The Inter-Fraternity Council sanctioned three fraternities Thursday for allegedly engaging in "dirty rush" activities.
Each of the three fraternities allegedly took groups of mostly first-year "potential rushees" tubing on the James River prior to the official start of fall and spring rush, IFC President Ryan Ewalt said.
Ewalt declined to discuss details regarding the sanctioned fraternities and their respective punishments, which were administered at an IFC Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday night.
"Each fraternity was fairly but severely sanctioned," he said.
David Bowman, IFC vice president of judiciary, presided over the hearings.
"We are trying to set a strong precedent now and prevent dirty rushing in the future," Bowman said.
"Dirty rush" is a term given to activities that resemble recruitment efforts which take place outside the designated time frame for rush. Informal rush for upperclassmen begins later this semester, whereas formal rush for first years does not begin until the start of the spring semester, said Aaron Laushway, associate dean of students and director of fraternity and sorority life.
Laushway confirmed the IFC had sanctioned three fraternities for rush violations, but also declined to identify the fraternities or details of the sanctions.
"The IFC has acted appropriately and swiftly," Laushway said. "Hopefully dirty rush will be discontinued in the future."
The IFC recruitment policy targets specific pre-rush activities that constitute "dirty rush," including trips outside the city, formal dinners and date functions, Ewalt said.
"The IFC is trying to cut down on [these areas] due to financial concerns because when these things happen it creates financial instability throughout the entire system," he said. "Fraternities are spending large amounts of money on these activities."
"Dirty rush" can also potentially give certain fraternities an advantage in terms of attracting future interested rush participants.
"It creates an uneven playing field for [other] fraternities," Ewalt added.
Although there are various methods by which instances of "dirty rush" can be reported to the IFC, one of the three recent violations was reported via an online complaint form available on the IFC Web site, Ewalt said.
"The IFC has a very close collaboration and communication with people near to the first-year side of things, so they can tip us off if these things are going on," he added.
The IFC also receives information from the "very effective grapevine that is the Greek community," Ewalt said.
While more severe rush violations have occurred in past years, the IFC does not take any "dirty rush" activities lightly.
"These [violations] were not the highest degree of offense, but at the same time we treat each case very seriously because we consider all dirty rush to be serious offenses," Ewalt said.
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