[DeltAlum]

Here's something from Tuesday, 2/3:

Investigation of Delt continues; woman has not filed UP report


By Jerome C. Pandell
February 03, 2004



Northwestern's chapter of Delta Tau Delta fraternity remained on temporary suspension Monday as officials continued to investigate an incident that a female Communication freshman says took place Jan. 17.

Kyle Pendleton, NU's associate director for fraternity and sorority life, said Monday that he had no idea when university officials and leaders from Delt's parent organization, the Indianapolis-based Delta Tau Delta International, might complete the investigation.

Assistant Chief Daniel McAleer of University Police told The Daily on Monday that the female Communication freshman has been in contact with UP regarding the incident, which she said took place at the fraternity's chapter house during a floor party.

"We've heard from her, but she's not filed a report," McAleer said.

The Communication freshman told The Daily last week that about 20 Delt members entered the chapter house's library while she was in there alone with a freshman pledge, and the members refused to leave. She said about three or four fraternity members then took lewd photos of her before leaving the room.

In the days following the incident, the Communication freshman said she was told by other students that it is a Delt tradition for a new pledge to have sex with a girl in the fraternity's library.

But some alumni members of the fraternity have said such a tradition does not exist.

Anil Hurkadli, who graduated last spring, described Delt as "low-key and mature" during his four years at NU.

"I've never heard of that tradition before," said Hurkadli, Communication '03. "We never really were into traditions or anything crazy. People may have thought that we were a crazy fraternity house, but it never was like that."

University President Henry Bienen said in a Friday interview that typically only a few people can get a fraternity in trouble and that the "nontrivial number of not-good things" that cause fraternities to be suspended should not be associated with the whole fraternity.

"Almost every year since I've been here, we've had problems somewhere," said Bienen, who added that each fraternity's national parent organization should be more involved in overseeing chapter activities. "Often, the nationals are not, I think, doing all they could to monitor the behavior of their chapters."

"It's important as to whether there is some sort of 'supervision,' and that supervision often can be done by the nationals," he said.

But campus and national fraternity leaders had mixed opinions on whether national involvement could deter violations.

"I think national involvement on a day-to-day (basis) is unlikely to affect these individual incidents," said Interfraternity Council President-elect Mitch Holzrichter, a Weinberg junior. "National organizations can make a difference over the long term in how chapters respond to violations and sanctions."

Holzrichter, who also serves as advertising manager of the Students Publishing Co., which oversees The Daily, said Delt's parent organization, which has dispatched an official to Evanston to help the investigation, has been very involved compared with other suspended fraternities' nationals. Kappa Sigma's national organization first made contact with IFC at a Spring Quarter hearing to remove NU's chapter of Kappa Sig, he said.

McCormick junior Julius Marchwicki, who is outgoing recruitment chairman for Pi Kappa Alpha, NU's only unhoused fraternity chapter, called Pike's parent organization one of the strongest in terms of chapter involvement.

"Every week or so, anyone who holds a leadership position in the house has a meeting with a chapter adviser who is an alumni," said Marchwicki, who added that an adviser also typically attends chapter and pledge meetings.

"I think the type of involvement not only helps in keeping matters of risk at a minimum," he said. "It also helps with everyday activities, such as brotherhood and rush, especially."

Norval B. Stephens Jr., who serves as chairman of the Delta Tau Delta Educational Foundation, said increased national involvement in a chapter's day-to-day activities would not prevent misconduct, the root cause of which he said is a culture on college campuses that allows students to consume alcohol excessively.

"As the colleges and universities are realizing, they are admitting (students who drink heavily) before we pledge and initiate them," said Stephens, who added that he is not familiar with Delt's suspension. "What we're seeing increasingly across the country is that the alcohol incidents have been not chapter-oriented."

The Daily's Scott Gordon contributed to this report.