Florida State University welcomed more than 90 student affairs professionals from all 12 State University System (SUS) institutions on June 12–13 for the SUS Hazing Prevention Summit. It was FSU’s first time hosting the event.

The summit focused on using organizational change models to prevent hazing and create safer campus environments. Attendees explored strategies, shared best practices and collaborated on cross-campus solutions.

“It is such an honor and privilege to host the other SUS institutions at Florida State University,” said Amy Hecht, FSU vice president for Student Affairs. “With the passing of the Stop Campus Hazing Act, this summit is vitally important. Through collaborative dialogue, we can collectively challenge the status quo and ask how we might cultivate environments where a proactive approach is needed to address and prevent hazing on our campuses.”

FSU partnered with the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery (HECAOD), an academic center at Ohio State University, to develop the content for the summit. HECAOD provides training, tools and assistance to higher education professionals nationwide who work to address collegiate substance misuse.

“Through collaborative dialogue, we can collectively challenge the status quo and ask how we might cultivate environments where a proactive approach is needed to address and prevent hazing on our campuses.”

– FSU Vice President for Student Affairs Amy Hecht

Attendees represented many areas of campus, including fraternity and sorority life, campus recreation, student engagement, student conduct and health promotion services. The institute-style summit, facilitated by FSU Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Freddy Juarez and HECAOD Outreach and Engagement Manager Logan Davis, focused on student profiles, upstream prevention strategies and how to evaluate their current structures on campus to combat hazing.

“The summit gave our colleagues across the SUS an opportunity to spend intentional time developing a plan to address the complexities of hazing prevention,” Juarez said. “This time was enhanced by the collective ingenuity found within the professionals of the SUS. Together, we can create safer communities that work to cultivate student success.”

Through small groups, participants left with shared content and tangible ideas on how to combat campus hazing.

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As part of an effort to address student organizational well-being, Florida State University launched the Center for Fraternity and Sorority Organizational Wellness. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new research center was held Tuesday, Sept. 10.

The center will serve as a multifaceted national support system, guiding chapters in their pursuit of excellence with three core goals: build collaborative communities, innovate holistic development programs and empower with data-driven decision-making.

By addressing these aspects, the center aims to empower fraternity and sorority members to become successful within their respective organizations, as well as responsible and compassionate leaders in the broader community.

“The Center for Fraternity and Sorority Organizational Wellness will put FSU on the national stage for the conversation around fraternity and sorority wellness and organizational success,” said Amy Hecht, vice president for the Division of Student Affairs. “Fraternity and Sorority Life at FSU has proven exemplary leadership, and we are proud to share our organizations’ successes on the regional and national levels.”

The center is embedded in Fraternity and Sorority Life at Florida State (FSL). Its research, scholarship and practice are guided by the Foundational Leadership and Organizational Wellness (FLOW) model, published by Freddy Juarez, director of FSL; Jarred Pernier, assistant director for operational excellence within FSL; and Brittany Devies, inaugural director for the Center for Fraternity and Sorority Organizational Wellness. This model is grounded in the philosophical belief that individual leaders can create organizational change and success with generative outcomes.

“Currently, in fraternity and sorority research, organizational success is commonly linked to hazing prevention and anti-hazing strategies,” Juarez said. “There is ample room to integrate research from leadership studies, user-centered design, organizational learning and student wellness to fine-tune and reclassify markers for their development. This new center will help individuals who are dedicated to changing the narrative around fraternity and sorority success make data-driven decisions about their community.”

Tasked with the mission to empower organizational wellness through growth and to foster a thriving community, the team will work together to address the challenge of understanding what distinguishes a successful chapter from an underperforming one.

Devies, a two-time FSU alumna whose previous research focused on college student leadership development, explained that chapters have diverse needs, and a “one-size-fits-all approach is no longer effective in nurturing their growth.”

“The core objective of our center is to analytically assess the holistic long-term success of fraternity and sorority life organizations,” Devies said. “This center is one of a kind, focused intentionally on practice to theory to practice grounded in data-driven decision-making. This team has spent years cultivating a deep understanding of what it means to holistically develop young leaders and watch the tremendous impact on our fraternity and sorority organizations. We are overjoyed that this center will allow us the opportunity to share this work on a national scale.”

FSU is home to more than 50 fraternity and sorority chapters across four governing councils. FSL organizations recently celebrated winning 122 regional and national awards this academic year by recognizing their leadership, scholarship and service.

“Our FSL student leaders and organizations are changing the culture of Greek Lettered Organizations,” said Zduy Chu, assistant vice president for Student Affairs. “The establishment of this new center reshapes the conversation around student success within the FSL community in Florida and across the nation—it will assist other institutions in finding practical solutions to everyday issues.”

For more information, visit fsl.fsu.edu/fsw.

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