Chi Phi’s recognition revoked by national organization

Contrary to media reports

In an article published in The Times of Trenton on Wednesday, Chi Phi president Levi Malik ’14 said the fraternity had dropped its Greek letters but might consider continuing its existence as an unaffiliated group of former Chi Phi members.

But Chi Phi national executive director Michael Azarian said the national fraternity closed the Alpha-Sigma chapter at Princeton on March 10 due to “a failure on their part to meet our minimum expectations and actively participate in the national organization.”

He added that national fraternity’s decision to close the Princeton chapter involved the chapter’s “long history of financial delinquency.”

Malik declined to comment.

Azarian said Chi Phi’s decision to revoke the Princeton chapter’s charter was not in response to any hazing incident, though he did note that the national organization recently learned of an “illegal initiation” the Princeton chapter conducted at the house of another Chi Phi chapter this past weekend, over a month after the group had lost its affiliation. He declined to provide the name of the chapter where the Princeton group held the initiation.

While Azarian did not attribute the chapter’s failure to meet the national organization’s expectations to the unrecognized status of Greek organizations at Princeton, he did note that, “Chapters operate better when there’s university recognition.”

When drafting its recommendations for how the University should implement the ban on freshman rush, the Committee on Freshmen Rush Policy considered the possibility that Greek organizations may drop their national affiliations in an attempt to get around the policy.

Accordingly, the Committee defined a fraternity or sorority as an exclusive organization with a primarily social purpose, which may or may not have a Greek-letter affiliation. The Committee’s report explicitly excluded eating clubs from this definition.

Representatives of Princeton’s fraternities and sororities contacted for this article either did not respond to the request for comment, declined to comment or said their organization had no plans to drop their national affiliations, like Chi Phi was reported to have done.

“We’re still going to remain affiliated,” Sigma Chi president Cuauhtemoc Ocampo ’14 said, citing the fraternity’s “zero tolerance” policy for freshman rush. “We’re going to follow University regulations.”

A representative of Princeton’s Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter also confirmed that it plans to remain affiliated with the national organization, and Pi Beta Phi Associate Director for Marketing and Communications Jenny Schmidt said she expects the Princeton chapter to maintain its charter.

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“Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women was disappointed to learn of the Princeton University ban preventing freshmen the opportunity to engage in the leadership development and sincere friendship offered by our organization,” Schmidt said in an email. “Pi Beta Phi Fraternity is committed to supporting the New Jersey Alpha Chapter as it continues to operate as a chartered chapter of Pi Beta Phi.”