Tau Epsilon Phi officials said it is unlikely any of the fraternity brothers would move out of their house on College Avenue, despite having their university charter revoked by the administration.
Officials recommended Tuesday that Tau Epsilon Phi’s university membership be revoked after the fraternity was accused of hazing, illegal drug and alcohol use.
On the second day of Hazing Prevention Week, TEP was accused of violating several risk management and university policies, Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life Director Matt Supple said. The request to revoke their university membership has been filed with the vice president of student affairs, he added.
Supple said he could not go into detail on what actually transpired but said the transgressions were made within the last three to five semesters.
“Specific issues would be hazing, drug use and alcohol use,” he said.
One student who lives in the TEP house, who requested anonymity because he lives among fraternit members, said while TEP “got in trouble” for having alcohol at their rush events, he personally did not see any member involved in any instances of hazing or drug use.
“When I go to cook, I walk past the pledges and the president,” he said. “I didn’t see anything that would be considered [hazing]. They do, like, intense stuff, but I wouldn’t say anything apart from hard work.”
The student added that he believes the accusations came after an event this past weekend during which fraternity members were caught with open alcohol containers in their common room by the Social Event Monitoring system, which reports to the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Association.
Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement said she could not comment on the allegations, as she is still waiting to hear from the fraternity before she makes a final decision about TEP’s removal.
Because the university has not formally written and submitted written allegations to the university chapter and the national headquarters as of yet, the national headquarters could not make any official comments, said George Hasenberg, executive director of TEP. The chapter still remains chartered by the national headquarters.
“We’re at the stage where the charges have been made verbally,” Hasenberg said. “[The university is] in the process of writing to the individual group. At that point, the national group will do its utmost to alleviate these issues and go from there.”
Because TEP is located off-campus, University Police does not have jurisdiction over the chapter, and Prince George’s County Police would oversee any investigations of TEP, Supple said.
“We forwarded all of our information to the police,” he said. “Whether they launch an investigation or not, that’s up to them.”
If the chapter’s membership with the university is revoked, the university will likely allow Tau Epsilon Phi to reapply as a university chapter either after all of its current members have graduated or in four years, he added — whichever option is a longer period of time.
The accusations against the chapter come at an ironic time, Supple said, as this week, the university is holding events in recognition of Hazing Prevention Week, a week-long observance that features a series of lectures and educational seminars on how to recognize signs of hazing and how to prevent it.
Interfraternity Council President Brian Toll said the urge to haze comes from the fact that it seems easier to create kinsmanship by putting people through physical and mental stress rather than through more constructive methods.
“I think students haze because they believe there are perceived positive effects of hazing,” said Toll, who is a senior accounting and finance major. “I’d like to think students haze because it’s easy — it’s easier than bringing out these positive effects the positive way.”
For TEP, that does not seem to be the situation, the anonymous student said. Given public perceptions of how commonplace hazing is in fraternity culture, it is possible TEP members could be victims of hearsay.
“Yeah, I’m really not sure why they would be accused,” he said. “It is a pretty typical fraternity procedure to haze, so I could see why a rumor like that would start.”
Members of TEP could not be reached for comment.
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