Replies

I agree with most of your analysis.

Closing the chapter was not a University action. That decision was made by the SAE national organization. That group was completely justified in doing so.

The expulsion of individual students is another matter. I think those students have a case.

I do not know the specifics of the case with fraternity houses at OU, but at most colleges, the University "owns" fraternity and sorority houses, provided they are on campus... in a sense, Greek Houses are dorms.

The evictions from the house... I'm not sure about how that would be viewed legally. In my experience, the students would have already paid for the housing as part of their tuition bills (on campus housing) and it seems somewhat unfair that a student who may not have even been present during the incident would have his housing stripped from him mid-semester with 24 hour notice.

I'm beginning to think that the University made a calculated decision to take actions they knew would not stand up in Court to protect/inoculate itself for other reasons... like protecting the reputation of the school in recruiting.

I think they probably know they are open to lawsuits, and will simply settle them as they arise.

One of the early stories on this mentioned that the evicted members could go to the Dean of Students for assistance if they needed help with lodging so I don't think they're going to be on the streets. But on the other hand I can't hold out a lot of sympathy for them because I find it impossible to believe that they would be unaware of the kind of things that went on.

I agree for the most part with your reasons for their actions but I disagree that the University knew it was taking actions that couldn't stand up in court. I think they can, and will, be able to justify their actions under the student code of conduct listed in the OU Student Handbook.