From Fraternal News.

Penn State fraternity charged with giving alcohol to student injured
in fall from window

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- A Penn State University fraternity was charged
with illegally providing alcohol to a student who was severely
injured in a fall from her eighth-floor apartment window.

Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity was charged Tuesday with selling or
furnishing alcohol to minors, city police Detective Joe Grego said
Wednesday. Natalie Paglione, 20, had been drinking at a TKE party
near campus before the Sept. 8 accident, authorities said.

It was unclear how she fell from the window, but police said Paglione
had a blood-alcohol level of 0.135 percent, well above the legal
limit for driving.

Paglione, of the Philadelphia suburb of Ambler, suffered back, arm
and leg injuries, and one of her kidneys had to be removed. She has
been released from a hospital.

TKE president Brad Andrew Nelson did not immediately return a call
seeking comment Wednesday. Grego said Nelson was involved in
providing the alcohol.

If convicted, the fraternity could be fined, authorities said. No
preliminary hearing had been scheduled.

Thats an old article. Here is the link to the new one saying to see if its a private party thrown by several TKE members or if it was an actual TKE party.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive...02dnews-05.asp

TKE IHQ suspended them. Apperently it was a chapter function, they better pray they don't get shut down.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive...02dnews-07.asp

They will probably get evicted from their house. State College has some kind of rental/zoning exemption for fraternities so if your charter gets pulled you lose the exemption. SAE is currently in the same boat and they are sueing the town over the rule.

Who gets sued for what -- and who wins is a bigger mystery than our rituals to me.

The rule seems to be, "Let's sue everyone!)

Did you hear about the woman who sued a furniture store because she tripped over an "unruly" child and broke (I think) her ankle?

She won.

The amazing part is that it was HER OWN child she tripped over.

Things like that are the reason that we can't be too careful. Logic sometimes doesn't seem to matter.

They might lose their charter might not they are only suspended at the moment. Not many chapters get shut down for serving to minors. There will have to be other reasons, the publicity might be enough to do it. We will have to see.

SAE got in trouble because of the dance marathon. IFC said they misappropriated funds and kicked them out of IFC. The IFC then sent the town a letter stating that SAE is no longer a fraternity. They are still recognized by SAE International. SAE has lived in their house for about 80 years but the town said they are no longer a fraternity so they wont give them a renters license and their house is sitting empty. SAE is currently has a lawsuit vs. PSU the town and IFC.

If TKE gets kicked out of IFC they will probably get kicked out of their house regardless of the status of their charter and TKE International.

What if they own their house? Or does everyone rent? I know alot of chapters own their house. My chapter does.

oohhh... if a chapter on my campus was "misappropriaing funds" (aka: stealing) from our dance marathon (aka: kids with cancer) i would want to kick them off campus too...

Municipalities can and do regulate what tracts of land can be used for. Through zoning, they regulate what kinds of buildings can be built and what kinds of uses they can be put to if they are built. Many towns and cities have regulations that certain kinds of multiple-occupant dwellings can be used only if the occupying group fulfills certain obligations, and many say that fraternities can occupy houses only if they are recognized by a national organization, the school, or both.

As far as I can tell, this is true whether they own or rent. The fraternity can own a building and still not be able legally to use it as a fraternity house.

As we always advise collegiates, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a duck. Make your choices and decisions based on that, and you're more than likely going to find that many things we think aren't "our" events actually look like they are. People don't care if it's at an apartment or your house. When you decide join to a GLO, your actions become a reflection on that organization. Is it fair? I can't really answer that, but I believe it is a part of greek life. After all, what's more important? Drinking with your buddies or the brother/sisterhood that you gain from the greek experience? I think that's worth a thought or two :)

Even if you own the house you still need an occupancy permit or renters license. That is why SAE was screwed. From what I remember they own the house and have lived there for about 80 years, and the house is zoned for a fraternity. The town is saying that since they are no longer in IFC they don't qualify even though they are still recognized by their national.

Hoosier posted the original story about SAE at PSU.. I will try to find it and post it.

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...penn+and+state

hey ya'll. . .i go to penn state, so if anyone has any questions about the whole tke thing they can pm me. anyway, one of the reason's it was a "tke" function was because it was at the seniors house. also, the party happened during ifc dry week, so having the party, aside from the fact natalie was served alchol at the party, they are facing sanctions from ifc. we used to do thon with tke and so i know a bunch of the guys. like i said, if anyone has any questions, feel free to pm me.

That drunk ho should know her limits.

Serving alcohol comes with responsibility just like drinking it does. The fact that the drinker fails at her or his responsibility does not absolve the server of responsibility. It may be a smaller responsibility, but it is still there.