Updated October 18, 2026. Before joining a fraternity or sorority, a student should be able to find out whether the chapter is recognized, whether activities are restricted, and what happened in any prior disciplinary case. A single status label rarely answers all three questions. “Active,” “interim suspension,” and “found responsible” describe different things, and the dates attached to them matter.
The Reveille’s October 2025 investigation into the return of Delta Kappa Epsilon and Pi Kappa Phi raised questions about reinstatement and the records supporting it. There is now a further reason to compare the underlying documents: LSU’s current scorecard lists newer interim restrictions, and the U.S. Department of Education issued hazing-reporting guidance on October 9, 2026. This guide explains what each record can establish and what students, parents, and reporters should request when the public record is incomplete.
An allegation, an interim restriction, and a finding are different
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Use the arrow keys when the table is focused.
| Record or status | What it tells a reader | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Reported incident or allegation | Someone reported conduct for investigation or statistical reporting. | That the allegation has been proved or that a particular person committed a crime. |
| Interim suspension or other interim measure | The university imposed temporary restrictions while addressing a concern or investigation. | A final hazing finding or a permanent sanction. Read any exceptions and later modifications. |
| Institutional finding and sanction | The university determined responsibility under its process and imposed stated consequences. | A criminal conviction, a civil judgment, or proof that every member participated. |
| Reinstatement or current recognition | The university permits the organization to operate subject to the applicable approval and conditions. | That the old incident never occurred or that all future activities are unrestricted. |
| Criminal proceeding | Law enforcement or a court is addressing alleged violations of criminal law. | That the university’s separate process has reached the same result or operates on the same timetable. |
The LSU records to read together
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Use the arrow keys when the table is focused.
| Public record | Why to read it | Date or scope to check |
|---|---|---|
| Greek Life Community Scorecard | Current chapter status and links to disciplinary materials. | Check the individual chapter and the dated letter; a school-year heading alone does not show when a restriction began. |
| Campus Hazing Transparency Report | Institutional findings involving recognized organizations and the corresponding outcomes. | The page displayed a May 6, 2026 update date when consulted for this article. |
| DKE interim-suspension letter | The university’s stated basis for interim action and the specific restrictions. | September 17, 2026; case 2026064901. This is an interim measure. |
| Delta Tau Delta interim-suspension letter | The chapter-specific interim terms and review process. | October 1, 2026; consult later decisions before treating the initial restrictions as unchanged. |
| LSU Police annual security reports | Published security policies and annual statistics. | Read the report year and the years covered by its tables; annual statistics are not a live chapter-status report. |
At that date, the scorecard listed DKE and Delta Tau Delta under interim suspension of activities and Pi Kappa Phi as active. The transparency page stated that no organizations had been found responsible for hazing in 2025 or 2026 and displayed its May 6 update date. Those entries should be reported with their dates and purposes. They are not proof that no incidents were reported later in 2026.
The September DKE letter describes potential conduct-code violations under investigation, including hazing. It restricts activities, provides a process for requesting certain meetings, and calls for review of the interim measures. A later review can continue, modify, or revoke restrictions. The letter is therefore evidence of the university’s interim action, not a finding that the alleged conduct occurred.
Before describing a chapter as newly suspended, reinstated, or cleared, ask for the latest controlling letter. An earlier document may remain online after another decision changes its effect. A current status page and an older outcome letter can both be accurate while addressing different stages of the same history.
What changed under the Stop Campus Hazing Act
The Stop Campus Hazing Act, enacted December 23, 2024, created two related but distinct disclosure obligations. One concerns hazing statistics in annual security reports. The other concerns public summaries of organizational findings in a Campus Hazing Transparency Report. Confusing the two can produce an incorrect claim that a university failed to report an incident—or an equally incorrect assurance that no hazing concern exists.
The Education Department’s October 9, 2026 guidance says institutions must include 2025 hazing statistics in their 2026 annual security reports. These are qualifying incidents reported to campus security authorities or local police, within the applicable Clery Act geographic categories. The department says its own collection of hazing statistics begins with the 2027 Campus Safety and Security Survey. A reported-incident count is not a count of convictions.
The transparency report focuses on recognized student organizations found responsible under the institution’s hazing standards. The federal act requires a general account of the violation, the finding and sanctions, and dates identifying the alleged incident, investigation, finding, and notice to the organization. It excludes students’ personally identifiable information. The statute’s collection requirement began July 1, 2025, with public availability required by December 23, 2025, subject to the no-finding exception.
There are other important differences. For annual hazing statistics, the federal definition of a student organization can include groups not formally recognized by the institution. The transparency-report provision is limited to established or recognized organizations, and the Clery geographic restrictions do not apply to that report. An off-campus event or an unrecognized group therefore requires careful classification; a reader should not assume that every public report covers the same universe of conduct.
The act generally requires transparency-report updates at least twice a year, but it does not require an update for a period with no new finding of responsibility. It also requires retention of updates for five years. A page’s age alone does not prove noncompliance. To assess a particular omission, identify the qualifying finding, its date, the applicable reporting period, and any statutory exception.
Read the reinstatement conditions, not just the end date
A suspension ending on a stated date and an approval to resume activities may be separate events. Read the original outcome and the later approval together. The practical question is what the chapter had to do before returning and what obligations continued afterward.
- Identify the decision. Record the university office, date, chapter, case number, and type of action. Distinguish a university decision from a national organization’s decision.
- Separate eligibility from approval. Determine whether the document permits an application to return, grants reinstatement, or requires additional approval.
- List conditions due before return. These may concern education, advisers, membership review, plans, finances, or other obligations. Use the actual letter rather than assuming every chapter has the same terms.
- List continuing conditions. Identify any supervision, reporting, probation, event restrictions, or later review dates.
- Find evidence of completion. Ask for existing approval and compliance records. The expiration of time does not itself document completion.
- Check later changes. Look for amendments, extensions, appeal decisions, interim measures, or new outcomes that affect the earlier approval.
Keep the analysis at the organizational level unless individual information is necessary and lawfully available. A chapter’s history is relevant to a joining decision, but a sanction against an organization should not be presented as a finding against every student associated with it.
A focused public-records request
LSU’s public-records instructions direct requests to the Office of the President at [email protected] and ask that records be identified with reasonable particularity. A request for existing decisions and compliance documents is generally more useful than asking the university to explain every event in a chapter’s history.
Suggested request: “Under the Louisiana Public Records Law, please provide existing records for [chapter] from [start date] through [end date] sufficient to show: (1) its recognition or registration status; (2) any suspension, interim restriction, reinstatement approval, or modification of those decisions; (3) the conditions imposed before and after return; and (4) existing records documenting approval or verification that those conditions were satisfied. Please include incorporated exhibits and attachments. I request electronic copies where available. I am not requesting protected student identifying information. Please provide reasonably segregable, nonexempt portions, identify the legal basis for any withholding, and advise me before incurring charges. My contact information is [name and email].”
Narrow the dates and chapter name before sending. If a record is withheld, the stated legal basis and the nature of the withheld material matter; a public-records request does not eliminate student-privacy protections. If no responsive completion record is produced, describe that response accurately. It does not automatically establish that the underlying condition was never satisfied.
What students and parents can do with the records
Bring specific questions to the university and chapter representatives before joining: Is the chapter currently permitted to recruit? Which activities are restricted? Who supervises new-member activities? What conditions remain from earlier discipline? Where can a concern be reported outside the chapter? Ask for the current written policy or decision when an answer depends on official status.
A report of dangerous conduct should not wait for someone to finish a records search. Seek emergency assistance when needed and use the university’s reporting channels or law enforcement as appropriate. Preserve messages, invitations, photographs, and firsthand accounts without circulating students’ private information publicly.
The value of these records is in reading them together: current permission to operate, the history behind it, and the conditions that still apply. A dated, document-based account gives families useful information while treating unresolved allegations fairly.
This article provides general legal information about public reporting and organizational records. It does not determine responsibility in any pending investigation. Chapter status and reporting pages may change after publication.
Related Louisiana guidance. Disciplinary records and medical proof serve different purposes. Our Louisiana injury-causation guide explains the latter. If hazing has caused a death, our wrongful-death and survival deadline guide identifies additional timing questions that require prompt review. Browse the full Louisiana Legal Research collection for additional topics.