Update: DKE files suit, Colgate will defend its position
According to a March 3, 2005 news release on Colgate University's main web page, Delta Kappa Epsilon has filed suit in this situation involving ownership of Greek housing and university recognition.
Excerpt:
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Colgate University spokesman James Leach said today that university attorneys believe that a complaint filed by Delta Kappa Epsilon on Monday (February 28) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York is without merit. Leach said that Colgate intends to defend its position vigorously.
Five years ago, this same court dismissed a remarkably similar complaint that a DKE chapter had filed against Hamilton College arising from changes in Hamilton’s residential education program.
A comprehensive plan adopted by Colgate’s board of trustees in spring 2003 found that fraternities and sororities could be better integrated with the university’s mission if the university owned and supported the Greek-letter houses in the same way it supports other student residences. . . . For the past year, Colgate has been negotiating to purchase the fraternity and sorority houses from the alumni corporations that own the properties.
. . .
The fraternities and sororities whose leaders have agreed to sell their houses, subject to confirmation by their members, are Beta Theta Pi, Delta Upsilon, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Chi, and Theta Chi. Phi Gamma Delta, which has not had an active undergraduate chapter at Colgate since 1989, plans to donate its fraternity house to the university.
Leach said that Colgate officials were surprised and disappointed that DKE had filed court action, noting that as late as Friday afternoon (February 25) the university had been engaged in discussions with DKE representatives and appeared close to reaching an agreement on terms equivalent to those reached with the other houses. Colgate learned of the possibility of the DKE legal action Friday evening, when an electronic news release emailed from a Colorado-based public relations consultant announced that the complaint had been filed with the court. . . .
For the whole news release, see
http://www.colgate.edu/DesktopDefaul...6013&nwID=3498
OR go to
http://www.colgate.edu
and click on "Colgate in the news" (if the news release isn't on the pagte already.)