Every fraternity chapter in the University of Arizona's Interfraternity Council has been frozen in place, barred from hosting parties or holding anything beyond basic business meetings, after months of misconduct reports ranging from physical assault to hazing. Dean of Students Chrissy Lieberman placed all 21 chapters under an interim activities suspension, citing persistent problems that continued despite repeated warnings from university leadership.
The suspension letter described the scope of the allegations in stark terms, according to The Seattle Times. Lieberman wrote that “the alleged behaviors range from physical assault, drugs and alcohol, hazing and creating unsafe environments for our students,” and the newspaper reported that some of those cases are now under criminal investigation. The Dean of Students Office had been fielding continued misconduct reports from parents, students and others, and was investigating complaints involving nearly half of the council's 21 chapters at once — more than the office said it could handle simultaneously.
Jurisdiction Question Looms Over Criminal Probes
Exactly who is running those criminal investigations has become its own point of clarification. A Tucson Police Department spokesperson said the city agency was unaware of recent fraternity cases, according to the Associated Press. 12News reported that the university was partnering with its police department on the investigations.
University President Suresh Garimella had already tried to head off further trouble over the summer. He met with fraternity chapter presidents on August 27 and told them to be accountable for the men in their chapters, per the Seattle Times account, while university leadership directed chapter leaders to review their members with national headquarters and stop any behavior that violated the code of conduct or the law. The university also said that the value of the Greek experience is under scrutiny nationwide, framing its own crackdown as part of a larger reckoning.
What Chapters Can and Cannot Do Right Now
While the interim suspension is in effect, fraternities are prohibited from hosting, attending, participating in, or sponsoring organizational activities of any kind. Chapters are limited to holding basic club business meetings, with no social events permitted. To get out from under the suspension, chapter advisers for organizations in good standing must attend one of three mandatory meetings with Lieberman, scheduled between October 6 and October 12, according to 12News KPNX. Several chapters remain on disciplinary status or under active investigation and are not eligible for that path back.
Some of the fraternities caught up in this fall's blanket suspension were already found responsible for code of conduct violations last spring, the Seattle Times reported. This is not the university's first individual intervention this year. Sigma Tau Gamma was placed on activities suspension after being accused of hazing during the fall 2025 semester, with Jasmin Hazel Hayes, the university's senior coordinator for student rights and responsibilities, writing that “specifically, new members were forced to consume large quantities of alcohol and live goldfish.” Separately, an official Dean of Students letter detailed that the Sigma Tau Gamma allegations also involved subjecting pledges to degradation, according to Global News.
A Pattern of Severe Discipline Predates the Blanket Suspension
Months before the campus-wide action, the university had already revoked recognition from Sigma Alpha Mu for five years. An investigation found members poured boiling liquids, including boiling butter, onto new members during hazing rituals, as reported by the Arizona Daily Star. That made Sigma Alpha Mu the first U of A fraternity to lose recognition this year, prior to the sweeping move affecting all 21 chapters. The pattern is not new for the campus; the Arizona Daily Star also reported that in late 2019, a former pledge alleged he suffered severe chemical burns and a blood infection during a fraternity hazing ritual, while the Theta Chi chapter was under interim suspension.
The timing of the current suspension is notable. The university's announcement came less than three weeks after a former Cornell University student sued Cornell, seven men, a fraternity and her sorority, claiming she was sexually assaulted at a fraternity party in October 2024, per the Seattle Times. Loss of university recognition also means loss of university access; Alpha Epsilon Pi is one past U of A chapter that lost recognition and access.
Fraternities Make Up a Large Slice of Campus Life
The stakes extend well beyond the 21 suspended chapters. University of Arizona Greek life includes approximately 7,000 students across 50 chapters. That means the interim suspension touches a substantial share of the broader campus Greek system, even though sororities are not included in the current action.
U of A's move also lands squarely within a shifting legal and regulatory landscape. The federal Stop Campus Hazing Act, enacted in December 2024, requires colleges to track hazing incidents and publish transparency reports, according to the Clery Center. Arizona's own “Jack's Law,” enacted in 2022, stiffened anti-hazing penalties statewide.
Whether U of A's criminal investigations will result in charges, and how the university plans to handle any chapters that might try to operate off-campus outside its jurisdiction, remain open questions as the suspension plays out.
