MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Hopefully, Greek Life at WVU is turning a corner.
That’s the message WVU Dean of Students Corey Farris passed along to listeners of MetroNews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval Wednesday morning.
This follows the discipline of 18 students and the “permanent separation” from the university of three students involved in the Nov. 10, 2018 incident that resulted in the hospitalization of WVU senior David Rusko.
Since Feb. 14, 2018, WVU has made considerable efforts to reform Greek Life, with WVU President Gordon Gee suggesting that the reforms were a proactive way to save Greek programs at WVU.
“I’m appalled that we’ve got some students that didn’t live up to what I would call those Mountaineer values, or even exactly what you (Hoppy) just said — just human values,” Farris said. “You call for help right away. All of us are disappointed and shocked.”
An investigation into Rusko’s case revealed the Uniontown native fell down steps at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house and was rendered unconscious by the fall. The investigation revealed that students didn’t call for medical assistance for at least two hours — leading to an extended hospitalization for Rusko after suffering head injuries.
“Our first priority was to deal with those individuals,” Farris said. “Now, we’ll turn our focus onto the fraternity — both here as well as the national headquarters, making sure we are all on the same page.”
Part of the reformation process included a moratorium on all Greek Life — beginning last February. That was followed by the unveiling last summer of the “Reaching the Summit” initiative, designed at changing behavior and improving outcomes across a wide spectrum at WVU.
That was followed by the dissociation efforts of a number of fraternities, who determined not to agree to WVU’s terms required for restoration of full and active status as fraternities in good standing.
Those fraternities are carrying on as organizations not affiliated with WVU. They were summarily hit with a 10-year ban by WVU’s administration.
“From my perspective, this Reaching the Summit and raising the bar and raising the standards — do we still have problems? Yes,” Farris said. “But this pivot we started back in February almost a year ago is very promising and I’m hopeful that we have turned the corner.”
Farris expects — or is at least hopeful — that recruitment will actually increase for Greek life, due to new standards that he believes will attract students.
“I’m hopeful it will turn around,” he said. “Because, quite frankly, when you raise standards and when you raise the expectations, those more serious students who are still looking to join a fraternity or looking for a sorority, they do not want to put up with those shenanigans.”
Though WVU did not specify, a press release from the university said not all of the 18 students disciplined in the Rusko investigation were fraternity members.