National fraternity and sorority groups have hired former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to lobby for legislation that would prevent colleges from punishing certain students accused of sexual assault.  Lott is among a group of lobbyists who have collected $140,000 from the "Safe Campus Coalition" so far this year, according to congressional disclosure filings. The coalition is made up of the National Panhellenic Conference, North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), Kappa Alpha Order, the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the Sigma Nu fraternity.

​The full text of the Safe Campus Act can be found by clicking here.

The lobbyists are helping the groups push for the Safe Campus Act, which would restrict colleges from punishing students for sexual assault unless the police are also involved. Other illegal behaviors -- such as theft or physical assault -- would not be held to this requirement. The proposal is uniformly opposed by advocacy and activist groups that work with rape victims. The filings indicate that Lott, now a counsel at the Squire Patton Boggs firm, registered to lobby with the Safe Campus Coalition on April 24. The Safe Campus Coalition has also hired Lott's colleague Kevin O’Neill, an attorney at Squire Patton Boggs and executive director of the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee. 

Lott retired in 2007 as the Senate minority whip, and previously spent several years as the chamber's majority leader. He is a Sigma Nu alum. As a lobbyist, Lott has done work forGazprombank, a Russian bank that was hit with sanctions by the Obama administration, along with Goldman Sachs, Shell oil company and others. Earlier this month, Lott penned an editorial with Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who served as an adviser to Chi Omega, arguing in favor of the Safe Campus Act. 

The legislation is sponsored by Reps. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), Kay Granger (R-Texas) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas). "Ensuring equal justice under law for rape victims is a priority of Congressman Salmon's and he serves as member of the Higher Education subcommittee which oversees these issues," said Tristan Daedalus, a spokesman for Salmon. "He's grateful for the comments and suggestions received from many individuals and groups that have an interest in solving this important issue." Sessions' office said the congressman has "for years worked with stakeholders both inside and outside of the Greek community to improve campus safety for all college students," and the Safe Campus Act reflects that.  The Texas lawmaker is a regular recipient of campaign contributions from the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee, according to campaign finance disclosures. NIC, NPC and the heads of Sigma Nu, Kappa Alpha Order and Alpha Tau Omega did not respond to requests for comment.

Matt Gregory, associate dean of students at Louisiana State University and a former policeman, said it was "short-sighted" to require alleged victims to report to police before schools can take action. "We on campuses have obligations -- not three months from now, not tomorrow, the minute we hear about a report," Gregory said. "That's what keeps me up at night." Jason Casares, director of student ethics at Indiana University and president-elect of the Association for Student Conduct Administration, said the bill would prevent students from reporting to their universities. "I always ask students about an option to report to the police, and many respond that 'If I had to report to police, if I knew it was a requirement, I would not be here,'" Casares said. 

Along with the requirement to notify police before schools can investigate sexual assaults, the bill would allow schools to use whatever standard of evidence they choose in campus adjudications. Currently, when a college holds a hearing to determine if a student accused of sexual assault violated the code of conduct, it's obligated by the U.S. Department of Education to use the "preponderance of evidence" standard. Under this standard, an adjudicator must be 51 percent or more certain the accused is guilty, making it more likely that the student will be found in violation.

In a February phone call, fraternity leaders expressed a desire to strengthen the preponderance of evidence standard. NIC Chairman Buddy Cote suggested the standard should be raised to "beyond a reasonable doubt," or 99 percent certainty, the same level as criminal trials. National fraternity groups planned in the spring to lobby Congress to block colleges from investigating sexual assault cases until a criminal trial was completed. The proposal was denounced by fraternity and sorority members, lawmakers and advocacy groups. Following the backlash, the groups said a week before their lobbyists filed paperwork in April that they would not be lobbying "for or against any specific" congressional proposals.

On July 29, the Safe Campus Act was introduced. NIC and NPC promptly rolled out materialsin favor of the legislation. Fraternity groups boasted that the legislation would address concerns from university professionals groups, and the National District Attorneys Association has said it supports the bill. However, several prominent higher education organizations distanced themselves from the Safe Campus Act immediately after it was introduced. The VTV Family Outreach Foundation, a campus safety group started by the families of victims of the Virginia Tech massacre, decided in late September to formally oppose the bill.  The group had previously said it hoped to work with Salmon's office to rework the legislation, and maintains that it is interested in doing that. But VTV Foundation said it's now officially opposed to the "compulsory process outlined in the bill," and is worried about the proposal to allow schools to change the standard of proof in campus adjudications.

"We also recognize [Salmon's] goal of ensuring that there is due process for the accused, but as introduced the Safe Campus Act would allow institutions to set any standard of proof, whether it be very high or low," said S. Daniel Carter, director of VTV Foundation's 32 National Campus Safety Initiative. "The preponderance of the evidence standard affords significant protections while not making it more difficult than necessary to provide justice on campus." (reprinted for education purposes from the Huffington Post; byline: Tyler Kingkade, Senior Editor/Reporter)

The editor who oversaw Rolling Stone magazine’s erroneous story about a fraternity gang rape at the University of Virginia will leave the magazine, more than eight months after the story was published.

Will Dana, Rolling Stone’s managing editor, will step down next month after nearly two decades at the magazine. His departure comes amid a series of defamation lawsuits against the magazine as a result of its publication in November of “A Rape on Campus,” which described an alleged gang rape that authorities determined never occurred.

The U-Va. story at first received great praise for its searing revelations, but as it quickly unraveled, it garnered widespread condemnation.

Dana had only limited involvement in the development and editing of reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s nearly 10,000-word story. But he apologized for it on Rolling Stone’s Web site after major elements of it could not be corroborated.

“A Rape on Campus” attracted worldwide attention with its shocking description of the repeated sexual assault of a U-Va. undergraduate identified in the story only as Jackie. The story said she was invited to a party at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on campus in 2012 and then lured to an upstairs room, where seven fraternity brothers took turns raping her. It said school officials and Jackie’s friends were indifferent to Jackie’s plight when she reported the crime to them, using her narrative to enforce the theme that U-Va. fosters a culture of rape.

Follow-up reporting by The Washington Post and other news outlets subsequently found that virtually every major detail in the story was inaccurate. A subsequent investigation by officials at Columbia University’s journalism school found numerous flaws in the reporting, editing and fact-checking of the article. Police in Charlottesville also said they found no evidence of a crime.

Upon publication of the Columbia investigation, Dana wrote: “This report was painful reading, to me personally and to all of us at Rolling Stone. ... With its publication, we are officially retracting ‘A Rape on Campus.’... We would like to apologize to our readers and to all of those who were damaged by our story and the ensuing fallout, including members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and UVA administrators and students.”

The Columbia report was commissioned by Rolling Stone’s co-founder and editor, Jann Wenner. He declined to discipline any members of his staff in the wake of its release in April. (excerpted from the Washington Post for educational purposes; byline Paul Fahri)

Bloomberg Business recently reported that in the past spring semester, 133 fraternity or sorority chapters [2.6% of all Greek Organizations] at 55 U.S. colleges [2.4% of all colleges in the U.S.] were shut down, suspended or otherwise punished for various infractions. 

While the article, published on June 4, 2015, provided an interesting graphic and timeline, what it failed to put in perspective is that there are more than 8,500 fraternity and sorority chapters on American college campuses . No doubt some of the misconduct was serious, but the overwhelming majority [98.4%] of fraternities and sororities chapters do things right. Unfortunately, they get overlooked. (excerpted from Fraternal Law Newsletter for educational purposes)

Fannie Randle got the surprise of her life two weeks ago when "her girls" at the University of Southern California's Gamma Phi Beta sorority, where has been housekeeper for decades, presented her with a $21,000 check to put towards a brand new car. "I almost passed out," said Randle, 65, with a laugh. "I never in my wildest dreams thought I had so many good friends. I think it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I can't thank those kids enough. "I walk in and their smiling face brighten up my whole day. They're just so wonderful." Randle has been keeping house for the sorority for 24 years.

In less than one week, the sisters raised $21,000 for their beloved housekeeper. They presented the gift on April 20 at Gamma Phi Beta's Staff and Alumni Appreciation Dinner. "Her reaction was priceless," said Gamma Phi Beta's former president, Alicia Jewell, 21. "She was so excited, jumping up and down and screaming, 'Yes!' She said she needed to sit down before she fell over. "She came up to me the next day and said, 'You're the best friend I've ever had," Jewell added.

Jewell told ABC News that although Randle had been saving money to buy a new car for some time, the sorority wanted to help move the process along. "I've always seen her car and I had talked to her about it," she said. "The hardest thing for her was coming down with the down payment, and I had been thinking for a while that we should do something nice for her."

From there, Jewell organized a GoFundMe page to cover the cost of Randle's car. "Fannie has been driving the same little, red, bucket car, as she would call it, since I met her my sophomore year," Jewell said. "The whole side was held together with duct tape. And Fannie just works so hard, I didn't want her to have to worry about something like that. That's why I wanted to make a difference for her."

"Fannie would do anything for us," Jewell added. "She's hardworking, she's loving, she's supportive. You can talk to her literally about everything, and its wonderful for us college students who are away from home. "The best thing about her is her energy," Jewell said. "She's so happy and infectious and it's a great start to our morning every day."


Beth Saul, USC's director of fraternity and sorority leadership development, said in a statement to ABC News that her office "is delighted with the outpouring of compassion and generosity in raising these funds for Fannie, Gamma Phi Beta’s loyal and beloved house keeper for over two decades. ... This is one extraordinary example of how USC sororities and fraternities give their time and heart to enrich our community.”

Randle said she is forever grateful to the girls for giving her a moment that she'll never forget. She hopes to be driving either a new blue Honda or Kia within the next few weeks. (excerpted from ABC News for education purposes; byline: Nicole Pelletiere)

The fraternity spotlighted in a discredited Rolling Stone article describing an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia will take legal action against the magazine. "After 130 days of living under a cloud of suspicion as a result of reckless reporting by Rolling Stone magazine, today the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi announced plans to pursue all available legal action against the magazine," the fraternity said in a statement released Monday.

The statement from the fraternity outlines how the Rolling Stone story, viewed by millions, has affected members of Phi Kappa Psi at U.Va..\ Fraternity members were "ostracized," the fraternity house was vandalized, and national media cast the fraternity as "the iconic symbol of this troubling issue" of sexual assault, the statement says. "Clearly our fraternity and its members have been defamed, but more importantly we fear this entire episode may prompt some victims to remain in the shadows, fearful to confront their attackers," the Virginia Phi Kappa Psi chapter's president, Stephen Scipione, said in the statement. "If Rolling Stone wants to play a real role in addressing this problem, it's time to get serious."

The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism on Sunday night released a report on the story blasting Rolling Stone for rampant failures in reporting and editing the story, "A Rape on Campus." The magazine sought the independent examination after details of the gripping article, published in November, failed to hold up under media scrutiny. Eventually, local police also failed to find any evidence supporting the claims made by a student identified as "Jackie."

The magazine issued an apology in December. Author Sabrina Rubin Erdely, who defended her reporting when the controversy first blew up, now also has apologized.

"The report by Columbia University's School of Journalism demonstrates the reckless nature in which Rolling Stone researched and failed to verify facts in its article that erroneously accused Phi Kappa Psi of crimes its members did not commit," Scipione said in the statement. "This type of reporting serves as a sad example of a serious decline of journalistic standards." (Excerpted from USA Today for educational purposes; byline: John Bacon and Emma Hinchliffe)

(NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J) Rutgers University has banned house parties at fraternities and sororities for the rest of the spring semester after several alcohol-related problems this school year. That includes the death of 19-year-old Caitlyn Kovacs of Monmouth Junction. She died of alcohol poisoning after a party in September. The probation was decided last week but announced by the university Monday.

"Rutgers takes seriously its commitment to maintaining a healthy and safe campus environment," the university said in a statement. Greek organizations will still be able to hold spring formals and other events off campus where a third-party vendor may serve alcohol. "It's going to change the last few weeks of school, but it's nothing. If anything it helps us focus more on the real reason why we are here, which is to work toward our philanthropy and grow as a sisterhood," said Allie Sayde.

"I see where the administration's coming from, but I just don't think it's fair to a lot of the other Greek organizations that do a lot of good for the community," said student Connor Gibbons. (Excerpted from WPVI for educational purposes;