A political group representing fraternities and sororities plans to lobby against campus rape investigations, and UF’s community has not yet taken a stance.
The Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee, known as FratPAC, is made up of students from sororities and fraternities who hope to make it more difficult for universities and colleges to conduct sexual assault investigations and instead refer the investigation to law enforcement.
The group plans to visit Washington, D.C., this spring. It will not be the first time FratPAC has lobbied in Washington. In 2012, the group lobbied for tax breaks for fraternities and against a hazing proposal, according to Bloomberg Business.
Also according to Bloomberg Business, the group is lobbying Congress for a requirement that the criminal justice system resolves cases before universities or colleges investigate or implement punishments. Another issue on the group’s agenda is to have a rule that prevents any mandate for chapters to go coed.
According to Alligator Archives, the most recent UF fraternity under investigation after sexual battery was reported at Tau Epsilon Phi in 2010. Other sexual battery cases that occurred on and off campus fraternity houses since then are still pending, according to the UF Police Department’s crime log.
No Greek organizations have approached the Greek Affairs cabinet about FratPAC, said Stephen Goldie, the Student Government Cabinet Director for Greek Affairs.
“Right now it’s a pretty new topic, so not much has occurred yet,” the 20-year-old UF accounting sophomore said.
He said FratPAC could be a topic of discussion at the end-of-the-month meetings.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando wrote in an email that FratPAC has not reached out to UF.
“The university handles disciplinary case involving fraternities and sororities on a case-by-case basis, and we have no plans to change that practice,” he said.
President of the UF Panhellenic Council Maria Carter declined to comment because she said she didn’t know enough about the topic.
Jack Causseaux, Director of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs, said no Greek organizations showed interest in supporting or opposing the group.
He said there have been informal talks among Greek organizations on whether it’s fair to punish all of Greek life if one organization is under investigation. But nothing has come from those conversations, he said.
“I think our (Greek) community understands that there is that shared accountability,” Causseaux said.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 - 4 on 3/27/2015 under the headline “FratPAC gears up, but not at UF yet”]
