[EE-BO]

As long as details are being posted on the internet by the actives in question, I guess there is no harm in addressing them- and perhaps it will do some good.

It is my opinion that our General Fraternity's Risk Management Policy is a very fair one that allows chapters plenty of opportunity to self-govern while maintaining some important boundaries. Compared with the approach of several other fraternities to RM, I think we have struck an ideal balance.

Beyond that, chapters and alumni Housing Corporations may go a step further if they wish- for example a dry house. And that is their right.

The alumni who guarantee chapter house leases and/or purchase and maintain chapter houses are putting forth extraordinary amounts of money and/or putting significant personal assets at financial risks. $100s of thousands of dollars is not uncommon.

One stupid incident can bring all that crashing down. And when a chapter loses a charter and a house already paid for is sold, then it takes time and money to again get a new house years later (especially now with property values around campuses on the rise as many colleges expand.)

The "other house" was clearly a Beta house in all but legal name. A catastrophic event in that property would clearly have a major impact on the entire chapter, and thus also the real Beta House.

And by the admission of the young man who did the facebook post, the entire thing was set up to circumvent the policies in place for the chapter.

That is not initative and self-governance, that is a flagrant disregard for the guidance and wishes of those alumni and advisors who are making the financial and personal investments imperative for a chapter's success. If you don't like the rules, pledge somewhere else! It's real simple.

If enough alumni not currently involved don't like the dry house approach, then let them step up and pay the bills and do it their way. Again- real simple.

It doesn't matter if the keg was full or empty.

It doesn't matter if the people playing drinking games on the front porch were underage.

What matters is that Beta was being publicly displayed for all the world to see as a place to get drunk.

How hard is it to have social events indoors (or offsite in a dry house)? How hard is it to BYO and not have community alcohol?

Even more interesting, the person writing that facebook post said that this incident was the only charge- but then also openly states that this kind of thing goes on all the time.

Who is going to defend that? What alumni and brothers from other chapters are going to even try to defend this guy's position?

This is what I expected by the way- that as facts were revealed, it would become clear that the member review was not exactly unjustified.

Furmanbeta, your comments are well-taken and on the mark. There is clearly something not working- but when even the accused and removed members are admitting to incredibly inappropriate behavior and acting like it is no big deal, then it is hard to question these member reviews and suspensions.

More and more I wonder if this is perhaps a college culture issue? Greek Life in a dry house and under MPI standards just won't play at some schools. And I am not sure how we address that in the long term.