FSL Policies

Code of Student Life

All University of Iowa students are responsible for upholding the code of student life, which can be found here.

FSL Arrest and Citation Policy

Find printable version here.
A process "how to" sheet can be found here.
To report an arrest or citation, click here.

The University of Iowa
Office of the Vice President for Student Life

History and Inception

To address concerns about alcohol consumption among FSL students and promote peer accountability, a policy was collaboratively designed by the Office of the Vice President of Student Life (VPSL) and the four FSL Leadership Councils. The first iteration of the policy was created in November 2011 with the support of the VPSL office. Since then, there have been multiple revisions, along with the Office of Student Accountability being brought in to act as a facilitator of the policy and execute the actionable components.

Purpose

This policy is designed to support the success and accountability of the University of Iowa fraternity/sorority community. The policy provides both incentives and sanctions to reduce negative behavior that results in members of the community being arrested or cited for criminal acts.

Policy

Each social fraternity or sorority is responsible for holding members (new and active) of their organization accountable if they are arrested or cited during the reporting periods outlined in this policy.

Standards

Each chapter is responsible for maintaining a rate below 5% of their membership and 5 members. In determining compliance, an organization will be out of compliance when BOTH thresholds are met.

Chapter Presidents should be having regular conversations with their FSL coach regarding if they are exceeding one of these thresholds.

Implementation

Definitions

Reporting Period. The reporting period for fall semesters is from August 10 through fall commencement Sunday. The reporting period for spring semesters is from January 10 through spring commencement Sunday. Arrests and citations occurring outside of the reporting period are not under the jurisdiction of this policy.

Member. A member of a chapter is any student who has signed a new member (“gold”) card and therefore is listed on the official chapter roster with Fraternity and Sorority Life and has not officially resigned or been removed from the chapter through the organization’s internal accountability process.

Process

Chapters must promote peer accountability. Chapter leadership should be the driving force in self-governance, correcting member behavior, and holding them to the standards of their national organization. Therefore, the process is as follows:

If a chapter member is arrested or cited, that individual member is expected to report said arrest or citation to their chapter’s executive board within 24 hours.
The chapter must follow their judicial board process within their specified timeline (typically no more than 1-2 weeks).
a. When a sanction is given to an individual by the chapter’s judicial board, that chapter is responsible for carrying out appropriate individual member sanctioning. It is recommended that the chapter consider the below options for students going thought judicial process for Arrest and Citation violations:

i. If an individual member has no prior arrests or citations and has no other violations within the chapter, the chapter should not remove said member from the organization due to their first arrest or citation, barring extreme circumstances.

ii. If an individual member received an arrest or citation and has been seen by Chapter Judicial Board Hearing previously as a result of a violation/arrest or citation, the chapter may remove said member from the organization under such grounds, but must provide evidence of prior Chapter Judicial Board Hearing(s).

III. After the Judicial board process, the Chapter must submit the Arrest and Citation Accountability Action Report form to the Office of Student Accountability.

IV. At the end of the semester when the list of arrest and citations are compiled, the Office of Student Accountability will cross-reference the compounded list of all arrests and citations with the completed Fraternity/Sorority Chapter Arrest and Citation Accountability Action Report Form submissions.

If there are inconsistencies between the lists, this will be referred to the Office of Student Accountability as a violation of Failure to Observe Rules/Policies (G.10).
If the chapter has met the threshold of arrests and citations, they would be subject to the progressive sanction of noncompliance listed below:

i. 1st semester out of compliance – Chapter will receive a policy reminder letter, and the chapter president, as well as any executive board members of the chapter with responsibilities related to accountability and risk management will need to attend an Arrest and Citation Workshop with the Office of Student Accountability.

ii. 2nd consecutive semester out of compliance – Chapter will be subject to a Judicial Board Hearing with the respective council to discuss the cause of a second semester of noncompliance.

iii. 3rd consecutive semester out of compliance – Chapter will be subject to a Judicial Board Hearing with the respective council to discuss chapter culture, internal accountability measures, and prevention of recidivism. An FSL staff member must be present during this hearing.
iv. 4th consecutive semester out of compliance – Chapter will be subject to a Show-Cause Hearing with representatives from all four governing councils. This process is outlined further below.
v. Additional semesters out of compliance will result in a referral to the Office of Student Accountability for violation of University policy.

c. If there are no inconsistencies with the list and the chapter does not meet the threshold, no additional action is required.

Timeline

The Arrest and Citation Memo will be prepared by the Associate Dean, Accountability and Care (or designee of the Office of Student Accountability), within 4 weeks of the end of each semester and sent to members of the FSL staff team and FSL Council student leaders.

The Arrest and Citation Memo will include a summary of the following information:

• Expectations of the policy,

• An outline of the chapters out of compliance,

• The next recommended step for chapters out of compliance,

• A listing of all chapters on campus and the reported numbers of charged individuals in comparison to the total numbers as recorded on rosters.

All notices to chapters out of compliance will be sent by their representative council to the Chapter president, the second week of the following Fall or Spring semester. Any Chapter responsible for attending a workshop or Show-Cause hearing would need to complete this by the 6th week of the semester in which notice is issued.

Sanctions for Noncompliance

The following section will outline the possible sanctions for chapters that are out of compliance. Sanctioning is progressive and will become more severe for each recurrent semester out of compliance.

Arrest and Citation Workshop – The Arrest and Citation workshop is a conversation between the chapter president (or delegate) and a staff member in the Office of Student Accountability. During the workshop, staff will discuss the Arrest and Citation policy, the practices of the chapter, and how to support maintaining compliance in the future. If a chapter would like to have multiple members attend the workshop, this would need to be communicated with the OSA staff member.

Judicial Board Hearing – A Judicial Board Hearing is a meeting between the governing council’s representatives responsible for conduct and the chapter. During these meetings, the chapter will present information regarding why they were out of compliance, present plans to remain in compliance in future semesters, and answer questions from the Judicial board. The Judicial Board will then vote regarding any sanctions that may include educational opportunities, limitation of social activities, or other sanctions as deemed appropriate by the Judicial Board.

Show-Cause Hearing – A Show-Cause hearing is a meeting between the chapter that is out of compliance and representatives of all 4 governing councils at the University of Iowa. The hearing is facilitated by a non-voting advisor from the Office of Student Accountability with an FSL non-voting advisor also present. Details of the show-cause hearing from both the chapter and council representative are below:

Show cause hearings will be heard by a board consisting of the presidents of the Interfraternity, Multicultural Greek, National Pan-Hellenic, and Panhellenic Councils, or their designees. The assistant director of the Office of Student Accountability and assistant director for Fraternity and Sorority Life will serve as non-voting advisors to this board. The hearing will be conducted in the following format:

10-minute presentation of evidence and arguments from chapter leadership detailing why their relationship with the University should remain
A period of time for council representatives to ask chapter leadership questions regarding their presentation.
A period of time for the aforementioned board to discuss their recommendation for appropriate sanctioning without chapter leadership present.
Chapter leadership re-enters room to hear decision and receive any feedback from council representatives.
Formal recommendations from the show-cause board will be sent via email to the Assistant Dean, Leadership and Engagement, who will make the final decision.
The Assistant Dean, Leadership and Engagement will communicate the decision to the chapter president, Assistant Director of OSA, and Assistant Director of FSL for sanction tracking and follow up.

Appeals

Appeals for the outcome of the Show-Cause hearing must be filed via the Arrest and Citation Appeal Form within 5 business days of the Show-Cause Hearing. All appeals will be heard by the Office of the Vice President of Student Life.

The appellate officer will transmit a written decision on the appeal to the Assistant Director of OSA within ten (10) University business days from when the record was received by the appeal officer. The Assistant Director of OSA will circulate the decision on appeal within two (2) University business days after receipt of the decision.

Revision

The vice president for student life may revise this policy following consultation with the leadership of the Panhellenic, the Interfraternity, the National Pan-Hellenic, and the Multicultural Greek Councils, the Office of Student Accountability, Fraternity & Sorority Life, and Office of the Dean of Students.

FSL Social and Events Policy

Purpose of Policy

Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) at the University of Iowa (UI) recognizes the importance of the connection between social, service and philanthropic events, and we support your efforts safely implementing these focus areas into the operation of your chapter. As students continue to seek membership in Greek letter organizations on our campus, it is important that the Fraternity and Sorority Life establish a system of accountability to ensure the success of the organizations for which it has oversight.

Each of the affiliate organizations of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), Panhellenic Council (PHC), Multicultural Greek Council (MGC), and Interfraternity Council (IFC) exists on the UI campus because of a collaborative partnership. It is important that each chapter understands this relationship and operates within the policies and procedures of their respective national bodies, the governing councils, and the University of Iowa, as well as federal, state and local laws. In addition, it is equally important that chapter leadership make clear that each member must adhere to these same policies and procedures during the tenure of their membership/affiliation with the organization to make sure there are no instances of unauthorized activity.

Set forth below are the procedures required by the UI Fraternity and Sorority Life designed to assist in creating a healthy and safe event. It is important that it be understood that if this policy is not followed it will result in actions being taken by the UI Fraternity and Sorority Life, Office of Student Accountability (OSA), as well as contacting the respective chapter’s advisor and national headquarters. Please take care to handle all socials, events, and programs with a sense of integrity, civility, and respect.

Social and Events Policy

For any activity or event sponsored or endorsed by the organization, including those that occur on or off organizational premises, the following rules apply:

Your chapter must be in good standing with their respective council and the University of Iowa Office of Student Accountability to host an event.
For organizations affiliated with a national/international organization, when the national/international policies overlap the policies of the organization’s applicable governing council, chapters are required to follow the stricter policy.
The organization, members, and guests must comply with all federal, state, and local laws. No person under the legal drinking age may possess, consume, provide, sell, or be provided alcoholic beverages.
Organizations, members, and guests must follow federal and state law regarding illegal drugs and controlled substances. No person may possess, use, provide, distribute, sell, and/or manufacture illegal drugs or other controlled substances while on organizational premises or at any activity or event sponsored or endorsed by the organization. Drugs include controlled substances and substances that may be detrimental to health, even though not subject to state and federal laws.
All events must follow the event registration/notification process. a. Please note the Administration of Registered Student Organizations 6. All events in which there is consideration of the use of alcohol must follow the Policy regarding the use of illegal drugs and alcohol and all federal, state, and local laws.
Any event or activity related to joining an organization (e.g., recruitment, intake, rush, etc.) must be drug and alcohol free.
Events must follow all Fraternity and Sorority Life guidelines as outlined in the Fraternity and Sorority Life Resource Manual and all policies and regulations affecting students.
To assist in hosting a healthy and safe event, University of Iowa Fraternity and Sorority Life recommends using the Event Planning Guide.

Event Planning Guide

There is an optional event planning guide that can be used in the planning of any event. It can be found within the Social and Events policy.

Download the current policy PDF here