Money or due process? Frats, WVU at odds over banishment

One of five fraternities in a standoff with West Virginia University calls it a fight over lack of “due process” and that WVU’s president, E. Gordon Gee, proved that point Thursday by unilaterally banning the organizations for a decade.

“We don’t think it’s appropriate that one administrator can arbitrarily decide” to sanction a student organization without a hearing, Gordy Heminger, national president and CEO of Alpha Sigma Phi, said Friday.

Any other reasons cited by WVU, he added, “are red herrings.’’

But Mr. Gee said Friday he believes the fraternities’ national offices are trying to disguise why they oppose new campus rules to curb trouble, including a decision to delay freshman rush until spring semester.

“What it’s really about is the national organizations making sure they gain enough membership and are able to pay the bills on their houses,” he said.

This much is clear: On Thursday, Alpha Sigma Phi, Kappa Alpha Order, Phi Sigma Kappa, Sigma Chi and Theta Chi announced plans to sever ties with WVU and operate through an independent interfraternity council.

Within hours, Mr. Gee announced to campus that all five

were barred for at least a decade, meaning they can’t take part in social activities, operate in campus space or use the university’s brand marker.

Mr. Gee cited safety and other risks of organizations operating without university oversight. He said such groups “are not working in the best interests of students.”

He said he does not blame students themselves for the dispute and wants to maintain dialogue, though when he arrived Thursday night in the Mountainlair student center to meet with members of Kappa Alpha, he said he was effectively stood up.

“In my 38 years of being a university president, I have never once during my whole time had any student organization refuse to meet me,” he said.

An official with Kappa Alpha could not immediately be reached Friday evening.

The university’s intensified effort to tighten rules covering the Greek system, and combat hazing and alcohol abuse, followed the Nov. 14, 2014, death of Nolan Burch, a 19-year-old freshman who was a member of Kappa Sigma.

As a rift intensified between WVU and some of its fraternities in August, university officials including Mr. Gee held talks to resolve the matter. But Mr.Gee said Thursday the chapters nevertheless ignored the university’s new directives.

Mr. Heminger said his organization is holding activities as it usually does and expects new members, including freshmen, will be recruited this fall. He said he disagrees that delaying rush improves academic performance, and if anything, joining groups keeps first-semester freshmen connected to campus.

Eight fraternities remain in WVU’s Interfraternity Council: Alpha Gamma Rho, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Nu, the university said.