Q&A | A sit down with President Struppa on community division

President Daniele Struppa shares his perspective on large fraternity parties, conduct violation reporting and the university’s readiness to reintroduce hybrid classes after spring break. Panther Archives

The Panther spoke to Chapman President Daniele Struppa Feb. 27 to gather his thoughts on the large fraternity parties hosted the weekend of Feb. 19 in spite of the pandemic. Amidst Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi being placed on suspension both at the university and national level, pending ongoing conduct investigations, a separate debate has been sparked by Chapman students. 

In this conversation, many are wondering about the administration’s unfiltered viewpoint on the negligence displayed toward COVID-19 from student organizations and, conversely, how that behavior was exploited by anonymous social media accounts, @chapmansuperspreaders and @chapman.party. Here are Struppa’s thoughts.

President Daniele Struppa’s answers have been lightly edited for clarity and stylistic standards.

Q: What was your reaction to seeing these social media accounts share videos of Chapman parties?

A: Of course, we are disappointed at students who had the big parties, though I cannot say I’m completely surprised because I know how 18, 19, 20-year-old kids think. I don’t think people think that it's not just about them, but it’s about other people. If you want to take a risk, it’s ultimately your decision. But when you take a risk that can eventually impact other people, that is wrong and I don’t think students think about that.

Then of course, the explosion of these accounts — it’s very demoralizing. I understand people being upset, but it’s incomprehensible why people choose to be so nasty with each other on social media. It really doesn’t bode well for our country if these are the leaders of the future. This (partying) behavior is not good and this bullying is not acceptable either. 

Q: Do you believe these social media accounts brought more pressure on national fraternity headquarters or at the university level to address and investigate the unsafe gatherings?

A: I wouldn't say so. I mean, to us, it's enough if there is one report that we can ascertain the fact. For us, the best way (is to) give us a specific report with an indication of what happened and where it happened. And sure, a picture or two that demonstrates what was happening are OK, but the actual Instagram accounts are not very helpful.

Q: Chapman University is hoping to come back after spring break March 29 and reintroduce hybrid classes. Are you concerned that COVID-19 case rates among the Chapman community will increase if this happens?

A: I can't say that I have no concerns, but I'm pretty optimistic. When we come back, everybody has to go through the testing (and the returning to campus process). When we did that in the fall, we really didn't have a blow up in cases. Now, I think that the advantage is that the cases seem to be diminishing, so the contagion should be much lower. 

Q: The social media accounts posted mass gatherings in crowded rooms, but also specifically named and tagged individual students online. What is your perception of this kind of reporting?

A: I would like to ask the student this: What do students think about facial recognition when it's used by the police? I would bet 90% of you would say, “That’s horrible; we don’t want to do that.” But now here, they're kind of doing their homemade facial recognition. We’re becoming the place where we self-assume the ability of being each other's police. I mean, that seems to me really horrible. 

On one hand, we want the country where we have our freedom protected. On the other hand, many of our students seem to act as if they wanted a kind of a police state with cameras everywhere, where we take pictures and then we punish people. That’s not a good direction for me.

Q: What is your viewpoint on the toxicity of some social media outlets and how people communicate through them?

A: This is a very depressing state of affairs. This has replaced the ability of having normal conversations. We know, through research, that the more outrageous your claim, the more angry you are, the more likes you get (on social media). So it's a way for people to get self-validation. I think that there is a lot of need for feeling hurt, feeling validated, feeling popular. And now you say something really nasty, and then you’re going to get a lot of (attention). It's kind of a cycle that fuels itself and becomes almost like an addiction to the praise that social media gives you.

Q: The university is currently conducting investigations on multiple fraternities for their actions. There are also separate investigations and interim disciplinary actions imposed on individual students, which cannot be made public because of privacy laws like FERPA. While the results of student organization and Greek life investigations can be shared with the community, has the university received pushback for not announcing individual consequences?  

A: That's the other thing. People want to know, “What did you do to this guy?” Remember, there (was a student) last January, who went into a class and had this big outburst? We keep being blamed because we keep saying we can't tell you what we did. There is this almost a desire of, “We shouldn't have laws; we should just punish the guy who is guilty of something, publicly post it and have a public humiliation of it.” I mean, it’s becoming a society, frankly, that I don't want to live in. That's for sure. I've lost a lot of respect for the people that I share this planet with.

Q: If you could speak to the students who attended the fraternity parties and, separately, to those who are running the social media accounts, what would you tell them?

A: I would tell the partygoers to please know that actions have consequences that impact others as well. So when you go to a party and you violate the rules, don't just think about yourself and say, “Oh, I don't care if I get sick; I'm going to be fine.” Think about the fact that you may be infecting somebody who is then going to take it home to an elder parent. I don't think you're bad. I think you have not been thinking about it. And I'm asking you to think about it. That would be my message. 

Now, to the people who are upset, I would say I understand why you're upset, and I share a sense of disappointment. But I'm asking you to allow the university to do its proper investigation and to realize that bullying people and outing people and humiliating people in public is not a good response. So those are my universal messages.

The Dean of Student Office encourages students to submit concerns and report evidence of potential conduct violations directly to the Chapman Office of Student Conduct via conduct@chapman.edu.