Duke suspends sorority activities after student is critically injured in alcohol-related incident

Duke University officials Wednesday announced that all sorority activities on campus have been suspended after a student wound up in the hospital in critical condition after an alcohol-related incident Tuesday night.

After learning the student had been hospitalized, Clarybel Peguero, Duke’s director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and Anya Ranganathan, president of the Panhellenic Council, issued an alert to the 10 Panhellenic chapter presidents and to the Panhellenic Executive Board.

“Panhellenic Community,” the email notification began, “Overnight a new member was hospitalized and is in critical condition related to an incident with alcohol. While we are investigating to learn more of what happened, we are immediately suspending ALL sorority activities until further notice.”

Peguerro and Ranganathan called for an emergency meeting Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. to discuss what happened Tuesday night and to “review Duke’s expectations for all chapters and their members.”

Peguero and Ranganathan also asked each chapter to “review its activities to ensure compliance.”

“The safety of members of our community is of utmost importance,” they said.

The university did not release any information about the injured student, other than to say the student was expected to “fully recover,” according to Larry Moneta, the university’s vice-president of student affairs.

Moneta in the statement said the university is suspending all sorority activities “due to concerns about activities that have taken place during the most recent rush and bid periods.” He reiterated earlier statements by Peguero and Ranganathan, saying that the school’s student affairs staff will work with the leaders of the 10 campus sororities who are expecteded to review their activities “to ensure compliance with policies on social events, rush, and alcohol use.”

Moneta said the health, well-being and safety of students is the university’s “highest priority” and that campus officials “look forward to working with the sorority leaders toward that end.”

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Duke suspends sorority activities after student is critically injured in alcohol-related incident."