Misconduct of MU Student Conduct

If you, or someone you care about, has experienced what you perceive to be an instance of inappropriate, unfair, or contestable action by Julie Drury, head of MU Student Conduct, we ask that you please sign this petition. We hope to gain enough signatures of concerned parents, alumni, students, supporters and donors to gain an audience with the incoming Chancellor and express our concern over Julie Drury’s actions and their ramifications for the future.

This past September, my youngest son willingly met with the Office of Student Conduct as a witness to an incident in his fraternity. In his mind (and what was later confirmed by the investigation), the incident was borne out of a terrible misunderstanding. There were hazing allegations against the fraternity and, as a pledge who witnessed the incident in question, he felt that his testimony could help resolve the issue without the assumed bias of an active member. What was originally set to be a 30-minute meeting turned into an hour-long barrage of vicious and wild accusations against his fraternity and fraternities in general. Julie Drury spent less than 15 minutes asking questions about the incident he was a witness to, later concluding that it truly was a misunderstanding. But that wasn’t before Julie interviewed/interrogated the rest of my son’s pledge class, incorporating the same gross disregard for basic respect and decency.

Julie Drury’s approach to the whole situation was questionable and I would like to make sure no one else's son or daughter experiences the same deceit and disrespect (for our specific situation, feel free to contact me).

In general, my main concern is that a pledge, a victim of the alleged hazing, was treated no differently than any other student who might be unfortunate enough to violate the University’s handbook solely because he was unwilling to sell out his future brothers at the drop of a hat. Between Julie Drury’s venomous and hostile persona within interviews and her pointedly arduous process of resolving “violations,” it was no surprise when my son remarked that the stress and struggle Julie Drury put him through far surpassed any hazing he had experienced.

The act of bringing sanctions against a pledge, my son (and at least one other pledge) was unprecedented in all the years of fraternities being kicked off campus for hazing. They were cited for “Obstruction or disruption of teaching, research, administration, conduct proceedings, or other University activities, including its public service functions on or off campus.” This is a violation buried so deep within the handbook that the example given for it is a student who disrupts class by blocking the doorway and not allowing anyone to enter.

My son’s fraternity is not the only one under attack by Julie Drury and the Office of Student Conduct. Over 2/3 of the fraternities at MU are currently under sanctions or on probation! The most common infraction is providing alcohol to minors and violating the IFC alcohol policy.

Just in the last 18 months:
Letters have been sent to: Delta Chi, AEPi, ATO, Fiji, Acacia
Warnings given: Kappa Sig
On Probation: AgSig, Beta Theta Pi, Farmhouse, Phi Kap, PIKE, SAE, ZBT, DKE, Sig Ep (& still waiting on a few more updates)
Lost University Recognition: Sigma Pi, Delta Upsilon, and Kappa Alpha Order

In my opinion, Julie Drury over-steps and abuses her power in Student Conduct. Her sanctions are inconsistent and extreme based on the charges. The new Chancellor needs to be made aware of her actions. She needs to be in a different department, or at least have someone over-seeing her decisions.