The father of Penn State student Timothy Piazza, who died in 2017 as a result of fraternity hazing, said it's "incredibly offensive" and dangerous that three Penn State fraternities are forming their own, independent governing body to avoid university regulation.
The newly created State College Interfraternity Council (SCIFC) will include Sigma Chi, Pi Kappa Alpha and Tau Kappa Epsilon. All three were already independent from the Penn State Interfraternity Council, with the first two having been suspended for violating university policy.
According to Penn State student blog Onward State, after a press conference announcing the creation of SCIFC, leaders said a key reason they created their organization was to separate their fraternities from the 2019 agreement between the family of Timothy Piazza and Penn State. The agreement aimed to more tightly regulate Greek-life organizations at the university.
Tim’s father, Jim Piazza, said the creation of the SCIFC to avoid those changes was offensive to him and his family.
“It was just incredibly offensive. Plus, we thought we had a working relationship with Sigma Chi to some extent," Piazza said. "And you know, it just was it was maddening. It was insulting. And it continues to be. And we were very much against it. Very much against it.”
Piazza said an independent interfraternity council is dangerous, and that if anything goes wrong, the independent fraternities won’t be able to reach out to Penn State for help.
"You’re just looking to get yourself in trouble," Piazza said. "And if something goes wrong at that fraternity, you can be assured that all of them are going to get sued by the person that gets hurt or impacted by it. And Penn State is going to say, 'can’t blame us.'"
As for parents, Piazza said part of the responsibility falls on them as well. He encourages them to do their research, and discourage their children from joining independent organizations.
“I would just ask them to listen. Because you never think it can happen to you, but it happened to us," Piazza said. "And it’s eight years later, and we deal with it every day still.”
Penn State has also spoken out against the independent interfraternity council, pointing out "documented dangerous behavior" by two of the fraternities that led them to lose university recognition.