KU’s greek community, facing quarantine orders, hunkers down with uncertain year ahead

A video of a verbal exchange at a fraternity went viral. School officials issued cease and desist letters to two greek organizations. The health department quarantined nine chapter houses.

Did we mention it’s just the first week of class at the University of Kansas?

Amid a volatile pandemic-era kick off to the semester, KU’s greek community is hunkering down. Residents of several fraternity and sorority houses have been ordered to keep to themselves. Fraternities are under a social moratorium.

The community has also grown more secretive as it tries to contain the virus from spreading within houses that are, by definition, communal. With university and health officials keeping a close eye, students and their leaders are hesitant to share much about their lives at this extraordinary moment.

Nearly all greek life students contacted for this story either didn’t respond or refused to speak on-the-record. One person declined to comment out of fear the university is trying to get fraternity and sorority students off campus.

Still, there were signs Thursday afternoon that some semblance of normalcy was continuing at houses under quarantine.

Behind Beta Theta Pi, at least a dozen mostly shirtless young men played basketball. Outside Gamma Phi Beta, a pink banner over the door featured an image of a Jeep and read “Cruisin’ with Gamma Phi” -- a welcoming gesture even if few people are allowed in.

Kappa Alpha Theta president Abby Wenninger wrote in an email that the sorority “is committed to protecting the health of our members, KU students, and Douglas County as a whole.”

“We are devoted to adhering to the guidance of the CDC, FDA, and local officials to make choices in the best interest of our members and larger community,” Wenninger wrote.

All communications had to go through the sorority’s chief marketing officer, she wrote.

Kappa Alpha Theta was one of the nine houses KU identified on Wednesday night as being under quarantine. On Thursday, the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department removed it from the quarantine list, saying all positive cases associated with the sorority live outside the house.

As of Thursday afternoon, the department said nine chapter houses remained under quarantine. The department said it had removed two houses and added one since Wednesday.

“In cases where contacts are identified in Greek chapter houses, we consider them as living in a household. And household members are considered high risk,” Douglas County health officer Thomas Marcellino said in a statement.

Marcellino said quarantine is one of the most effective measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. He urged living in a quarantined house, including those without symptoms, to comply.

As of Monday, more than 19,400 people connected to the university had been tested and 222, or 1.4 percent, were positive. Among greek life students, the test positivity rate was 5.47 percent.

Based on the test results of KU students, the health department on Thursday moved the county’s education guidance to the “yellow” phase. Recommendations for schools during the yellow phase include offering a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction and limiting large gatherings and high-risk student activities that involve close, sustained contact, such as football.

It’s difficult to say how closely fraternities and sororities are following quarantine protocols. KU spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson said it was unclear whether students were complying, given that the orders were only issued on Wednesday.

“But I can tell you, we are confident our chapters and their members understand the value in following county health guidance related to quarantine orders,” Barcomb-Peterson wrote in an email.

University leaders and health officials met with members of the greek community on Wednesday night. KU Chancellor Doug Girod said in a campus message afterwards that officials talked about the support available for students who need to quarantine and answered questions about the quarantine orders.

One person on the call said a KU official suggested a negative test among a student wasn’t worth much because the individual could be exposed by the end of the day. The person interpreted the remark as potentially emphasizing the need for everyone to practice safety precautions, even those who have tested negative.

Barcomb-Peterson said the meeting was informative and productive. She said greek community members “are clearly interested in doing what’s best to keep our sorority and fraternity students safe while, more broadly, contributing to countywide health and safety efforts.”

The meeting came after a viral video over the weekend in which a motorist engaged in an angry exchange with Kappa Sigma members. Following the video, KU said it issued cease and desist orders to Kappa Sigma and Phi Kappa Psi.

Meanwhile, fraternities at the University of Missouri announced Thursday they were suspending all in-person activities. That means “definitely no parties,” Reid Bayliss, a spokesman for the campus Interfraternity Council, said. The council announced the decision this week in response to a university order limiting gatherings to no more than 20 people, Bayliss said.

MU began classes on Monday and reported 159 cases the first day. The university could not confirm how many were linked to Greek organizations.

“We were concerned that we would not be able to control the number of people who might show up for the activities we had planned to do in person, including meetings, social events and service events this semester, so we just suspended all activities,” Bayliss said.

The council includes 31 fraternity chapters at MU. Leaders of MU’s Panhellenic Association were unavailable for comment Thursday on whether sororities will do the same.

“We just want to make sure we don’t cause an outbreak,” Byliss said. “The main thing is that we want to stop gatherings where people would not comply with health orders like wearing masks and washing hands.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 5:00 PM with the headline "KU’s greek community, facing quarantine orders, hunkers down with uncertain year ahead."