California Assembly Bill 524 (AB 524)

California Assembly Bill 524 (AB 524)

The Campus-Recognized Sorority and Fraternity Transparency Act


Transparency

In 2022, California Assembly Bill 524 was passed by the California Legislature to ensure transparency of Greek life at colleges and universities in California. The goal was to provide information to pledges and their families information about the Greek Life chapters on a particular campus so they could make informed decisions concerning their personal safety and future academic interests when choosing to join a particular sorority or fraternity.

“Included in this report are the address, date, and time of every Greek-sanctioned event and the address of each Greek-owned house.” An article in UCSB’s The Bottom Line surmised that “this [information] may be intended to make events less private, which is intended to curb misconduct through more supervision.” A fraternity member took issue with this requirement, saying “[This is a] step in the right direction that creates chaos. For more people to know what’s going on, [makes] it harder to keep it safe. The door already gets swamped.”

The Assembly Bill passed unanimously and was signed by the Governor on September 13, 2022.

The Assembly Bill requires its sororities or fraternities to submit specific information, including the address, date, and time of every Greek-sanctioned event to the university or college on or before July 1, 2023, and annually thereafter. If they don’t, they must be suspended according to the Assembly Bill.

Analysis

Assembly Bill 524 had to undergo thorough analysis by the House and the Senate before ultimately being passed and signed by the Governor. The document covering the final analysis found that publishing information, including the locations of sanctioned events held by fraternities and sororities, does not violate a student’s privacy rights or the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): “AB 524 will achieve transparency while respecting students’ right to privacy as provided by the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act by only providing non-identifiable information” It does not use information that specifically identifies a particular student by using, for example, their full name and/or social security number. The address of events was not found to specifically identify any particular student and does not violate FERPA.

Published Report

The Assembly Bill required each institution to compile and maintain the information collected by Greek Life organizations into a publicly accessible report published on or before October 1, 2023, and annually thereafter. The Report must be published “in a prominent location” on the university’s Greek Life website. The report is archived on the website for at least 10 years.

The information required by Paragraph 66312 (b)(1)(x) of the bill is “The location, date, and time of any sanctioned event,” much like Cal Poly’s Party Registration and Policy Guidelines “Article II – Locations.” which specify where a Greek party can be held. Cal Poly’s Policy says that “parties must be held at either the chapter facility, a registered satellite house, or a contracted third-party venue.”

Cal Poly AB 524 2022-2023 Report

Below is a link to the Cal Poly AB524 2022-2023 report published on October 1, 2023. (NOTE: In July 2024, Cal Poly edited their report to remove the addresses of events held at their fraternities and sororities.)

Cal Poly AB 524 Report Changes

Initially, Cal Poly’s AB 524 Report published on 10/1/2023 included each of the addresses for events held by fraternities and sororities. Most events, including parties with alcohol, are held at fraternity houses because the Panhellenic Conference that governs sororities does not allow alcohol to be served at parties in sorority houses. So fraternities have regular parties at their houses, including illegal satellite houses, that host Cal Poly’s sororities.

However, in July 2024, Cal Poly edited their Report and removed the addresses of all the sanctioned events from their AB 524 Report. They replaced the addresses of each event with “San Luis Obispo.”

This was after the City contacted Cal Poly about the illegal fraternity operations in the City’s neighborhoods.

Cal Poly has now notified the City that they will no longer keep track of the locations of their fraternities, except for the few that are owned by the fraternity corporations. There are 19 fraternities and most have multiple houses that operate as fraternities but only 7 are owned by their fraternity corporation. Most of the main chapter houses for Cal Poly’s fraternities are illegally located in R-1 and R-2 neighborhoods, along with dozens of illegal satellite houses that hold fraternity events and parties.

The CSU system sent a template to all of its campus locations to streamline the reporting requirements and to make sure they comply with the law. The template page for “Sanctioned Events” has a heading for “Address (On and Off-campus”). Here is Cal Poly Humbolt’s Report with the addresses of events on and off campus:

Below are the spreadsheets from Cal Poly’s AB 524 Report published on 10/1/2023 for events held the previous academic year (2022-2023) and after, when it was edited by Cal Poly in July 2024 to erase all the addresses.

Zeta Beta Tau, Theta Chi and Sigma Pi are fraternities. Kappa Kappa Gamma is a sorority.

The Kappa Kappa Gamma spreadsheet illustrates the point that the sorority parties with alcohol are at fraternity houses or a third-party venue. The addresses in their report are cross-referenced to the fraternities’ spreadsheets to confirm the addresses.

Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority – published 10/1/2023
Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority – edited by Cal Poly July 2024
Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority events show that sorority parties with alcohol are held at fraternity houses or a third-party venue

Transparency?

Why did Cal Poly Greek life remove the locations where sanctioned events occurred and replace them with a generic “San Luis Obispo” after City code enforcement told them that their fraternities were operating illegally in the City’s neighborhoods? Is it to shield illegal satellite fraternity houses operating in the neighborhood? Are they hiding them from the City or neighborhood residents? Are they abiding by the intent of the California Transparency Bill AB 524? Are they following their own Party Registration Policies? Does this modify their commitment to honoring Carson Starkey, who died at a satellite fraternity house, and agreements made in the Deferred Recruitment Compromise between Cal Poly and Greek life?

Is it ethical or right for Cal Poly to wash itself of the situation and put the burden of the negative impacts of their fraternities on the City’s neighborhood residents, especially since Cal Poly committed to recruiting fraternities to the campus without a Greek Row? What was the housing plan for the fraternities that they recruited?

The situation is also not fair to Greek Life who want to enjoy themselves. As a community, we must be honest with ourselves, read a few documents, apply common sense, look around, and come to our own conclusions. Greek life has expanded to a point now where we are beyond the tipping point in the City’s neighborhoods. They have been operating in the residential neighborhoods illegally for years, and Cal Poly knows it.

On October 26, 2023, Cal Poly Greek Life representative, Elizabeth Aiello-Coppola sent an email to Kathie that said “the city is in charge of ensuring [the fraternities] are staying within the city guidelines and policies. Community members that suspect that a property is operating outside of these guidelines are encouraged to contact SLO City Code Enforcement and/or SLOPD.”

Yet once the City was contacted, and the City told Cal Poly that their fraternities were operating illegally in our neighborhoods, Cal Poly altered their AB 524 Report and hid the locations of the neighborhood fraternity operations from the public and the City. How is that “cooperation”? It seems like a one-sided “partnership” from our perspective.

Should Cal Poly have more control over its fraternity’s Chapter houses and satellite houses? One solution is to have a Greek Row on campus but they haven’t started those plans.

Is it ethical for Cal Poly to change the “rules” put in place after Carson Starkey died, and eliminate the compromises, agreements, and policies that allow them to hide the locations of their fraternity houses from the City and the neighborhoods when Cal Poly knows they are operating illegally? What responsibility does Cal Poly bear? Who is going to hold them responsible?