Phi Delt's lawyers sue U Iowa

[hoosier]

Tuesday, February 8, 2005


Phi Delta Theta sues university



By Mike McWilliams
Iowa City Press-Citizen

More than three years after alleged hazing and alcohol violations, a University of Iowa fraternity is suing UI and some of its officials alleging illegal use of a tape recording to suspend the chapter's recognition.

Phi Delta Theta, 729 N. Dubuque St., filed its lawsuit Friday against UI in Johnson County District Court. It also named as defendants UI vice president for student services Phillip E. Jones, Jones' associate, Thomas R. Baker, UI Associate Counsel Maria Lukas and UI human resources specialist David Bergeon.

The lawsuit does not specify monetary damages. However, Phi Delta Theta's attorney John Maher said it could be more than $480,000 -- the amount cited in a claim filed against UI with the state in July.

"That, I'm not going to predict," Maher said of the damages. "That was a claim that was made on the best map that we had at the time and it's the claim on which the suit is based. It's the same claim. ... We believe that's what the claim will amount to, but it's not entirely up to us."

UI General Counsel Mark Schantz and others in his office did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

The university revoked Phi Delta Theta's recognition in January 2002 after investigating a former fraternity member's complaint that he and other new members were forced to drink fifths of various hard liquors in a 20-minute stretch during August and September 2001. The fraternity pleaded guilty to an alcohol charge but disputed its members engaged in hazing. UI later dropped the claim.

The main damages sought come from UI's use of a tape recording made by the member. The fraternity claims the tape was obtained illegally and should not have been used by Jones and others during the UI investigation and hearing process.

If shown to be illegal, state code sets out civil penalties including $100 a day for each day of violation.

"We're still more or less adding up the damages," Maher said. "The damages arise from a couple of years of being kept off campus and not being allowed to participate in rush week and approach new members."

Phi Delta Theta regained its status last year.

[pdt1673]

'Hazing' case costs UI $127K

Kelsey Beltramea - The Daily Iowan

Posted: 1/25/07

The UI, one of its top administrators, and the state must pay a now-defunct fraternity chapter $127,744.18 after a judge ruled that the university used an illegally recorded audiotape as evidence to suspend the organization.

In a 17-page ruling filed Wednesday, 6th District Judge Mitchell Turner wrote that Phillip Jones, the UI vice president for Student Services, and other university officials used the unauthorized recording for more than two and a half years in their actions against the former Phi Delta Theta fraternity chapter. During that time, fraternity members could not participate in formal rush and recruitment activities, leading to its demise.

According to the ruling:

Jones initially suspended Phi Delta Theta in January 2002 after a former pledge accused the fraternity of hazing. Then-UI sophomore Elmer Vejar gave Jones a written report, photographs, and a two-and-a-half-hour audiotape recorded with a voice-activated device hidden in the fraternity's private meeting room.

Vejar's behavior, Turner said, was "clearly retaliatory." The former pledge had leased a room over the summer and then had to be forced to move out, and so he "had a less than friendly relationship" with Phi Delta Theta when he reported the alleged hazing and alcohol violations.

Though the fraternity appealed the sanctions, the group settled with the UI after university officials used Vejar's tape to punish Phi Delta Theta.

But when the chapter's president later asked for Phi Delta Theta to be reinstated, Jones refused because the fraternity never admitted to hazing - marking the first time that the administrator told the group of that stipulation.

The illegally recorded tape resurfaced in August 2003 when university officials indefinitely suspended the fraternity.

Shortly after the suspension, however, someone found a provision in Iowa law that prohibits the use of tapes that were recorded in the manner of Vejar's. Jones then told the fraternity that while he was dismissing the hazing violations, sanctions would still be leveled because of a separate September 2001 alcohol violation.

Those punishments, however, were "disproportionately harsh," Turner ruled.

Former UI President David Skorton finally restored Phi Delta Theta to full recognition in 2004. But immediately after that decision, the fraternity had only 26 members - roughly one-third of the number in fall 2001.

Since then, Phi Delta Theta's enrollment dropped below the minimum required by the national fraternity, and the UI's chapter finally shut down.

Because the UI suspended the fraternity for a period of 983 days, Turner ruled that the university, Jones, and the state owe Phi Delta Theta $100 in damages for each day - totaling $98,300.

In addition, Jones must pay the fraternity $5,000 for his continued "use" of the disputed tape after the hazing allegation was dismissed. Turner ordered that the fraternity's attorney fees - which equal $24,444.18, and perhaps more because of the most recent litigation - need to be paid by the defendants.

E-mail DI reporter Kelsey Beltramea at:
kelsey-beltramea@uiowa.edu © Copyright 2007 Daily Iowan