The University of Montana's four sororities and seven fraternities will be taking a month-long break from social events involving alcohol.
That decision, effective immediately, comes directly from leadership within UM's Greek program itself, not university administrators. UM's Vice President of Integrated Communications, Peggy Kuhr, says a series of ongoing problems came to a head during homecoming last weekend.
"Use of alcohol, lack of respect or not being good neighbors to the neighborhood that we live in near campus."
Kuhr says leaders of the UM's Greek system wanted to nip these problems before they spun out of control.
"And then actually to be really proactive to take time to discuss what it means to be a Greek at the University of Montana, what are the roles and responsibilities, the director said it's time to put a pause on and be proactive about these conversations of responsibility."
Kuhr says there's no connection between this self-imposed ban on events involving alcohol and a police investigation into an alleged rape last weekend off campus in Missoula's university district.
There are almost 500 students involved in UM's Greek system. That's up from 200 about a decade ago.
