When fourth-year College student Ben Ueltschey began his term as Inter-Fraternity Council President in January 2024 after serving a term as vice president for recruitment, he assumed the responsibilities typical of that role, likely prepared to address matters regarding the recruitment process, student safety, scholarships and hazing cases when they occurred.
While the term prior saw zero hazing cases against fraternities, Ueltschey saw five different fraternities sanctioned for hazing in the Spring 2024 semester alone. Three of them — Kappa Sigma, Theta Chi and Pi Kappa Alpha — had their Fraternal Organization Agreements terminated entirely by the University, effectively barring them from existing with University support for at least a few years, dependent on behavior. One of those three — Pi Kappa Alpha — also had its national organization state publicly that it would bring civil litigation against its members.
After his term officially ended in January when recruitment concluded, Ueltschey sat down with The Cavalier Daily to talk about the major events that occurred during his presidency and where he thinks the IFC should go from here.
“My main goals were to work on the recruitment process, continuing my work when I was VP of recruitment …” Ueltschey said. “And then also taking a perspective of reducing harm within our communities, specifically around alcohol and drugs.”
Ueltschey touted accomplishments such as the IFC’s Rugby Project, a partnership with the Women’s Center that certifies members of fraternities to give presentations about sexual respect and consent to members of their chapters. He also said that a member from every chapter in the IFC has been certified to use naloxone, which can mitigate the effects of a drug overdose. As an extension of his previous role as vice president for recruitment, Ueltschey made substantive changes to the way potential new members are advised throughout the recruitment process.
While he believed in these initiatives, Ueltschey said he did not have as much time to work on them as he would have liked — likely because a slew of hazing incidents throughout the spring put him, the IFC and the University, in the national spotlight.
The situation began in February, when a student was hospitalized after a hazing incident at Kappa Sigma fraternity. The University temporarily suspended Kappa Sigma’s FOA pending investigation and later terminated the fraternity. Ueltschey took an immediate step to suspend all new member activities and social events for three weeks, a step which was announced in a statement to the entire IFC via email, the website and the Instagram page.
Ueltschey said that decision was made out of respect for the student who was hospitalized, as well as to prevent any other incidents from occurring while the IFC processed the situation at Kappa Sigma.
“It just felt like anything would be in very poor taste to have someone in our community be in that situation, and then for people to continue to do parties,” Ueltschey said. “So that was the first no brainer.”
The ban never had to be enforced, according to Ueltschey. He said that the decision to create a pause on activities was agreed upon unanimously by all chapters’ presidents.
“It was a community idea, like we're gonna hold each other accountable for that interpersonally,” Ueltschey said.
Ueltschey did say however that if the ban had been violated, it was reportable and enforceable through the IFC’s judiciary committee, which operates a process similar to that of the University Judiciary Committee.
But for a university which had not seen a chapter’s FOA terminated since 2022, the investigation into Kappa Sigma turned up the pressure on Ueltschey and the University writ large. The incident made headlines both locally and nationally with coverage in the Washington Post, Fox News, People Magazine and more, drawing an unusually large audience to the affairs of University Greek life. Ueltschey said he was not prepared for this type of media frenzy, one that occurred only a month into his term as president.
“It was hard to do [my normal duties] all at once and also just facing the public backlash, like having major media outlets reach out to me on email. One organization got my phone number somehow,” Ueltschey said. “[It was] pretty scary. I felt very unprepared for what I was getting into.”
Just one month after the end of the social and new member activity ban, three more fraternities would have their FOAs suspended or terminated for hazing — Sigma Alpha Mu, Theta Chi and Pi Kappa Alpha. While Sigma Alpha Mu kept its FOA but faced restrictive sanctioning by the UJC, Theta Chi’s FOA was ultimately terminated in the summer, and Pi Kappa Alpha’s was terminated immediately. The national organization for Pi Kappa Alpha also sent a video statement to every member of the chapter nationwide, in which a representative said the fraternity would pursue civil litigation against the individual members of the chapter.
The University’s move to immediately terminate Pi Kappa Alpha’s FOA was a bold one — typically a fraternity’s FOA is either suspended pending an investigation, or the fraternity can be referred to the UJC for sanctioning without a suspension or termination.
With those incidents, the total number of FOA terminations in a three year period rose to five — three during Ueltschey’s term alone. Pi Lambda Phi fraternity would be sanctioned for hazing over the summer as well, rounding out a total of eight IFC chapters found guilty of hazing in a three year period.
Ueltschey made clear that he did not believe that these incidents were examples of more hazing taking place, rather people feeling more comfortable reporting the instances.
“I think outside people may disagree, but I think the conversations around hazing and just the public awareness and knowledge of the harms of hazing nationally has increased so much,” Ueltschey said.
He also cited campaigns from the Gordie Center and the University to increase awareness about what hazing looks like and how to report it. A similar sentiment was also echoed by Harper Jones, UJC chair and fourth-year College student, responding to the major influx of all cases — hazing included — that the UJC processed this term.
As president, one additional challenge the Ueltschey faced was more general to the IFC — when chapters are terminated, they typically still operate unsanctioned by the University, sometimes with alternative names. The University even admits on its Hazing Misconduct Report that it is aware that Phi Gamma Delta, which had its FOA terminated in 2022 for hazing, still operates off-Grounds under the name “Club 128,” a reference to its address at 128 Madison Lane.
Moreover, when the three-week social ban occurred in February and March 2024, the unsanctioned chapters were not required to comply, as they were not members of the IFC. Without oversight from the University, those chapters are relatively free to operate without supervision.
Meanwhile, chapters who are found guilty of hazing but do not have their FOA terminated can be issued steep sanctions by the UJC. Sigma Alpha Mu, for instance, is required to post signage at every restroom and exit of the chapter house directing members to University reporting systems for hazing. Sigma Alpha Mu is also subject to random check-ins to ensure compliance by the UJC via email throughout the Spring 2025 semester and is required to copy the UJC’s vice chair for sanctions on all communication with new members.
Ueltschey still affirms the benefits of a chapter belonging to the IFC, despite these discrepancies.
Chapters who belong to the IFC typically enjoy lower insurance premiums, according to Ueltschey, as well as IFC resources during recruitment and advising in the instance of a UJC trial. Additionally, many chapter houses are either on-Grounds or are owned or managed by the University, giving the school leverage over chapters which continue to operate unsanctioned.
The University was able to immediately evict Pi Kappa Alpha in April, and Kappa Sigma’s chapter house, which the organization still occupies, is on Grounds. Ueltschey said he was unaware of a decision made by the University as to whether Kappa Sigma could continue to occupy its house.
Ueltschey said another way the IFC and the University has leverage is if a terminated fraternity plans on rechartering and joining the IFC again, but may not be able to because it operated unsanctioned.
“I think that's going to be a difficult conversation for many of these chapters, when they may not be allowed back into the IFC, if they have not done the processes that they were supposed to,” Ueltschey said.
For the 28 chapters which remain, they face the challenge of trying to combat negative perceptions of Greek life and highlight the positive elements of belonging to a fraternity, according to Ueltschey.
“It's tough to show the community, the wider, broader U.Va. community, that there’s still good happening, when the public facing matters are so negative,” Ueltschey said.
Those negative perceptions could have the potential to adversely affect the recruitment process. According to Ueltschey, the number of students who signed up to rush in the IFC was higher this year than last year, but still part of an overall downward trajectory since the pandemic.
Asked if he believes these hazing events negatively affected decisions by individuals to participate in recruitment, Ueltschey was skeptical.
“I think [hazing] definitely contributed to a negative reputation. I don't think that has drastically changed the opinion of people who are going to do recruitment,” Ueltschey said. “I think that that interest is kind of already there regardless.”
Ueltschey also said that the cause of declining numbers could be overall attitudes toward Greek life at the University.
“I think at our school it’s not an end all, be all, which is incredible that it's not, I mean, that's one reason I love Greek life here,” Ueltschey said. You can be in so many other organizations, have so many friends outside of your Greek circle, that you don't have to be in a fraternity or a sorority.”
However, for those who still choose to participate in recruitment, their process looks different than it used to, because of Ueltschey.
A program first created by Ueltschey when he was the IFC’s vice president for recruitment, the IFC utilized its recruitment counselor system for the second year this cycle as a way to guide PNMs through rush. The program matches each PNM to an IFC Recruitment Counselor, who guides them through the process with regular check-ins and the opportunity to ask questions or for advice. The system is based off of the Inter-Sorority Council’s Pi Chi system, but is less formal, as RCs are not required to disaffiliate from their chapters during the rush process.
Because the IFC does not have a way of knowing how many PNMs accepted bids until a few weeks after rush ends, the quantitative success of the RC program is unclear as of now. Still, Ueltschey said he has seen positive feedback about the process from RCs and PNMs alike.
“We've had a lot of interest again this year, which is really encouraging,” Ueltschey said. “So that means it did some positive good last year, and I think it's definitely a good resource continuing on.”
As Ueltschey concludes his eventful term, Ryan Phelan, the new IFC president and third-year College student, will have to pick up where Ueltschey left off. As president of the IFC, Ueltschey said the best advice he could give to his successor is to build trust with chapters, with their leadership, with the University administration and with alumni.
“[The IFC] needs to build trust … [and] keep the system healthy,” Ueltschey said. “I think that's the general thing we have to work towards. We have to recognize that we're going toward the same goal … to fix the issues that we may have now that could hinder us from growing and being safe.”
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