Theta Chi shuts down: Fraternity disaffiliates after members violate 'Good Conduct' requirement
Early last month the University announced the fraternity's disaffiliation, meaning that "Theta Chi is no longer recognized as a University of Oregon fraternity," as stated in a memorandum to the University Greek community. The decision came after fall term in which Theta Chi was found guilty of hazing and also incurred $10,000 worth of damages at a resort while on a retreat.
Theta Chi had been on probation for several years because of poor behavior. On Dec. 2, 2005, Eugene Police Department cited the fraternity as one entity for an alcohol-related infraction. A second citation followed in spring 2006.
In March 2007 the fraternity neared collapse after another fraternity reported Theta Chi for loading beer kegs into trucks to use for an official function. As a result, Theta Chi "came extraordinarily close to a mandated shutdown."
On the most recent Compliance Review for the Greek system, Theta Chi failed the "Good Conduct" requirement, which encompasses alcohol infractions, judicial sanctions and other behavior issues. It met the standards in all other fields, including academic performance.
The dealbreaker was Theta Chi's fall retreat to Odell Lake Resort. At the end of the trip, they were charged with $10,000 in damages. The bill included charges such as $700 for dishwashing and $800 in trash disposal.
In the coming terms, Theta Chi members "plan on continuing our traditions and maintaining our integrity as a chapter.”
Maintaining integrity as a chapter? It sounds to us like the chapter events most recently revolved around hazing and destructive activities…I guess that’s integrity if the chapter claims upfront that that’s what they are all about. But, we like to think that integrity refers to walking the talk of our fraternal values (which, last time we checked, didn’t include getting wasted and breaking stuff).
On top of everything, isn’t the whole concept of destroying hotel property during formals and date parties old news? Our fraternities and sororities were not founded with the ideas of formals and date parties. Even though such events have since become a normal, fun and perfectly acceptable component of our organizations, there must be a way to do it all with a little more class; one that doesn’t involve destroying other people’s property. No wonder most communities these days have more places that will not allow fraternities and sororities to host events than the number of places who welcome our events.
Reference
Hoffman, H. (2009, January 5). Theta Chi shuts down: Fraternity disaffiliates after members violate 'Good Conduct' requirement. [Electronic Version). Oregon Daily Emerald. Retrieved January 6, 2009 from: http://media.www.dailyemerald.com/media/storage/paper859/news/2009/01/05/News/Theta.Chi.Shuts.Down-3581728.shtml
On top of everything, isn’t the whole concept of destroying hotel property during formals and date parties old news? Our fraternities and sororities were not founded with the ideas of formals and date parties. Even though such events have since become a normal, fun and perfectly acceptable component of our organizations, there must be a way to do it all with a little more class; one that doesn’t involve destroying other people’s property. No wonder most communities these days have more places that will not allow fraternities and sororities to host events than the number of places who welcome our events.
Reference
Hoffman, H. (2009, January 5). Theta Chi shuts down: Fraternity disaffiliates after members violate 'Good Conduct' requirement. [Electronic Version). Oregon Daily Emerald. Retrieved January 6, 2009 from: http://media.www.dailyemerald.com/media/storage/paper859/news/2009/01/05/News/Theta.Chi.Shuts.Down-3581728.shtml
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