Georgia Institute of Technology :: Office of Student Integrity

ORGANIZATIONAL OR INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY

HOW TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY

Does the organization bear some responsibility, or is this purely individual in nature?

Use the questions listed below. If preponderance of the information indicates organizational connections/involvement, you should determine organizational responsibility.

Were any officers present? If so, what action did they take?
If not in attendance, did any officers have knowledge of the action/event?
What resources were used? Were organizational funds, funds pooled from organizational members, or other material resources of the organization used for the activity/event?
Of the people present, what percentage were members of the organization?
What percentage of the chapter membership was present?
was the purpose of the event/activity for initiation, admission into, affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership?
Did the event/activity take place in space owned, operated, rented, commonly used by the organization?
Was there advertising for the event.action/activity? If so, where was it placed (either physically or through what media)? Who placed it?
Was the activity announced at an organizational meeting (formal or informal, including meal announcements)? Was the activity information posted in a place where primarily members would see/have access to the information?
If there were non-members present, how did they come to know of the activity/event/action?

Behavior that occurs in the house or on chapter property is an issue that the Judicial Board should at least review to determine if the chapter has any responsibility, and to review the chapter's response. If the chapter has not responded, or has not responded in what the Judicial Board feels is an appropriate manner, the chapter may be responsible for allowing an environment to exist where the behavior is more likely to occur.

Specifically regarding the provision/consumption of alcohol , you should consider using some or all of these questions to determine organizational or individual responsibility. If any of the questions below are answered yes, you should find some level of organizational responsibility.

Was it an organizational event (using the criteria above), or predominantly member attended?
If it was an organizational event, what argument has been presented for the organization not to bear some level of responsiblity for individuals' actions?
Has something like this happened at Tech, or to this organization specifically in the recent past? If so, it would be reasonable to assume the organization should have been aware of the potential problem.
Is it an issue organizations have been made aware of, or warned about, by the IFC Board of Directors, IFC Executive Committee, IFC Advisor or administration? Id so, it would be reasonable to expect the organization to hav been aware of the potential problem.
Most fraternity men know the risk management policy of their national organization. It is the responsibility of chapter leadership to see that members are aware of, and undesrand those policies. Did the actions of the inidividual(s) violate policies the individual(s) knew or, should have known?

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