“Members of the University of Iowa’s Delta Upsilon fraternity must find new lodging after the international fraternity announced it would close the chapter because of an alleged marijuana right in the house… Four Delta Upsilon members were charged in December with drug violations after police raided the fraternity house and found 650 grams of marijuana, cash, packing materials, scales and drug deal ledgers, court records state.” The four members “have each been charged with possession and/or conspiracy to deliver marijuana and failure to affix required tax-stamps to the drugs. Both charges are felonies punishable by up to five years in prison and a $7,500 fine”
Seriously! Where can we even start with this? Not only has an 82 year old chapter been disbanded, but four members of the chapter are facing felony drug charges. While the alleged actions of the four accused members in this case may have been personal decisions with personal consequences, their connection to the fraternity is the responsibility of every chapter member who may have known that something like this was up. Someone had to know that something was up! If, at best, we give the chapter the benefit of the doubt, we can assume that none of the brothers were being supplied by this cache, much less knew about it all…. But, come on, how is it possible to conduct a “marijuana ring” such as this without the knowledge (and acceptance) of the chapter?
It appears to us that no one felt it was their responsibility or duty to put the interests of the fraternity above the interests of the drug selling members. Why would ANYONE choose to protect these men above the fraternity? We think some members would say it was about ‘brotherhood’. This is surely one of the biggest cop-outs ever heard, but, unfortunately, we have all heard this argument before. Is this really what brotherhood has become? Nothing more than having the back of your brother, regardless of the morality or legality of his actions? That’s crap.
True, the chapter probably didn’t know about the alleged proclivities of these four men when they were offered a bid and initiated. The chapter probably couldn’t stop a member from using drugs much less from allegedly selling them. However, the chapter did have the power to stop these men from allegedly storing and selling drugs in the chapter house. If this chapter stood up and took definitive action to eradicate this behavior from the organization, the outcome may have been different. This chapter might have been around for an 83rd year. When the members of this chapter chose to potentially value their brotherhood and loyalty to the four men that threatened their chapter more than they valued their chapter, there was no turning back. Nice one.
Reference
Jordan, E. (2008, January 22) Pot case spurs closing of U of I fraternity. Des Moines Register. Retrieved March 4, 2008 from: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/NEWS02/801220393/0/ENT01
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