Cal State Northridge officials announced policies requiring fraternities, sororities and other campus groups to submit plans in advance about membership recruitment and initiation activities.
The announcement by William Watkins, CSUN vice president for student affairs and dean of students, came in response to the July death of 19-year-old Armando Villa, who collapsed during a Pi Kappa Phi fraternity-organized hike in the Angeles National Forest, reports My Fox LA.
Villa had been hiking barefoot, and he and his fellow fraternity pledges had run out of water. Villa's family and friends contended the hike was a hazing ritual.
"CSUN officials suspended Pi Kappa Phi from all campus activities, and Watkins said that suspension will remain in place until investigations are completed by the Sheriff's Department and an independent investigator hired by the university that is expected to be completed by early September," says My Fox LA.
All CSUN groups will be required to submit a plan detailing their planned recruitment and initiation activities to a university adviser. And all prospective new members will be required "to undergo a pre-recruitment education program prior to attending any recruitment activities and being extended an offer of membership in any organization."
The school maintains it has a zero tolerance policy against hazing.
Read more: www.myfoxla.com