After serving only one year of its minimum four-year termination, the University quietly reduced Theta Chi fraternity’s sanction to only one year after the fraternity appealed the original decision. In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, Marsh Pattie, associate vice president for student affairs, said that the University chose to grant Theta Chi’s appeal because it was concerned with the conduct of former hazing investigator Donovan Golich.
Theta Chi’s fraternal organization agreement was originally terminated after the organization was found to have committed hazing acts in March 2024. Acts described in the Campus Hazing Transparency Report include requiring new members to attend “lineups” where they were quizzed on fraternity information, as well as requiring the consumption of “heinous foods” associated with loss of feeling in limbs and illness for new members. Other hazing behaviors included verbal harassment, cleaning the chapter house and performing tasks which the report characterized as “pointless.”
The report also states that Theta Chi members repeatedly misled University officials throughout the investigation, which also contributed to their sanction.
After the investigation which found sufficient evidence of hazing, Theta Chi’s FOA was terminated for a minimum of four years — until at least the 2028-29 academic year.
But months after the University terminated the fraternity’s FOA, leaked audio recordings from the investigation led to questions about the conduct of Donovan Golich, a former hazing investigator in the Policy, Accountability and Critical Events unit within the Division of Student Affairs. Golich’s conduct during the investigation was self-described as harsh and included a threatening remark toward one student. The University ultimately denounced Golich’s conduct and he departed the University that fall.
Pattie said that Theta Chi appealed its sanction to the University’s Judicial Review Board, which reviews appeals from disciplinary cases processed either directly through Student Affairs and PACE or through the student-run University Judiciary Committee. Pattie also said the JRB granted the appeal by modifying the fraternity’s sanction because it was concerned with Golich’s conduct, but did not waive the sanctioning entirely because Theta Chi did mislead University investigators.
“The JRB was concerned by conduct of a former case investigator while it also concluded that Theta Chi engaged in hazing behavior and was not truthful with University investigators,” Pattie said.
When asked, Pattie confirmed that the former hazing investigator was Golich.
Additional sanctions were added in place of the four-year FOA termination. Theta Chi will now serve a one-year termination, though it is already in the process of doing so. University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover said in a statement to The Cavalier Daily that the fraternity may apply for re-establishment after the conclusion of the 2024-25 academic year.
Theta Chi must also now submit a proposal to Pattie before Aug. 1 that details how it will create a culture free of hazing, create a mechanism for anonymous feedback or reporting and inform new members each semester of that mechanism’s existence through May 2028.
One other sanction added is a termination in abeyance through May 2028, meaning if it violates Standards 2 or 6 of the University Standards of Conduct — threats to health and safety and violations of University policies, respectively — its FOA will be terminated. Theta Chi must also participate in programming with the Gordie Center, which advocates against hazing, before December.
Additional details regarding Theta Chi’s appeal to the JRB, including whether or not the fraternity will be granted re-establishment, are not available at this time.
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