Officials examine incident at Delt-northwestern

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Officials examine incident at Delt

Chapter suspended during inquest; female freshman says lewd photos were taken
By Jerome C. Pandell
January 27, 2004

University officials have suspended Northwestern's chapter of Delta Tau Delta fraternity pending the investigation of an incident involving a female Communication freshman that she says took place at the chapter house more than a week ago.


Kyle Pendleton, NU's associate director of fraternity and sorority life, said the suspension -- which prevented the chapter from participating in Gone Greek Night activities on Friday -- was endorsed by the fraternity's national headquarters and requires Delt members to cease all chapter operations, including meetings, formals and social exchanges with sororities.

"The university is currently partnering and working with Delta Tau Delta's national organization to conduct an investigation into an alleged incident that occurred the weekend of Jan. 17," said Pendleton, who added that he could not speculate when the investigation would be completed. "We hope to be expedient."

Drew Suszko, president of Delt's now-suspended NU chapter, said he could not comment on why the fraternity was suspended.

"We are cooperating to the fullest extent with the university's investigation in the hopes of a quick and appropriate resolution," said Suszko, a McCormick sophomore.

Pendleton also said he could not comment on the nature of the incident or who was involved.

A female Communication freshman, who asked not to be named, told The Daily on Monday that the incident involved her and one of the fraternity's freshman pledges. She said the incident took place during a floor party sponsored by Delt to kick off "walk-in night," a Jan. 17 event at which the new pledges slept overnight in the chapter room of the fraternity house.

"Some guy is supposed to have sex with the girl up in their library on that night," the Communication freshman said. "I do know they have this tradition. I've heard they've done that to several girls in previous years."

But she said the tradition took a strange turn when about 20 fraternity members entered the library while she was there and refused to leave.

"I was screaming for them to get out and they wouldn't get out," she said. "They were all just standing around, laughing and joking."

The Communication freshman said three fraternity members took lewd photos of her before the group left the room three or four minutes later.

She said she then left the chapter house immediately.

University officials contacted her Wednesday about helping with the investigation, she said. Pendleton told The Daily that he could not comment on whether NU's Sexual Assault Hearings and Appeals System is involved in the investigation.

The Communication freshman said the photos taken of her were distributed to other students, including people not in the fraternity. She said she doesn't know if the freshman pledge she was with knew the members would enter the room.

Calling the past week difficult, the Communication freshman said many people have been very supportive.

"It has upset me that there are people like this at my school," she said. "I just think its really sick and I don't understand how these people were raised to make them think this is OK."

A national leader at Delt's Indianapolis headquarters said the organization supports NU's decision to suspend the chapter and will cooperate fully with the investigation.

"We're trying to sort it all out," said Garth Eberhart, Delt's national assistant executive vice president. "We've got a good, long history there at the university, and we expect that will continue going forward."

Weinberg junior Mitch Holzrichter, who is outgoing risk management chairman of the Interfraternity Council, said IFC leaders would wait until the completion of the investigation by NU officials before taking any action. Holzrichter, who recently was elected IFC president, also serves as advertising manager of Students Publishing Co., which oversees The Daily.

Pendleton said he could not speculate about the outcome of the investigation. In past cases, however, suspension of a fraternity often has resulted in NU administrators and national fraternity leaders deciding to revoke a chapter's charter.

University officials suspended Kappa Sigma fraternity in June for improprieties at a spring formal at the Shedd Aquarium. The suspension caused Kappa Sig's national organization to revoke the fraternity's charter after NU cited Kappa Sig for vandalism, alcohol use, safety issues, animal endangerment and reckless behavior.

In May 2001, NU administrators indefinitely suspended the operations of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity after two members were sent to the hospital in February 2001 following an off-campus party.

NU's chapter of Sigma Chi, which will return to NU in Spring Quarter, had its charter suspended by the fraternity's executive committee in August 2000 because of alcohol and probation violations. At the time, the fraternity was on probation because chapter members had brought two strippers to their house for an April 1999 pledge event.