La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc. (LUL), an all-male Latin American interest fraternity, was not permitted to establish a chapter in Emory Greek Life due to hazing allegations, according to Greek Life Communications Director and Senior Director of Emory Dining Dave Furhman.
The fraternity planned to participate in official recruitment in fall 2015, Furhman wrote in an email to the Wheel.
In an October 2013 LUL press release, LUL announced that the fraternity received approval to be a chapter at Emory and that their expansion efforts would begin in spring 2014. The efforts included monthly informational meetings “to engage and educate the Emory community on the mission and goals of Lambda Upsilon Lambda,” according to the press release.
Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life Marlon Gibson and Director of Student Conduct Judith Pannell were responsible for the decision to rescind Emory’s invitation to LUL to establish a chapter at Emory, according to Furhman. Gibson asked that all Wheel requests for comment be referred to Furhman.
Furhman confirmed that the incident was documented and brought to the attention of Emory’s Fraternity and Sorority Life staff as well as the Emory Police Department.
Rizwan Peera, the public relations officer for the National Council of La Unidad Latina, LUL, Inc., wrote in an email to the Wheel that the national chapter is “looking forward to getting to the bottom of the issue.”
The national chapter, according to Peera, received a phone call from the Emory administration informing them of the decision to rescind their invitation to the fraternity to establish a chapter at Emory before the start of the investigation.
“We are currently working to clear our name and find closure for all those involved,” Peera wrote.
Peera added that that the national chapter followed all protocols once they became aware of the situation and encouraged those involved in the incident to report the hazing allegations to the appropriate authorities as soon as possible.
Their national protocol dictates immediate notification of the incident be sent to the National Council upon receipt of an allegation, at which point, the National Council reviews the situation and takes the necessary next steps, according to Peera.
“In this case, we proceeded to engage local [police] as soon as possible and informed those involved to do the same as we take any allegation extremely seriously,” Peera wrote. “Within 24 hours of us being aware, local and Emory [Police Department] had already been engaged.”
Peera added that LUL’s national chapter is “adamant” that none of their members were involved with the situation and that they will be appealing Emory’s decision.
“We understand the University’s decision to take precautions,” Peera wrote. “However, we do not feel this decision was warranted without due process.”
Still, Peera noted that LUL remains interested in establishing a chapter at Emory, “as long as there is interest in [the] organization.”
Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) President and College sophomore Jason Yu wrote in an email to the Wheel that he felt the response to the hazing incident was “fair and justified.”
“The MGC community strongly condemns any form of hazing,” he wrote. “We will not tolerate it within our community and strongly oppose the expansion of any organization that does not abide by Emory’s anti-hazing policies onto our campus.”
LUL was slated to become a member chapter of the MGC in fall 2015, according to Yu.
Some members interested in joining LUL at Emory declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment before the publishing of this article.
— By Annie McGrew
