As journalists, it is our responsibility to get both sides and present an unbiased view of news that happens on campus, especially when this news essentially pits two parties against each other.

However, when one side refuses to talk to the paper, it makes it harder to present both sides of what happened in an article.

Oh, wait. Does that lead sound familiar to anyone else? It should. It’s exactly what we wrote the last time a fraternity got in trouble on campus and the university refused to release any substantial information about it.

As a paper, we tried reporting on the probation of Lambda Chi Fraternity. So far, all we have gotten is the runaround.

Lambda Chi Alpha national headquarters issued a statement. However, this statement was vague and did not provide the details needed to explain the reason for the probation to our readers. In it, the director of communications states that members of the fraternity chose to “repeatedly violate the oaths and laws of membership, in addition to violating the policies and laws of the university and local law enforcement.”

The fact that laws were broken and the local law enforcement was mentioned raises some red flags for us, and our readers.

An allegation of hazing means there is a chance that students were or could have been hurt in some way. As the STUDENT newspaper of Eastern Illinois University, if there is something affecting students, it is our responsibility to check it out and give as much information about it as possible. Vaguely saying, “Hey, laws and policies were broken” tells us nothing. Instead, it just leads to more questions.

Some sources might be able to justify sending our reporters to Lambda Chi Alpha national headquarters for answers; but to us, it does not make sense that members of the university who are in charge of Greek Life, and who took part in the investigation, do not seem to know what is happening.

According to a statement from interim vice president for student affairs Lynette Drake, the decision to put Lambda Chi Alpha on probation was made by the fraternity’s national office AND the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Programs on campus. However, when asked the interim director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Programs declined to comment.

Why would the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Programs not be able to tell people what is happening regarding a fraternity or sorority? It just does not add up.

As we keep explaining, we are not looking for any specific names of people who might be involved.

We understand that there are some aspects to this that might not be able to be disclosed.

But the terms and conditions of the probation, such as what the fraternity is and is not allowed to do? Not confidential. What exactly the fraternity did to allegedly haze recruits? Not confidential.

In fact, when one fraternity at Cornell University was put on probation, Ithaca College’s student newspaper, The Ithacan, was able to print that it was for having a “‘pig roast’ hazing competition, in which pledges competed to see who could have sex with the heaviest women.”

An administrator at Cornell even sent out a statement acknowledging the specific allegations, calling it behavior that degrades and dehumanizes women.

And they did it all without releasing names of people who were involved. This way people were able to know what happened and what exactly was going on at Cornell University.

There are questions out there being asked, and we know we are not the only ones who want answers. Concerned parents want to know if Greek Life at Eastern is safe. Students want to be assured that hazing allegations will be taken care of.

And we know there are people who want to know why Sigma Chi was suspended while Lambda Chi was put on probation. Perhaps there is a good reason for that. At the rate information is going out, however, we’ll never know it. But right now, it looks like there are two different punishments for similar charges.

At the end of the day, though, this isn’t about Sigma Chi; this isn’t about Lambda Chi; this isn’t even about Greek Life. This is about people at the university withholding information that they know they can give out.

If saving face is more important to our administrators than keeping people safe, telling the truth and holding people accountable, there is a real problem on this campus.

The News staff can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].