On July 1, the Office of Greek Life and Student Societies re-recognized Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, senior vice president for community and campus life Jennifer Rosales said in a joint interview with GLASS director Hunter Carlheim.
SAE was derecognized by the College in January 2016 after its national organization suspended it in fall 2015 for a minimum of five years due to “violations of health and safety regulations” and “a failure to comply with the national organization’s standards.” The chapter was re-recognized by its national affiliate in late 2022, The Dartmouth reported in April 2023.
According to the College’s hazing incident dashboard, a case before Dartmouth’s Organizational Adjudication Committee did not proceed after the college derecognized it, but the College’s investigation until that point into an anonymous hazing tip “supported charges of hazing and other violations of Dartmouth’s Code of Conduct” during the fall 2015. The “behavior” was also anonymously reported to SAE national, contributing to their five-year suspension, according to the dashboard.
Despite lacking recognition from the College, the fraternity has continued to informally recruit new member classes and host events at its house on College St., which is owned by the local fraternity and not the College. The College began working with the chapter’s 47 current members and alumni board to re-establish SAE as an official fraternity on campus following the chapter’s suspension.
The Interfraternity Council, composed of undergraduate student representatives, and the Greek Leadership Council, which consists of an elected student executive board, subcouncil representatives and an advisor, both voted unanimously in winter 2026 to support the decision to re-recognize the fraternity.
Carlheim said the GLASS office maintains a “very open line of communication” with all of the national Greek life organizations that have chapters at Dartmouth.
The national SAE organization is “extremely aware of the steps that brought us to this point, and I’ve had … conversations with them for this entire duration,” he said.
Rosales added that unrecognized organizations can pose a “greater risk” to the broader College community than recognized ones, as the College “cannot enforce conduct agreements, required safety and prevention training or accountability structures” that all College-recognized organizations must follow.
“SAE leaders have pledged their commitment to meeting those expectations, and thus far have completed all of their requirements,” she said. The “requirements” include developing their own risk management plans, new member education plans and fire safety plans. Additionally, SAE must establish a strong leadership committee and all members must display “willingness and collaboration” throughout the “entire process of a seeking recognition stage and then an onboarding recognition stage,” which they have now completed, Rosales said.
To Carlheim, SAE’s return reflects his “confidence” in the College’s “commitment to oversight, education and accountability structures” supporting Greek life.
“In the past year alone, GLASS … and the community underwent a complete modernization, a national search for new positions in the office, the increase of new staff members in the office, a new restructure and recommitment to the governing councils and a comprehensive overhaul of how we support and hold chapters accountable,” he said.
The “modernization” of the office included spending the past 14 months reclassifying, adding or filling positions, including a director, two assistant directors, a program manager, a financial coordinator and two or three student interns depending on the term, Carlheim added.
According to Rosales, these changes also included updating Greek life-wide risk management protocols, expanding hazing prevention education and increasing the frequency of visits to Greek houses by GLASS, Residential Operations, Department of Safety and Security, the Hanover Fire Department and the specific housing corporation or advisory board.
Because of these changes, “the office is stronger in its ability to support a safer, more accountable system for all … Greek houses,” Rosales said.
Now that SAE is formally affiliated with the College, the chapter will be able to formally recruit during this fall’s rush process, and will be held to the same expectations as every other Greek organization on campus.
Carlheim added that he was “extremely optimistic” about the future of Greek life at the College.
“We want to focus on student safety, and we also want to focus on the idea of being a part of something bigger than yourself, being a part of a community and feeling like you have a home on campus,” Carlheim said.
Jeremiah Rayban ’27 contributed to reporting.
Mira Wissman '29 is a reporter from Bethesda, MD., and is majoring in Neuroscience.
