On Nov. 17, the revived USC chapter of Theta Xi initiated 16 brothers as founding fathers, marking the fraternity’s official return to USC after a six-year suspension.

Theta Xi was suspended in August 2018 after USC’s Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards concluded a seven-month investigation into allegations that Theta Xi hazed new members in Fall 2016 and 2017, provided alcohol at recruitment events and hosted so-called “fight nights,” during which members physically fought to settle disputes while others watched. 

SJACS found Theta Xi responsible for violations of nine sections of the USC Code, including sections prohibiting hazing and the provision of alcohol to underage individuals, resulting in a six-year suspension. Theta Xi appealed the decision to the Student Behavior Appeals Panel, which upheld the decision. After that, Theta Xi challenged the suspension in state court, where it was ruled Theta Xi had been given a fair hearing.

---

Daily headlines, sent straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest at and around USC.

---

However, now that the ban is up, Justin Urbealis, a Chapter Services Coordinator for the national Theta Xi organization, has been working since August to build USC’s chapter back up. 

“I know that Greek life in general, PR-wise, isn’t great because of a lot of this negative PR that you see across the country when it comes to hazing and sexual assault and all that stuff, but Theta Xi really endeavors to do things differently,” Urbealis said. 

He added that he described Theta Xi as a “philanthropic social fraternity.”

Urbealis was the president of Montclair State University’s Theta Xi chapter when he was a student there and now works for the national organization to grow their chapters. His job at USC has been to recruit and initiate members into the fraternity while making sure that Theta Xi doesn’t repeat its past actions. 

Last month, Theta Xi held executive board elections where Daniel Ng, a sophomore majoring in business administration, was appointed the chapter president. Ng said his vision for the chapter is to create an environment where members focus on personal growth.

“[The revival] is going to be a challenge. We’re going to start fresh, and it’s going to be difficult,” Ng said. “I think [my vision] is just to have a lot of people who are very diverse, talented in their own ways, have their own skills, and put their heart and mind into something where they can see themselves adding value and really creating something special.” 

Theta Xi is a member of the University Park Interfraternity Council, a group of fraternities that disaffiliated from the University in August 2022. According to their FAQ page on disaffiliation, UPIFC formed after dissatisfaction with the University’s policies that prevented freshmen from participating in fall rush, as well as “unnecessarily lengthy” investigations that resulted in temporary suspensions of events. 

Unaffiliated fraternities largely avoid University oversight and are treated by the University as private residences. 

On its FAQ page on affiliation on the Student Life website, last updated in November 2022, the University wrote that it strongly discourages students from joining fraternities that have disaffiliated from the University.

“[Disaffiliated fraternities] are choosing not to abide by university rules and regulations established over many years to support members and protect their safety, health, well-being, and academic success. For that reason, we strongly recommend that students do not join or attend unregulated parties hosted by these groups,” the University wrote.

The Daily Trojan asked the UPIFC about what policies it has in place to prevent and address incidents of hazing, underage serving of alcohol, violence and sexual assault.

In a statement to the Daily Trojan on Nov. 21, Sammy Barr — the president of UPIFC and a senior majoring in cinema and media studies as well as business administration — wrote that UPIFC has policies in place to ensure safety at its members’ events.

“UPIFC provides trainings and resources to every chapter throughout the semester, including proper event registration training which must have licensed security, Narcan and emergency-response training, mental and physical wellbeing training, and crisis-response training, all of which align with UPIFC Bylaws and North American Interfraternity Council (NIC) Standards,” Barr wrote.

Urbealis said he wasn’t aware of the UPIFC policies on issues including sexual assault and hazing because he hadn’t attended enough meetings to be certain, saying that he “can’t be the spokesperson” for UPIFC’s regulations.

Ng said that Theta Xi plans to avoid the dangerous hazing that occurs among other fraternities. 

“All these reports on hazing and everything — websites, news articles and people even passing away because of it — scares a lot of people, right?” Ng said. “That’s not our take on it. It’s more like we want to create a process that makes everyone unlock their best potential.”

Urbealis also said Theta Xi is a “dry” fraternity, meaning that it doesn’t allow alcohol on its premises. 

“When you are pledging [to] this organization, you are not allowed to be engaging in any sort of drinking whatsoever,” Urbealis said.

Urbealis said he had personally communicated the national Theta Xi guidelines, such as their policies on alcohol and sexual assault, to chapter members. However, he said he believed that universities have “overcorrected” in recent years when punishing fraternities that violate the rules.

“If stuff like that happens — we’re human, mistakes are made … When a singular issue happens, I do not want to completely paint the entire organization as a problem, which is I think what happened when we were suspended off campus [six] years ago: A single brother caused a problem that caused a domino effect,” Urbealis said.

According to the Theta Xi Risk Management Policy, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily Trojan, the organization prohibits hazing — whether voluntary or not — as well as any forms of violence or sexual harassment. The document, which was last updated in July 2019, also lists several alcohol-related policies, including bans on drinking games and underage drinking.

Ng said that Theta Xi’s initiation week was not a “traditional Hell Week” in which new members of fraternities and sororities undergo various forms of hazing as a process of initiation.

Urbealis did not clarify what actions Theta Xi would take if similar issues occurred again. The 2018 SJACS investigation found repeated instances of hazing, underage serving of alcohol and violent events; these findings were corroborated in the subsequent court ruling.

Despite what he felt was a popular negative perception of Greek life, Urbealis said his experience being in Theta Xi in college greatly helped his personal and professional development.

“I just want not only my organization, but for Greek life at USC in general, to have a fair shot to be looked at in a better light,” Urbealis said.