Dear Brothers,
Dear Brothers,
At 6 pm West Coast time Friday the 26th of September The Grand High Zeta is declaring Zeta-Psi Zeta’s (Arizona State) charter innactive. We are pursuing many different strategies at the moment and we are requesting your help and support. It would be forever appreciated and remembered if you could send a letter or e-mail to Nationals in support of an appeal we have already filed. What follows is an account of the charges and reasons why nationals declared our chapter innactive. We are not maintaining our innocence in these matters rather we are calling the general fraternity on a breach of policy. We were not treated as Brothers, given our fair hearing, or allowed a comprehensive investigation owed to us. In addition we were directly mislead by members of the national general fraternity and in some cases lied to. It is in the best interest of not only our chapter but all chapters if our case is made known to the general assembly.
Zeta-Psi Zeta has been at Arizona State since 1951. Recently, we were the target of a lawsuit. The law suit was filed over two years ago before half the Brothers currently active in the chapter were in the house. The suit stemmed from an incident where a girl was crossing a street near our house and was struck by a drunk and drugged driver. The parents of the girl sued every possible individual or group that might have made the slightest contribution to their daughter’s death. We were named along with nationals. Their lawyers claimed that we had served Jessica Wooden alcohol on the night of the accident and that that was a factor. No proof ever surfaced that indicated that she had even been around the house. We remained resolved in our innocence and fought the suit.
The National Fraternity decided not to support our efforts and handled the claim in their own way. After two years of court hearings we as a chapter were exonerated of the charges and left with our lawyer’s fees. The National Fraternity chose to settle instead of fighting with us. The general fraternity settled for $150,000 with additional attorney fees.
Through this ordeal the chapter was placed on probation with the fraternity and with the school. This January we received letters from both parties removing us from probation. That brings us to this year. On the 22nd of August we were having a gathering of close friends. That evening we were paid a visit by two Greek life officials. The Greek life officials decided that the situation was becoming out of hand and asked us to shut things down. Our president agreed and the Brothers handled the situation. Then a few nights later on the 5th of September a similar situation developed. Aware of our responsibility, our president (Tim Morenzoni) sought assistance from police on his own accord. Again the situation was dealt with in a swift and professional manner. We as a chapter believed that that was the end of the matters as neither the University nor Greek Life wanted to pursue the issues further.
We soon learned however that Laura Klinker, an ASU Greek Life staff member, was in frequent communication with a general fraternity staff member by the name of Shane Foley. Laura had met with our president after the events in question and left Tim with the understanding that everything was alright because he had taken the appropriate action. However, she later relayed accounts of the events to nationals and claimed that we violated policy in having a party with out a guest list or security. Although we are not focusing on the charges it is also to be known that we had no intentions of having parties on the nights in question. The conditions rapidly developed into something we did not intend and in each case we took the responsibility to shut the night down in the most expeditious way possible.
That brings us to this week. We had been informed through nationals that we were the target of an investigation, although we were never questioned or saw anyone from nationals conducting an inquiry. Then we learned that the Grand High Zeta passed a ruling on Tuesday the 23rd. We were to be informed this Friday night by Eric Richards that we were losing our charter. Our president Tim revealed this to us on Thursday much to the astonishment of the Brothers.
We were denied any representation. We have been denied due investigation. They have denied our chapter a hearing. We ask nothing more than what is fair and just. As a Brother I thank you for you time and consideration in this matter. This is the most trying time in many of my Brothers’ lives thus far, and while it has been great to see through our actions what true Brotherhood is about it is devastating to find that the nationals don’t demonstrate it. If our voice is not heard in this matter it will set a dangerous precedent that may ripple though to your chapter in the future. Brotherhood is about more than insurance assessments and back room meetings. I am living it right now with our chapter and our bonds are etched deeper than ever.
Please notify every Brother possible and ask them if they will contact through e-mail Kip Zurcher of chapter operations. We are requesting that you ask him to please consider our appeal. Kip Zurcher:
kzurcher@lambdachi.org
Yours in ZAX,
The Brothers of Zeta-Psi Zeta
our chapter site
Innactive Status of Zeta-Psi
Threaded Mode