REACH ACT
 

Can someone please explain to this tired old brain why NPC, NIC, NPHC, MCGC, AFA, and others I'm forgetting, are pushing for government to provide education and rules?

I do realize that hazing is not unique to the fraternity/sorority organizations, but these are the people and councils who have the most power to set the standards, enforce the expectations, and lead the way. It might mean chapters close; it might mean less-than-full houses, but it can be done.

The REACH Act, which is being sponsored by a Pennsylvania House Rep whose district I presume covers State College, would require incidents of hazing to be disclosed in the annual security reports all universities provide. The text (which is easy to understand) is in this link.

The House Rep in question is resigning after it came to light that he sexually harassed a female staffer and then settled with her using taxpayer money, so I have a dim view of him already, but I don't have any issue with the content of the bill. I think it's more good PR than anything else.

His district is actually further east than State College, it’s near Philly. This was obviously a diversion to keep the harassment charges out of the spotlight. Don’t look for it to get any traction.

If this were to pass, look for universities to get rid of GLOs right and left. No university wants to have to advertise negative data for their misbehaving GLOs.

I doubt this. South Carolina already has the Tucker Hipps Act-passed after Tucker Hipps' death while a SigEp pledge at Clemson-which requires all public universities in South Carolina to disclose all conduct violations for all student organizations. This has been in place for a couple years now and no backlash has come of it as far as I know.

In all honesty, the annual campus safety reports don't have a wide readership anyways, and the data they report can be skewed in so many ways that it's not especially valuable.

Fair enough. I could just see some campus locations with more than their fair share of problem GLOs being exasperated. Though disclosing conduct violations for all student organizations, and not just GLOs, is fair.

My bigger concern is why they want government involved.

A fantastic way to show leadership and to highlight the benefits of greek life is to take point and create a model for others to follow.

I've written a couple times about the Reach Act. My two biggest issues with it:

1. Concerns already mentioned above about it giving too much responsibility to government, colleges & universities over independently operating organizations (fraternities & sororities).

2. It seems like it creates a federal criminal law, which is constitutionally a state matter

Not only are most hazing incidents already against the law (assuming they involve defamation, assault, battery, etc.), but what this will essentially do is ensure that lawsuits occur across the board. It's really intended to be a long-term scare tactic (which may or may not work).

All my opinions, but I'm a little flustered that all of these organizations endorse legislation so willy nilly and without even considering reaching out to their members first. I'm writing legislation for my fraternity's next Convention to address that :)