A long-standing fraternity on MSU’s campus has lost its charter after a review of chapter operations by its national board pointed to questionable behavior among some members.
The MSU chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, 225 N. Harrison Road, was notified by the fraternity’s national board of directors that its charter had been withdrawn after a unanimous vote that took place on Jan. 17, according to a statement from the board.
“Despite guidance and support from alumni and fraternity officials, the chapter has demonstrated a pattern of poor operations,” the statement said. “Of greater concern, its members were acting in ways that put themselves and others at risk.”
The chapter was told to cease operations by the board on Nov. 25, 2011.
Jeff Moore, president of MSU’s chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, declined to comment further on the statement.
One fraternity member confirmed Monday the national fraternity owns the Sigma Phi Epsilon house and will continue to honor the lease agreement, allowing residents to stay for the remainder of the academic year. Following the end of the spring semester, all residents will be forced to move out.
“I wouldn’t say (the fraternity is dead),” the member said. “We’ve developed a brotherhood which we’ll hold together forever. The house doesn’t make that — the house is just a place to live.”
The member called the reason the fraternity lost its charter, “a combination of things,” without pointing to a specific cause.
A fraternity that loses its charter is no longer recognized as a fraternity on campus, said Devin Cudnohufsky, acting president of the MSU Interfraternity Council, or IFC. A charter is a kind of operating agreement between the university, the national fraternity and the chapter, Cudnohufsky said.
“Essentially what it means is that they can’t recolonize on our campus for five years,” Cudnohufsky said.
The IFC currently is revising its constitution, Cudnohufsky said, which might change that policy.
The MSU chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon currently is in the process of appealing the decision to the Sigma Phi Epsilon National Board of Directors, Cudnohufsky said.
According to the statement, current fraternity members still will be granted alumni status upon graduating if they are in good standing with the fraternity, and Sigma Phi Epsilon expects to return to MSU’s campus in the future.
The last fraternity on campus to lose its charter was the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter, which occurred last year, Cudnohufsky said.
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