Phi Delta Theta colony was closed by the national fraternity Sunday evening after two investigations into charges of hazing and alcohol policy violations.
The initial allegations were made during the colony's initiation week, according to the colony's president junior Yong Kim, when an anonymous report of hazing was put in to the Office of Greek Life.
"We were investigated for a hazing charge for lineups over a two-day period as well as asking them to sleep at the house. Later on, there were additional hazing charges that weren't investigated by the national fraternity. There was also evidence of a few people drinking alcohol in the house," Kim said.
Phi Delta Theta fraternity has a strict dry housing policy, so any presence of alcohol in the house would be a violation.
When the initial hazing investigation occurred, the members of the pledge class decided as a group to deny the hazing allegations, without the knowledge of the pledge educator or any of the brothers.
Kim said he thinks the new members likely decided to lie in order to protect the fraternity since the colony was supposed to be installed as an official chapter the weekend of April 17-18. He also said the new members reported never feeling like they were being hazed or put under undue emotional or physical stress.
Kim said evidence of alcohol, as well as of further hazing allegations, was provided to nationals by an anonymous source after the initial investigation. Once this information was furnished to the national organization, a representative came to the house Sunday night and made the announcement that the decision had been made to close the colony.
"The final decision from our General Council was to close Phi Delta Theta colony at Vanderbilt (due to) repeated risk management violations," said Dustin Struble, director of expansion of Phi Delta Theta headquarters.
Phi Delta Theta is the second Vanderbilt fraternity to face such disciplinary action this semester. Director of Greek Life Kristin Torrey said she is disappointed such a situation occurred, but she hopes the rest of the community and the members can learn from the events that transpired.
“It is unfortunate to lose another group this year, but we hope that some learning within the community can take place about the importance of being committed to fraternal values and acting with integrity by always telling the truth,” Torrey said.
While she is unsure what will happen to the colony’s house, Torrey said Vanderbilt will work with the national organization to create a reinstatement agreement that would address the fraternity’s potential for return to campus after a certain period of time and the use of the facility.
Struble said he believes Phi Delta Theta will eventually be able to return to campus.
“The potential (future for the organization at Vanderbilt) is very high. This is a very storied chapter of Phi Delta Theta going back a very long time. Our hope in time is to re-colonize and restart our Tennessee Alpha chapter,” he said.
Kim said the members of the colony did not have much warning before this announcement and that no investigation had been made into the secondary report. He said he is especially disappointed because the decision to close the colony came only three weeks before the group would have received its charter.
"We're all sort of surprised and shocked by there not being an investigation led by the national fraternity into whatever charges there were," he said. "We're unsure what the next step is."
