SAE receives four year suspension
Chapman’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity received a four-year suspension from campus last month, said associate vice chancellor for student affairs and associate dean of students DeAnn Yocum-Gaffney, who declined to provide the specific reason for the ruling.
The suspension means the fraternity loses any affiliation with the university, including using the name or participating in events.
A joint investigation into SAE and Chapman’s Delta Gamma sorority was triggered by an anonymous report to Gaffney last spring regarding “a series of events over the course of about a week.”
Gaffney said she “didn’t believe any of them were on campus” but did confirm there was “concern with both SAE and Delta Gamma” when the investigation began.
A hazing policy violation was not found with either chapter during the investigation, Gaffney said.
Delta Gamma president Lana Barendse said in a statement that “as a result of an occurrence that took place towards the end of last semester, Delta Gamma has come to a mutual agreement with the university of a social activity restriction status for the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters.” The restriction means the sorority “cannot have formals and exchanges.”
Gaffney said she “didn’t have any doubt that first year or new potential new Delta Gamma members will have the information they need to have about the situation.”
The Panther reached out to twelve students affiliated with SAE, all of whom declined to comment.
According to the national SAE website, Chapman’s SAE chapter was put on probation once between 2007 and 2012. The university placed the chapter on probation for one year due to a hazing incident in Fall 2010. Information about any probationary periods since 2012 was unavailable.
The Chapman chapter, which began in 1998, had about 30 members and was among 225 SAE chapters in the nation, according to the fraternity’s website.
Gaffney said the previous history of SAE and Delta Gamma went into the decision-making of the ruling.
“For example, if there’s something we’re continuing to have problems with, that’s going to affect what we think is going to be the right action,” Gaffney said. “That’s always a factor.”
Gaffney, who has worked on campus since 1994, said the only time she could recall an entire chapter being suspended from the university was the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity shortly before she arrived at Chapman.
Rob Jepson, senior communications manager for Sigma Phi Epsilon, said he “didn’t know anything about a suspension” but confirmed the chapter closed at Chapman in 1996.
Jerry Price, vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students, said the SAE ruling was a result of a “mutual agreement” reached between the administration and the national organization.
“In this particular case, after long discussions, we agreed that this was the way to go,” Price said.
Brandon E. Weghorst, associate executive director of communications for SAE, said the four-year suspension “comes as a result of multiple health and safety violations over the past year.”
“Although SAE does not share specific details about our investigations, our leadership will not hesitate to take corrective actions or to sanction our chapters or members when they fail to meet our stringent guidelines and expectations,” Weghorst said. “The organization has zero tolerance for any actions or behaviors that are not consistent with our mission and our creed, ‘The True Gentleman.’”
Weghorst said the chapter had been “under a commission of alumni advisers to assist them in bringing their operations back up to our standards.”