Franklin College chapter shut down

[Rudey]

I hope you guys come back.

Fraternity house closed
Source: Daily Journal, October 29, 003 Johnson County, Indiana


More than 50 years ago, Dean A. Hicks’ dad built the case crammed full of trophies in the Phi Delta Theta house at Franklin College. Tuesday, Hicks sadly took down pictures, packed up books and shut the doors on the three-story brick house.

Phi Delta Theta was ordered closed by its international office for repeated alcohol violations, said Bob Biggs, executive vice president of the Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity. Twelve fraternity members who lived in the house are now living in Franklin College residence halls or arranging other housing.

Phi Delta Theta members repeatedly violated a policy that prohibits alcohol in the house, Biggs said. The violations were not taken seriously, and members’ reaction was “not one of remorse or regret, but a ‘so-what’ attitude,” he said.

Biggs said he could not be specific about the number or type of violations. The Phi Delta Theta house is the only fraternity on campus prohibited from having alcohol on the premises by its national organization. Alcohol is also allowed in the college’s residence halls because some students are age 21.

“It’s a difficult time because we’re dealing with a lot of double standards,” said Hicks, who serves as the alumni house corporation president.

The house was nearly empty Tuesday afternoon as Hicks and fraternity alumni Bryan Werner loaded pictures into the back of an SUV and looked over documents so old the letters and seals were faded.

“There’s a lot of history here,” Hicks said. “The house is one of the neatest classic pieces of architecture in Franklin.”

The fraternity was chartered on Franklin’s campus in 1860, and the house has been standing on Monroe Street since it was built in 1926. Biggs said he, Franklin College officials and Phi Delta alumni are calling the closing temporary and plan to work together to reopen the fraternity by 2005 or 2006.

The alumni organization will be planning fund-raisers and hopes to renovate the house in the next three years for its reopening. “We’re not closed down because we killed someone or because the boys are dealing drugs out of the house,” Hicks said. “We’re doing it because we want to be better.”

The fraternity’s 30 members at Franklin College have all been granted alumni status, which means they are considered alumni of the fraternity and will not be able to join another fraternity on campus.

Biggs said members could submit a letter of resignation if they wanted, but he said many fraternities will not grant membership to someone who has been in another fraternity.

“Once you’ve been initiated, you are a member for life,” he said. This year’s pledges were released of their commitment and will be able to rush other fraternities if they desire.