Crisis Opinion Paper

Caitlin Hoover
SDAD 576 SQ 2014
Seattle University
Dr. Tim Wilson
May 9, 2014

The Event
Details. It was the night of February 1st, when Matthew Carrington and his friend, another
fraternity pledge, were ordered to go into the cold, dirty basement covered with raw sewage of
the Chi Tau Fraternity House near the California State University campus in Chico, California,
where the message of In the basement, no one can hear you scream was repeatedly written on
the wall (Vega, 2005). This was not the first event to rush Chi Tau, but it would become the
most notorious and dangerous of all of the events during the fraternitys Hell Week (Korry,
2005). Throughout the night, the pledges were forced to drink from a five-gallon jug of water
each that was constantly refilled while having freezing water thrown on them with air
conditioning fans blowing in their direction. They were also forced to do push-ups and stand on
a bench for hours while answering questions about the fraternity and fraternity brothers in the
process (Korry, 2005; May, 2005). Conditions were so horrific that the two young pledges
urinated and vomited on themselves.
Early in the morning of February 2nd, Matthew Carrington collapsed and experienced a
seizure. The fraternity brothers of Chi Tau, concerned about getting in trouble and the possible
repercussions, waited an hour before calling 911. Once they did call for an ambulance,
Carrington was taken to Enloe Medical Center. At approximately five in the morning, he was
pronounced dead from brain and lung swelling due to water intoxication. None of the fraternity
brothers, either present for the hazing or not, followed the ambulance or went to the Medical
Center in support of Carrington (Korry, 2005).
Background. California State University in Chico is a public intuition that has had an active
Greek community since the early twentieth century. Issues related to hazing became prominent
in the 1950s when in 1954 President Kendall first publicly declared that hazing needed to be

eradicated on the CSU-Chico campus. However, alcohol use during rush events and behavioral
or other disturbances among Greek chapters continued to be a problem at CSU well into the later
half the twentieth century, so much so that the City of Chico permanently canceled the
university-based event of Rancho Chico Days due to reckless behavior from fraternities and
sororities on campus.
After several accidents and deaths, the universitys Campus Alcohol and Drug Education
Center (CADEC) created additional programming and extended their resources to students. This
led to a voluntarily agreed upon suspension of rush activities by Inter-Fraternity Conference
(IFC) fraternities for the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 academic years (Greek system review task
force report, 2005). Two years later, Carrington would die during Chi Taus third day of Hell
Week; a week dedicated to the induction of new fraternity or sorority members that often
include the ritual acts of hazing (Korry, 2005; Nuwer, 1999).
Furthermore, the death of Matthew Carrington was not the first negative event that had
come from Chi Tau at CSU. Known across campus once as Delta Sigma Phi, the fraternity was
expelled in 2002, in the midst of the IFC calling for reformation and the brief break in Greek
rush events, from the university and IFC after seven years of constant issues with serving alcohol
to minors and other offenses (May, 2005).
Why it was a crisis. The death of Matthew Carrington was a medium-level crisis that brought
the issue of hazing on college campuses to a new height. Alcohol intoxication and poisoning
were no longer the only primary cause of hazing-related accidents or deaths. Additionally, with
universities being held accountability for such incidents on a national and global scale made the
question of When will hazing on college campuses be stopped? to a critical level (Gee, 2011).
Cowen (2011) defines a crisis as an event that no one can prepare for, because it happens

unexpectedly. Although CSU had a history of issues and misconduct with their Greek system,
the fact that Chi Tau was not university-affiliated nor monitored by university administration
means that a catastrophic accident or event was potentially in the making at all times, and
therefore, it was only a matter of time before the university and the Chico community would
have a crisis to overcome. The treatment and death of Matthew Carrington can also be
characterized as a crisis, because of the initial reaction and response by the media. And also due
to the immediate and continued reaction and steps taken following Carringtons death in order to
recover by the upper-administration of California State University, which will be discussed
comprehensively in the next section.
Crises also unite people, communities, or even nations. This symbolic gesture happened
after Matthew Carringtons death when a vigil was held two days later outside of the fraternity
house that was attended by hundreds, where the university and Chico communities came together
to mourn (Jaschik, 2005). Along with the vigil, the university lowered the national flag in honor
and remembrance of Carrington (Vega, 2005). These are symbolic acts or events that typically
occur after a crisis has impacted a community or nation. Crises often also bring attention to
larger civil issues or change how people act or think about things. Therefore, the final piece of
evidence that this event was a substantial crisis was the eventual creation of new legislature in
California that changed the severity of prosecution for hazing from a misdemeanor offense to a
felony charge. The law allowed for prosecution of nonaffiliated fraternities and sororities, who
previously could claim that because they were not affiliated with the university, could not be
criminally charged as other university student organizations could (Matts law, 2007).
University Response

Steps Immediately Taken. On Thursday, February 3rd, after the official pronouncement of
Matthew Carringtons death at the Enloe Medical Center, the university sent out a note to
students informing them of the tragedy. In addition, as mentioned, flags were also lowered
across campus. Although there does not appear to be empirical proof that CSU President, Paul J.
Zingg, released an official statement to the overall press at the time, it is evident that he, along
with other university representatives, responded to media attention as quickly as the day after
Carringtons death. Some of these representatives included university spokesperson, Joe Willis,
and CSUs Student Activities Associate Director, Rick Rees. Other acts of consideration
extended by the university were making counselors accessible to university students and offering
to assist with one or more memorials if Carringtons family desired to do so (May, 2005).
In response to the incident, President Zingg ceased all Greek recruitment until a more
thorough evaluation of the universitys Greek system could be completed and more focused
actions could be enacted (Korry, 2005). As quickly as February 3rd, Connie Huyek, CSUs
Greek Life Program Coordinator, had contacted a Greek Life Consultant named Tom Jelke to
inquire about his evaluation services after a Greek-related crisis (Harmon, 2005). By the end of
the month, President Zingg called for an official review of CSUs Greek system and
commissioned multiple task forces, some of which focused on hazing and alcohol specifically.
Records show that the CSU Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs hired Tom Jelke for
a yearlong contract to evaluate the Greek organizations across campus. President Zingg also met
with the CSU Greek community twice, first in February followed by April 12, 2005, where he
essentially gave the Greek community an ultimatum. They would either follow his ten rules to
continue existing as registered student organizations on the CSU campus or all Greek

organizations would be expelled permanently (Greek System Review Task Force Report,
2005).
Established Plans and Policies. The most updated plan and policy applicable to a severe case
of hazing either off or on California State Universitys campus in Chico was released in 2002
underneath the leadership of then university president, Manuel A. Esteban. The Vice President
for Student Affairs requested that President Esteban take action to reform CSUs Greek system.
Similarly to President Zingg, he commissioned a task force to evaluate the conditions around
Greek Life at CSU and to make recommendations. On November 14, 2002, an executive
memorandum established a Zero Tolerance Policy on Campus Violence, which expressly banned
any form or threat of violence against a member of the university community on or off of
campus. The policy also states that a university employee or student who commits a violence act
or threat will be subject to civil or criminal prosecution, dismissal or expulsion from the
university (Zero Tolerance Policy, 2005).
Despite the inaugural commissioning of a Greek review task force in 2002, there is no
data that supports that California State University, Chico had a sustainable way of managing the
recognized and non-recognized Greek chapters on or off of campus. Other than foundational
student activities and conduct policies regarding hazing or violent acts, there was no risk
management plan for any disruptive behavior from the Greek community. All data indicates that
primarily the City of Chico Police Department, or the University Police would handle any such
events if the event happened to occur on the CSU campus. Connie Huyek, the Greek Life
Program Coordinator mentioned previously was also a part-time employee with CSU.
Critique

Even though Chi Tau was a fraternity not recognized by California State University, and
therefore its new member processes were not monitored by university administration or did not
specifically have to follow the FSAs policies on hazing, this crisis still impacted the university
community because of the tragic loss of one of its students. It raises the point that a university
and its administration still have to cope with a crisis even when the event does not take place on
campus property, yet does involve a member of its community. CSU and President Zingg
reacted and responded in a positive, conscientious manner that acknowledged there was indeed a
problem on campus to be fixed and promised change. The focus of this critique is how prepared
the university was, how well they responded, and whether or not their response was effective or
not.
Preparation. Considering the breadth of issues CSU had historically dealt with previously with
the Greek Life community, one would assume that by 2005 more policies or safeguards would
have been implemented. For example, with such a robust Greek Life system in place, more than
one part-time employee should have been active in monitoring and checking in with both
recognized and non-recognized Greek chapters. This information is not a secret, especially when
one troublesome chapter had recently been expelled due to dangerous and unethical behavior.
Despite the recent expulsion of Chi Tau from CSUs Greek system, the fraternity house still
remained blocks away from campus with Greek letters prominently displayed on the side (Korry,
2005). They were not trying to hide their continued status of being an active house. And
although the university could not legally control what unaffiliated Greek chapters did, the
university could still have had some follow-up procedures with recent chapter expulsions due to
behavioral issues and risk management plans that related to Greek or student organizations. The
most noticeable response to the documented issues related to CSUs Greek Life is President

Estebans 2002 creation of a task force. However, the efforts of this particular task force are
muddled and futile when simply three years later, a parallel call to action would be endorsed by
the subsequent university president.
Reaction. After leading a university through several crises of various sizes, former University of
Wyoming President Dubois gave eight lessons learned with the experience. Of these, the first
lesson is to attempt to not let the crisis define the university or the university community
(Dubois, 2011). President Zingg made every attempt through available outlets, such as the
media, to let the Chico community and the nation know that he would not tolerate the disgraceful
behavior exemplified by the CSU Greek community to continue (Korry, 2005; May, 2005; Vega,
2005). President Zingg took clear and immediate steps in trying to correct the issues surrounding
alcohol and hazing in the CSU Greek system. Since Zingg was only in the first year of his
presidency at CSU, he had a sizeable responsibility put on him to correct CSUs image and
policies in terms of student activities and notorious partying around campus.
Dubious (2011) also states, as the fourth lesson of leadership in a crisis is that the voice
of the university president counts. President Zingg appears to agree and understand this concept,
because he took the time to sit down with the CSU Greek community twice to discuss the issues.
Although these two meetings ended in an ultimatum for the Greek community, he gave them the
opportunity to prove that they could be a positive example of institutional leadership and pride.
During these meetings, he discussed several core values that the Greek community should
uphold, such as integrity (Greek System Review Task Force Report, 2005).
In addition, Dubious (2011) recommends using the best practices of other institutions that
have dealt with crises in various ways as a means of supporting and strengthening the outcome of
leadership and organizational modifications for improved policy and practice after a crisis. The

Greek System Review Task Force that was commissioned by President Zingg cited such best
practice, using the examples of Bucknell University, California State University in Fullerton,
Colorado State University, San Diego State, San Jose State University, University of MinnesotaTwin Cities, University of Oregon, University of Washington, and Texas A&M (Greek System
Review Task Force Report, 2005).
On review of the Greek System Task Force Reports copious number of
recommendations, it is apparent that CSU will have continued problems with alcohol abuse and
hazing in their Greek organizations due to the vapid attempt at resolving the core issue of not
implementing enough targeted supervision around existing and new policies. For example, the
task force recommends that alcohol and hazing be forbidden from new member recruitment
activities, and official Greek councils, chapter leaders, and chapter advisers should monitor these
new policies. This level of accountability may be appropriate for campuses that do not have a
history of Greek issues, since it is putting most of the supervisory responsibility in the hands of
student leaders. However, a more extreme and proactive approach should have been deemed
necessary by this particular task force. Additionally, the recommended policies on student
conduct are redundant because the Division of Student Affairs had implemented them years
earlier (Greek System Review Task Force Report, 2005; Zero Tolerance Policy on Campus
Violence and Campus Violence Prevention Program, 2002). Therefore, the right steps were
taken in response to the hazing crisis by forming task forces to review issues and policies, and
hire a consultant for an additional review, yet the recommendations could have been more
innovative and stronger foundationally.
The most pressing suggestion for an institution who is faced with a similar crisis and has
a similar response is to concentrate on ways to ensure that the current policies regarding conduct

in Greek organizations are being constantly assessed, evaluated, monitored, and consistently
revised based on best practices and the unique needs of their particular campus climate, such as
if the institution is private or public. Also realizing on an administrative level what the
university needs in terms of staff to student ratio for proper governance. As an example, CSUs
Greek Life was a substantial component in the schools student organizational allocation, and
thus should have been staffed appropriately. One part-time employee for such a capacity is
irresponsible and indolent. And finally, while it is the endeavor of student affairs divisions and
professionals to empower student leaders to take responsibility for such organizational
development and overview, it cannot be forgotten that university students are still in
development themselves and need assistance in the areas of leadership, policy implementation
and management, and accountability from the university administration. As Farrington (2011)
claims, Change should begin on campuses because larger society grows from our campuses.
And it is also where student leaders become moral leaders beyond the university gateway.

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