Rumors have been swirling for the last week about UVA's chapter of ATO and the decision to not sign the updated fraternity operating agreement (FOA). 

While the chapter president ultimately signed the agreement in order to regain some normalcy for the rush process, the first week was an eventful one for our chapter. I will attempt to clear up some misconceptions about the decision-making process including the reasoning behind the refusal to sign and who the driving force in this effort was. 

First, some background on the situation that we as a chapter, as well as all other fraternities at UVA, were faced with. We had to sign this new FOA by Friday, Jan. 16, or face some serious consequences, the most severe possibility being the University's refusal to recognize us an affiliated organization. The new risk management party guidelines that were included in the FOA were formed by a collective effort from all fraternities in the hopes to make parties safer for all guests and to make progress in alleviating the suspension placed on all chapters in light of the highly controversial Rolling Stone article that took the school and nation by storm last semester.

The CEO of Alpha Tau Omega, as well as other high ranking officials in the national Greek landscape, were unsettled by what was taking place in Charlottesville, which is why the ATO chapter president received a phone call from our CEO on the morning of Monday, Jan. 12 asking him not to sign the agreement, which he was going to do in a meeting later that afternoon. 

The next day, a statement was published by both the ATO and Kappa Alpha fraternities explaining why they had asked their UVA chapters not to sign the agreements. The reasoning behind this stance is founded first and foremost in the concern that the new system places unfair liability on the fraternity members that should instead fall on the University. Secondly, the methods used by the University to essentially force all fraternities to change the rules by which they operate was unfair to the chapters who had done nothing wrong to garner a suspension in the first place. 

By Friday, the national fraternities of ATO, KA, Delta Sigma, and Zeta Beta Tau were denied an extension to sign the agreement, which would have given their insurance companies ample time to review the rules for liability concerns. When word got out that all other chapters would be signing the agreement, our national headquarters recommended that we sign as well.

So to be clear: it was not our chapter’s idea to refuse signing the FOA, but after hearing the concerns from nationals, many of us supported the decision. However, due to the time crunch that we were under, it did not seem like a battle that we wanted to fight alone, and ultimately we believed that it would be in our best interest to sign the agreement. At this point in time, we still have nationals standing firmly behind us, and the administration was appeased. 

Although the publicity was often frustrating due to people's ignorance on the details of the issue, there are two things that I wish to make very clear: I still believe I go to the best school in the world, and at the end of the day, it is comforting that our national fraternity has our rights and best interests in mind and are willing to fight for us should it ever come to that. 

So no, ATO is not in trouble with the University; we are participating in rush just like every other fraternity. We look forward to a successful and safe semester.