The Boston Globe reports a Suffolk Superior Court judge has rejected Harvard College’s argument to toss a lawsuit challenging a school policy on single-gender clubs. In the state lawsuit, sorority organizations had alleged Harvard had violated state civil rights law by interfering with their freedom of association and by discriminating against their members on the basis of sex. Harvard countered that the plaintiffs failed to allege “sufficient facts to support each of their claims. “Yet again, a court has thoroughly rejected Harvard’s arguments and concluded that there’s more than sufficient evidence that Harvard interfered with the constitutionally protected rights of its female students,” said Emma Quinn-Judge, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case, in a statement.
The Harvard Crimson also covered the Suffolk Superior Court ruling and included the following joint statement from National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) CEO Dani Weatherford and North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) CEO Judson Horras: “It is now long-past time for Harvard to repeal this discriminatory policy. Instead of enforcing a policy that tramples students’ rights at Harvard, we hope the university will join us in productive dialogue about building a healthy and more inclusive campus culture.”
Bridgewater Courier News reports that the New Jersey State Senate passed the Timothy J. Piazza Law by unanimous vote increasing penalties for hazing activities resulting in injury. The law also expands the list of activities that constitute hazing and establishes immunity for an individual who reports hazing to emergency services, remains on the scene, and cooperates with responders. However, companion bills in the state Assembly have not advanced from the committee stage.
An investigation is underway at Stanford University to determine how sophomore Eitan Michael Weiner died inside an on-campus fraternity house, ABC News, KCRA 3, and NBC Bay Area report. A preliminary investigation into Weiner's death found no signs of foul play. The sophomore was found unresponsive inside the Theta Delta Chi fraternity house on the Palo Alto campus, according to The Stanford Daily, the school's newspaper.
The Washington Post, CNN, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Yahoo! News report that a Pennsylvania State fraternity has been suspended on an interim basis following a reported sexual assault. The assault is reported to have occurred at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity in State College on Jan. 15 and was reported to the university's police department via an online submission. The victim, reported to be a student, told a third party about being sexually assaulted by four unidentified fraternity brothers, the site said. It is unclear whether the alleged assailants are affiliated with Alpha Epsilon Pi. “We became aware of these allegations yesterday afternoon and are cooperating fully with the investigations of the University administration and local authorities,” fraternity spokesman Jonathan Pierce said in a statement. “Obviously, the alleged incident is absolutely antithetical to our fraternity’s ideals and values. We will provide more comment upon the conclusion of the investigations.”