News Release
10 September 2007
MIRIAM BILL WILL OUTLAW FRATS; SAYS HAZING INCLUDES RAPE
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said she will file a bill to abolish, under certain circumstances, campus fraternities and sororities, on the theory that their relationship with campus administration is contractual, and the school has a constitutional right to set standards for student organizations.“In the most recent 2002 case of Tigret v University of Virginia, the US Court of Appeals said that student organizations are bound by the contract under the university’s Standard of Conduct. As long as the students have been given due process in the form of a fair hearing, they can be expelled,” said Santiago, a constitutional law expert.
More specifically, Santiago cited the 2000 case filed by Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity v University of Pittsburg, where the US Court of Appeals ruled that campus have the right to ban fraternities if their actions are criminal, or if there was a failure to live up to fraternal rights and principles.
US legal trends indicate that campuses have the right to ban fraternities and sororities for violations of their contract with the school, under the applicable codes of conduct and organizational standards.
Santiago said that members of the UP Sigma Rho fraternity can be abolished because their existence was authorized by UP under the Student Guide which include rules and regulations on student conduct and discipline, as well as those governing fraternities, sororities, and other student organizations.
“The fraternity violated its contract, and should therefore be abolished,” she said.
Santiago issued the statement during a courtesy call on her yesterday (Monday, 10 September) by Crusade Against Violence, including the mother of Cris Anthony Mendes, who recently died from alleged having.
Santiago said that the constitutional provision protecting the right to form associations is based on the condition that the associations will not pursue purposes contrary to law.
“As long as the bill is narrowly drawn so that it is not overbroad, and as long as the bill provides for due process in the form of a fair hearing for students, it will pass Congress,” Santiago said.
Santiago added that according to her confidential informant now in Canada, and formerly a professor at UP Los Baños, some female students during hazing rites were given dangerous drugs and raped during the ceremonies.
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