Dive Brief:

• Amherst College students involved in so-called underground fraternities could be suspended or expelled under a policy approved Tuesday by trustees.
• Fraternities have been banned at the college since 1984, but an estimated 10% of male undergraduates  — about 90 students — belong to an underground fraternity. There are no sororities.
• The influence of underground fraternities on the college’s social life is much more dominant than the 10% figure would indicate, Inside Higher Ed reports.

Dive Insight:

The policy is effective July 1. The college will then have zero tolerance for fraternity initiation activities, including pledging and rushing. Amherst is on the list of 55 colleges and universities under federal investigation for their responses to sexual assault complaints, and two incidents cast fraternities in a negative light on the subject. Two years ago, a T-shirt sold by Theta Delta Chi — one of Amherst's three unofficial fraternities —showed a woman being roasted over a fire like a pig, and a student belonging to another of the underground fraternities, Chi Psi, was expelled after being found guilty of sexual assault.