Beta Theta Pi, one of MSU's biggest fraternities, has been "disbanded" for not maintaining an alcohol-free house.
"Disbanded status" means the fraternity can't claim to be affiliated with the national chapter or hold any events, such as Rush, as members of the national group.
The former MSU chapter broke several fraternity policies, including being issued noise violations, but was disbanded mainly for violating rules pertaining to alcohol, said Stephen Becker, administrative secretary for the national chapter.
"The chapter was informed that it would have to adhere to the directives, but it didn't happen," Becker said.
Luke Michels, president of the MSU group, said his fraternity followed all of the directives but interpreted them differently than the national chapter.
"The men in the house who are 21 said that they should have the right to drink," Michels said.
The decision from the national chapter was passed about two weeks ago.
A.J. Calkins, district chief for Beta Theta Pi, said the MSU group was caught breaking rules at its house, 1148 E. Grand River Ave., by both the MSU Interfraternity Council and a Beta Theta Pi alumnus.
"The undergraduates banned any alcohol at the house, but they hosted at least two parties," Calkins said.
The directives came from a summer convention in Toronto, where the undergraduate delegates, a group comprised of one brother from each chapter, assigned 19 directives that the MSU chapter would have to follow to maintain a good-standing status, Becker said. They ruled that if any of those directives were broken, the MSU chapter would be disbanded. Calkins said chapter representative Eric Walstrom claimed to "fully support" the directives.
Walstrom said he accepted the directives because if he didn't, the fraternity would have been shut down.
"I wasn't in favor of the directives," Walstrom said. "I accepted them because there was no way to get different ones."
Brothers are still living in the fraternity house and plan on living there again next semester, Michels said.
"We knew we violated the rules, and we did our best to keep it out of the house," Michels said. "We told (the national chapter) that we disagreed with the decision, but they didn't give us much say."
