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The Beta Zeta chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at Southern Methodist University has been suspended for four and a half years due to code of conduct violations. Officials at SMU announced the suspension on Monday, March 26.
According to SMU’s school newspaper, The Daily Campus, the fraternity was suspended after an investigation into hazing offenses by the fraternity. The Daily Campus reports the fraternity members forced new members to “consume onions, hot sauce, eggs and milk” and “required or encouraged” new members to drink alcohol.
SMU told Pi Kappa Alpha to cease all organizational activity while the university conducted its investigation.
via The Daily Campus:
The fraternity also participated in “The Gauntlet,” a booze-hazing ritual explicitly prohibited in the organization’s current accountability agreement. Another instance was a call to the SMU Police Department needing assistance at an off-campus location in February. When The Daily Campus originally requested the police report, the department only released minimal details after a ruling by the attorney general.
The email also alleges “underground” membership tactics used by the fraternity and the discovery of the smell of marijuana at an off-campus location in February. The suspension means PIKE will be required to immediately leave the chapter house and cannot host any PIKE-sponsored events. The university has arranged alternative living arrangements for those who lived in the house, and will provide “other resources to help with their transition,” the spokesman said.
Pi Kappa Alpha is the third fraternity to be suspended from the SMU campus since Spring 2016.
In response to incidents like these, other fraternities such Phi Kappa Psi have made numerous changes to their code of conduct in an effort to address the issues that have arisen. In addition, schools such as Texas State have introduced new Greek Life rules to try and prevent these problems.
These reports come amidst similar allegations that have been made against fraternities nationwide, including Sigma Alpha Epsilon at East Carolina University, who were shut down for hazing and the Lamda Chi Alpha chapter at the University of Arkansas which has been accused of taking sexually explicit photographs of women without their permission.
In response to incidents like these, fraternities such Phi Kappa Psi have made numerous changes to their code of conduct in an effort to address the issues that have arisen. In addition, schools such as Texas State have introduced new Greek Life rules to try and prevent these problems.
