UVa. starts semester with new frat, sorority rules amid alleged-rape story

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Published May 03, 2016

Nov. 24, 2014: Phi Kappa Psi house at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. (AP)

Fraternities and sororities at the University of Virginia will have to abide by new drinking rules approved by the school’s president Teresa A. Sullivan.

Greek organizations will have until Jan. 16 to agree to the new rules as a condition for ending a temporary ban on social activities, which were imposed by Sullivan after a November Rolling Stone article revealed an alleged gang rape.

The article was later discredited by the magazine’s editors, but campus and fraternity leaders proposed reforms. Fraternities proposed the rules and were approved by Sullivan.

Among them: Kegs of beer and pre-made mixes of liquor and punch will be banned; beer must be served in closed cans, and "wine may be served upon request, poured visibly at the bar by a sober brother."

The Charlottesville, Virginia-based university also is taking other measures including opening a police substation near off-campus bars, improving the university's lighting and camera system, and hiring additional counselors and trauma experts.

"I believe the new safety measures recommended by the student leaders in the Greek community will help provide a safer environment for their members and guests," Sullivan said in a statement late Tuesday.

Sororities also agreed to safety measures, such as “Bystander intervention training.”

The rules are aimed at making it easier for students to know how much alcohol they’re consuming and more difficult for someone to spike a drink with an incapacitating drug.

"Even an alert and careful student who tries the sweet-tasting cocktail containing many types of liquor cannot know how much alcohol it contains," Sullivan told students in December. "Yet another problem with alcohol is that it can be the vehicle for some other drug to be ingested, unknown to the drinker. Let's call this by its name: This is poisoning."

Other rules call for at least three sober fraternity brothers to monitor alcohol distribution and the stairways to residential rooms at each party. At large parties, a hired security guard must monitor entrances, keeping out anyone not on a printed guest list. Fraternities will also be required to have bottled water and food available.

There is no mention of underage drinking in the new rules or how to prevent it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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