Frat Cuts Ties With Group That Lobbied to Make Campus Rape Harder to Prosecute

On Tuesday, the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity announced that it would officially leave the North American Interfraternity Conference, citing “counterproductive tactics.”

“For more than a century, we have supported the NIC’s efforts and advocated for its stated principles and values,” said Fletcher McElreath, Lambda Chi Alpha’s chairman of the board in a statement. “Unfortunately, the NIC has recently elected to pursue counterproductive tactics that we believe are antithetical to our values and we cannot support them.”

The NIC has been instrumental in lobbying to make it more difficult for colleges and universities to investigate rape and sexual assault through the Safe Campus Act, arguing earlier this year that punishment for a student accused of such a crime should be deferred “until the completion of the criminal investigation and any subsequent trial.”

The Huffington Post reports:

The Safe Campus Act is universally opposed by advocacy groups working with sexual assault victims. The bill would restrict colleges from investigating sexual assaults unless the alleged victim also reports to police, but would not hold other illegal behavior like physical assaults or theft to the same requirement. ..

The NIC, along with the National Panhellenic Conference, which represents sororities, has lead a push throughout 2015 to lobby for new restrictions on when colleges can investigate sexual assault cases. As HuffPost recently reported, the NIC and NPC hired former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Republican of Mississippi, as part of its team of lobbyists to push the fraternity group’s position on campus rape cases.

“We face many challenges in the Greek system today and this internal squabbling has rendered the NIC increasingly paralyzed in its efforts,” said Bill Farkas, the fraternity’s CEO. “Lambda Chi Alpha will continue to pursue the development of strong co-curricular partnerships with our host institutions across North America and to promote an environment where all like-minded Greek organizations can be successful.”

“Unfortunately, we will do so outside the umbrella of the NIC, unless or until, we are convinced that the NIC’s policies and values are consistent with ours and consistent with the best interests of our campus communities.”