Two TKE/SDSU pledges die in auto wreck
Fraternity is hit hard by I-8 accident killing two
TKE remains active after expulsion from SDSU
By Jeff McDonald
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 13, 2002
Between sobs and regret and second-guessing, members of a banished fraternity and campus officials struggled yesterday to understand the weekend deaths of two San Diego State University freshmen in a freeway crash.
The college had expelled the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity from its sanctioned events in December 2000 after a hazing ritual left a teen-ager near death from alcohol poisoning.
But the fraternal order known by its acronym TKE remains active in the campus community. And national leaders of the organization are at odds with SDSU administrators over whether the local chapter should be reinstated.
According to some students, members of the fraternity who call themselves "Tekes" take pride in the expulsion and continue with regular club activities even though they are not approved by the university.
"They're still here," said Aaron Lomac, a senior who lived next door to the TKE house and worked for the school's Interfraternity Council. "A suspension doesn't do any good."
A few minutes after 8 a.m. Sunday, a pickup carrying three San Diego State students rolled off Interstate 8 east of Willows Road. Brian Jimenez and Zachary Jacobs, both 18, were killed.
Jimenez was from Redlands in San Bernardino County; Jacobs was from Wilton, a small community south of Sacramento.
Eighteen-year-old Joji Peters is recovering at a local hospital.
California Highway Patrol investigators said the truck was speeding west at 90 mph. It veered off the interstate as it rounded a sweeping right turn, the CHP said.
All three were ejected from the truck. It was unclear yesterday who was driving and there was no information available about whether alcohol was involved. The young men were camping in the Ocotillo area just past the Imperial County line, fraternity officials said. The campout was not a sanctioned fraternity event, although several members referred to the weekend as a "retreat."
University spokesman Jason Foster said the campus has disciplined the group repeatedly, even since the expulsion. Parties and under-age drinking continue to occur on the College Place cul-de-sac where the TKE house and other fraternity houses are.
Foster said the school warns incoming freshman that TKE is not recognized by the university.
"We've done everything we can do to address the situation with TKE," Foster said. "Ultimately, they are responsible for their own conduct."
Kevin Mayeux, executive vice president of the TKE grand council headquarters in Indiana, said the entire fraternity is devastated by the deaths of the young students.
"A lot of guys are extremely shook up because they've lost roommates and friends," said Mayeux, who hurried to San Diego yesterday to deal with the accident. "There's immense grief and sorrow."
The grand council still recognizes the SDSU chapter despite the university discipline. Mayeux said the San Diego chapter acted properly after the 2000 hazing incident by expelling the responsible member.
"What you had was one person acting on his own," he said. "He could have been a member of AAA or the Catholic Church or anything else."
TKE has about 85 members at San Diego State, and about 9,300 members at 266 other schools, Mayeux said. There are 200,000 living alums, including former President Ronald Reagan and broadcaster and ex-quarterback Terry Bradshaw, he said.
The crash victims were not full-fledged fraternity brothers. "They were just beginning the process of becoming members," said Jon Streeter, the newly installed president of the SDSU chapter.
It was unclear why the men were heading home so early in the morning, although one fraternity member suggested they were trying to beat the Imperial County heat.
However, the trip had nothing to do with any induction rituals, the TKE chapter president said. "We are a non-hazing fraternity," Streeter said. "Hazing is strictly prohibited within our risk management guidelines."
Jimenez and Jacobs did not live at the College Place fraternity that SDSU officials once called the "Animal House" of the school. Both men lived in the Templo del Sol residence hall on campus.
About 15 fraternity brothers live in the house, which is owned by a local nonprofit called San Diego Teke Corp. When the chapter hosts parties or social events, members make sure to follow all fraternity guidelines, Streeter said.
"We still run just like any other fraternity, doing philanthropic events, working in the community," said Streeter, who said one of his top priorities as chapter president will be to win reinstatement from the university.
"It's more beneficial to the community to keep us here than to take us away at this point."
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