Union College has sanctioned a campus fraternity after finding it responsible for hazing and other charges, the college said in a statement Thursday.
The college placed fraternity Theta Delta Chi on probation and will allow it to continue as an active fraternity. But fraternity members won’t be allowed to remain in their campus house, Edwards House, for two academic years beginning this fall.
“Union does not tolerate hazing in any form,” the college’s statement reads. “It does not reflect our values, which embrace being a supportive and inclusive community.”
The college’s Greek Judicial Board reviewed the allegations against Theta Delta Chi and found the fraternity “responsible for” disorderly conduct, failure to comply with a college official and aggressive physical behavior, along with hazing.
The college said the incident occurred March 1, but did not detail the allegations “because the information contains student personally identifiable information.”
Union’s student newspaper, the Concordiensis, however, quoted college officials as identifying the hazing accusations as including “kidnapping” a willing participant or willing participants and taking them off campus.
The fraternity will be allowed to restore its campus housing in the 2018-2019 school year, but have to apply to do so. To get back in, it will have to “demonstrate excellence congruent with the joint mission of the college and its Greek organizations,” the college statement reads.
Theta Delta Chi has about 60 members, about half of them live at Edwards House, according to the school.
Those living in Edwards House will be allowed to remain there until the end of the current academic year in June. They will not be allowed to host social events.
At the fraternity’s house Thursday evening, a student representative declined to comment other than expressing “shock” at the college’s ruling.
Union College’s Theta Delta Chi chapter is listed as the national fraternity’s founding chapter. Six men founded it at Union in 1847. It has since grown to about 30 full chapters in the United States and Canada, according to the fraternity’s website.
The national fraternity did not return a call for comment.
Reach Gazette reporter Steven Cook at 395-3122, [email protected] or @ByStevenCook on Twitter.
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