Pitt’s chapter of Phi Sigma Rho, a social engineering and STEM sorority, recently updated its bylaws to be more welcoming to non-binary and transgender students through inclusive language and pronoun use as well as anti-discrimination clauses.

Pitt recently installed a monument in the Schenley Quadrangle celebrating the nine historically Black Greek life organizations that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council, making it the first PWI in western Pennsylvania to build a plot.

Amid a crackdown on Oakland parties and the student organizations hosting them, some groups are holding themselves to a higher standard. John Altvater, the vice president of recruitment for the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, said his chapter has closely followed COVID-19 health rules and encourages all Greek life chapters and other organizations to follow them.

In all, a quarter of all Pitt Greek life chapters active before the pandemic have been placed on an interim suspension in the last week.

Before almost entirely online classes started Wednesday, large social gatherings among students gained the attention of concerned students, parents, community members and Pitt administrators.

Five Greek life chapters were placed on “Interim Suspension of Registration” on Wednesday after allegedly violating the University’s Health and Safety Guidelines, the Student Code of Conduct and the Fraternity and Sorority Guidelines.

The University suspended three Greek life organizations — Phi Kappa Theta, Delta Zeta and Sigma Sigma Sigma — this past week.

Several hundred Pitt community members gathered in the Soldiers and Sailors Auditorium on Monday night for “Turning Tragedy into Progress” — an anti-hazing presentation featuring Evelyn Piazza and Rae Ann Gruver.

Spring sorority recruitment is a two-weekend process that ran from Jan. 10-12 and Jan. 16-18 this year, ending with Bid Day on Sunday at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall.

The colleges that did not provide data are failing the safety of their students, and possibly other students nationally.