Two San Diego State University task forces taking a hard look at student safety and alcohol and substance abuse after the death of a fraternity pledge met publicly for the first time Monday to discuss the work they have done so far and some of the policies they’re considering.

The group consists of representatives from The Presidential Task Force on Student Activities and Safety and The Presidential Task Force on Alcohol and Substance Misuse, which were created less than a week after the death of Dylan Hernandez.

The 19-year-old freshman became intoxicated on Nov. 6 at an event hosted by Phi Gamma Delta, the house he was pledging, police said. He later fell out of the top bunk bed at his dorm, suffering a blow to his head that led to his death.

Although each task force is still developing specific recommendations, both groups recognized early on that the college could do a better job at ensuring more students participated in the programs that exist to promote safety and responsibility.


Randy Timm, SDSU’s dean of students, said some student organizations weren’t taking part in existing educational programs since they weren’t required to. To get a better handle on participation, the task force is hoping to track which student groups are involved in programs, as well as coming up with ways to measure whether that education succeeded.

Broadening the reach of these programs would be an important way to create campus-wide change, since fraternities and sororities aren’t the only student organizations that occasionally get into trouble.

At the college’s request, San Diego police started sharing information about students who had received social host and noise citations off campus. Most of those students were not fraternity or sorority members, Timm said.

Still, fraternities and sororities are among the student groups that receive the most education, and there are still problems within those organizations. The task forces are considering a number of recommendations specific to Greek life, including further changes to fraternity and sorority recruitment practices, specific policies to address hazing and possibly capping the number of social events that can be held at any given time.


Student members of the task forces stressed the importance of other students buying into the changes that are being proposed.

“In the end, we’re trying to make policy that’s going to create long-term change for this campus, a long-term culture change, so it’s important we get our student leaders to buy in,” said Lee Abed, vice president of judicial affairs for the InterFraternity Council, which represents 14 of the school’s fraternities."If they don’t, then I’m afraid what we’re doing now will only last a semester or a year.”

Nearly 20 people attended the meeting, including residents from surrounding communities, students and alumni. It was the first time the two groups -- which usually meet separately -- had the opportunity to discuss their progress together since they began holding meetings in December.

The task forces are expected to produce full reports on their recommendations and findings in April and July. Timm hopes to have some recommendations in place by May 1, which is when student organizations are officially recognized by the school.


At the time of Hernandez’s death, 10 SDSU fraternities, including Phi Gamma, the house the teen was pledging, were under investigation or suspension for various infractions.

The task forces were created soon after and quickly recommended several new policies addressing how, when and where Greek organizations can recruit and socialize.

The Good Samaritan Policy encourages student organizations and their members to notify the school and emergency personnel if a student has been “impacted” by alcohol or other drugs at a student activity.

The policy removes penalties for certain alcohol and drug violations.


Another policy tightened the rules under which fraternities and sororities are allowed to recruit members, limiting such activities to those that meet certain guidelines. Chapter recruitment and education events must occur between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., according to the new policy.

The curfew is in response to “founded hazing violations,” according to an SDSU memo detailing the new rules. The document doesn’t say what happened or who was involved, but it says it is aimed at the Interfraternity Council.

The school said chapters also cannot host recruiting or new member education sessions at satellite houses, and that an adviser — faculty, staff or alumnus — must be present.

At least five fraternities remain suspended or on probation: Nu Alpha Kappa, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu and Theta Chi.