this teaching, they would have already removed the club’s official status. I can tell you that many members of the UST administration, faculty, and staff DO support UST Allies and everything it stands for. As shown at the University Forum last year, Father Malone, Vice President for Mission, defended UST Allies against a group or students making very similar statements that you have made.
That is all.
I’d like to say, as an outsider looking in, I understand the frustration that all Gamma members must feel about their loss of club status at the University. However, be sure to count your blessings, as you will be able to re-apply for club status next year. Rugby, on the other hand, ran afoul of the university due to the behavior of some members in the late 1970s, and after a decade long banishment, lost status again due to confusion over funding in the early 1990s. Twenty long years later, Ms. Margaret Cahill will not even consider granting rugby a club status, though now the past offenders are in their 40s or older. Hopefully Gamma wil be restored sometime before current members are AARP members!
Katrina: No, I’m not saying it’s okay for other clubs to break the rules if they don’t get caught. Rather, I’m saying justifying Gamma’s behavior by arguing “other clubs mess up too” is childish. Remember the phrase, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you too?” Yes, it was annoying to hear over and over while growing up, but it represents good logic. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
You don’t need to apologize. Like I said before, I understand why Gamma members are so upset and surprised by this announcement.
However, Gamma should not be upset with TommieMedia. This is a big story. It affects all UST students, not just Gamma sisters. TM owes no duty to Gamma to wait until all its members are informed before posting a story. The sooner news gets out, the better, usually (as long as it’s accurate). Now, if you can justify how this makes TM “pitiful,” I’d love to read that.
Once again, the sorority’s “pride, dedication and loyalty” is not in question here. In fact, I hope the group’s history of community service will provide an easy reinstatement process. For now, though, no one’s stopping any of you from keeping your pride and volunteering. This will probably just make labeling that work on your resume more difficult.
Katrina where are you getting this information about it not being public until the 15th? from the article; another source? Because the only thing I see regarding that date is that the chapter has a mandatory meeting with the national board of directors, nothing about anyone being informed about the clubs status on that date. To be brutally honest, you need to get over the fact that the article was printed. TommieMedia is a news organization, they report news, do you think that Gamma Sigma Sigma are the only people that get bad news through the media? Many people get terrible news, worse than this from the media, I found out a friend of mine died in a car wreck through the newspaper. so again to be brutally honest, and I don’t apologize for this, get over it.
What AJ Hunter said.
Kudos to Grant.
Katrina,
I would also be upset if someone took away the club status of a club I was involved in…if it was for unjust purposes. However, you seem to provide an admission of guilt (“And sorry that they try and celebrate a successful semester!”) by saying that the members did indeed do something worthy of punishment. Therefore, it leads me to believe that the revocation of Gamma status was indeed just and supported.
Secondly, there is no reason to attack Tommie Media for this story. They did their job, which is to report the news that happens at the university. this is how news outlets work. Their job is to report news as it happens, and they have done this in a fair and unbiased way.
Finally, as Grant has pointed out, there is nothing keeping you from your commitment to community service. There are plenty of opportunities for community service outside of the recognized groups.
I am also very dissapointed that Tommie Media wrote an article about this when it is none of their business and we clearly stated that by declining to comment. I just find it ironic that St. Thomas does not support a SERVICE based sorority when that is one of their pillars. Gamma has 200 member, for most of which Gamma is their only club. The number one question female students ask when touring is if there is a sorority on campus. Now that the answer is no I feel Saint Thomas will lose prospective students based on this alone. Most sororities, eapecially Gamma, are organizations which thrive on friendship and equality and are one of the best ways girls meet friends they keep for life. I know
many girls, including myself, who were considering transferring out of Saint Thomas until they joined Gamma. I think in the long run this will just hurt the University and I am very dissapointed by their decision. It is not fair that the whole group is punished for the poor choices of a few; especially when Gamma has done nothig but good acts for the school, the community and many fellow on campus organizations.
Also, as long at Saint Thomas is so interested Greek life, they should check out their precious business fraternity and realize they aren’t as innocent and amazing as Saint Thomas thinks.
I also want to add that Saint Thomas gives absolutely no money to Gamma and never has. Gamma is an organization that completely funds itself.
Andrea,
1. News is defined as “a report of recent events” this was a recent event. News organizations report recent events (news). TommieMedia is a news organization. so it would follow that it is their business, whether or not the sorority decided to comment on it is irrelevant to if Tommiemedia should publish it.
2. This action doesn’t mean that UST doesn’t support the sorority. Because the article does not state who started the discipline process, was the evidence of a code of conduct breach brought to UST first and then passed onto the sorority national board of directors, or did just the opposite happen.
3. “The long run” may only last a year. If the UST chapter is able to maintain their charter with the National sorority then they are able to reapply in a year. Also this university has been been running for a little over 125 years, should the sorority not retain their charter, I think the university will harmed very little.
4. Punishing the many based on the actions of a few is not new, its been happening for many centuries. one example is Germany following WW1. It may not seem fair, but what in life is ever fair.
5. Based on your second post you sound rather than just dissapointed but vindictive. Which probably rarely looks good in the court of public…
I was about to feel sorry for Gamma Sigma Sigma, until I read some of the comments in here. The amount of entitlement is stunning. It’s Saint Thomas’ fault, it’s the SOC’s fault, it’s Tommie Media’s fault, etc. Incredibly childish. Volunteer work is fantastic, but it does not give you immunity from consequences.
Andrea,
Your comment again ignores the point that Gamma committed policy violations and deserved to be punished. Yes, the poor choices may have been by less than 100% of the people, but whatever happened concerned a club sponsored event, therefore making it a club problem. Just because Gamma does good things and has lots of members does not grant it immunity. Period. Also, I doubt having a sorority on campus is the number one thing girls ask about, since there are 200 members and over 5000 students.
Also, Tommie Media should not be attacked for this. Believe it or not, since they are the media, any news worthy event on campus is indeed “their business.” Tommie Media lived up to and fulfilled their purpose on campus. If it’s public, it’s the media’s business. If you’ve ever picked up a newspaper, you’ll notice that there are countless times that people decline to comment. It’s part of reporting.
I know it is Tommie Media’s job to report news. I’m not disappointed that they are reporting I just wish they would have waited until our meeting with Nationals to report. There are many members who did not even know that Gamma lost club status and it is not fair that they have to find out this way. Nationals wanted to wait until after the meeting for any of this to go public on campus; we could suffer for Tommie Media reporting on this. All I am saying is I just wish they would have waited.
Andrea,
I guess its a good thing TommieMedia acted ethically as journalists by refraining from publishing any of the true details behind Gamma’s dismissal as a campus organization, then. Actually, other than reporting that Gamma lost its club status, TM respected your confidentiality. You must realize that the article above does not divulge any of the “whys” behind the dismissal other than that there were “policy violations.” Since TommieMedia simply informed the campus community of the change in your club’s status and did nothing to defame or tarnish the reputation of the club, I am wondering if you can provide an explanation as to how ethical journalism is going to cause Gamma to suffer during its meeting with Nationals?
Whoa. Bob Larson. Hardcore Catholic Studies student speaking here. Your comment was inappropriate and out-of-line.
And logically flawed. Nick Kor is probably right at this point to ignore the silly charges that get lobbed at Allies all the time (from people who clearly don’t have much of an idea of what Allies actually *does* from day to day), but I’m not as tired of defending Allies as he is. (Probably because of all the time I’ve spent attacking it over the years!)
Simply put: UST Allies, in its official mission and official activities, supports “gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people” in their capacities as HUMAN BEINGS, not in their capacities as homosexuals. This is not only in accord with the Catholic identity of the school; it is a *vital part* of our Catholic mission. (See, for instance, CCC #2358) Homosexuals, both chaste and unchaste, face daunting and unique challenges in our society — and it would be foolish to deny that there is a lot of very real and disproportionate *hatred* for them in some quarters. Allies provides a social support network.
Now, if you can show that Allies has materially violated its own mission statement in some official capacity, by all means share! But Allies is not *per se* in violation of the clubs policy.
…
I would just like to take this moment to commend “pitiful” TommieMedia for reporting a story that absolutely needed to be reported.
As some of the ladies have defended, I think we can all agree that not all clubs uphold the university policies at all times throughout a year. However, I think that the high-profile nature of the Gamma event (off-campus, usually nice facility in the city, hundreds of UST students and a decent amount of pre-21 year olds) made it an event that was bound to get scrutinized at some point after years of consistent violations. However, as many commenters have pointed out, nothing is stopping them from continuing to volunteer around the community and I doubt very much that the beneficiaries of those services will balk at the fact that they no longer hold official club status at the local university.
If they receive no funding from UST anyway, then is there really any problem in the short term?