2008 Woodie Awards
Officials disband Delta Tau Delta
Kevin Robillard
University officials expelled the Delta Tau Delta fraternity Tuesday after determining it has hazed pledges physically, mentally and emotionally for the past three years.
The ruling, which officials announced in a news release last night, came after an anonymous phone call tipped off officials about the practices two weeks ago.
Members of the fraternity will have until the end of the month to move out of the chapter's house on Fraternity Row, and university officials revoked its charter.
The news release did not go into specifics about the fraternity's hazing practices but did cite "abusive alcohol consumption" as a factor.
Repeated attempts to reach the university's director of fraternity and sorority life Mike Hayes yesterday were unsuccessful, but in an interview last month Hayes said more serious incidents of hazing - especially ones that involved severe duress, alcohol or life threatening practices - would face more serious penalties.
The Delta Tau Delta decision marks the second time this year the university has found a fraternity guilty of hazing.
When the university last month concluded that the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity injured a new member, the fraternity received ten months' probation.
In the Zeta Beta Tau incident, fraternity elders seated new members in a circle and forced them to chant the names of Zeta Beta Tau's founders. When they misspoke, fraternity brothers poured water over their heads. At one point in the night, they mixed water with Shout gel and placed it in a new member's hair, injuring him.
According to the release, the fraternity's international office cooperated with the investigation and did not contest the charges.
Delta Tau Delta has 48 undergraduate members and 10 members in the current pledge chapter. The fraternity has had a chapter at the university since 1948.
robillarddbk@gmail.com
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Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 55
steve
posted 3/14/08 @ 8:48 AM EST
I was in a fraternity for 5 years, 88-92. Its an absolute joke how the greek system has changed. Getting water poured over my head would have been a pleasureable experience compared to what I went through!
illes
posted 3/14/08 @ 9:01 AM EST
Seriously, who honestly complains about something like that. Shout gel! Good god we live in a society of little bitches. And drinking excessively? Who doesn't drink excessively in college? And if you're in a frat you'd better expect to drink excessively. (Continued…)
Nick
posted 3/14/08 @ 10:10 AM EST
Stop Snitching! Stop Snitching on your bros!!
It makes the bad kids good and the good kids better.
Jared
posted 3/14/08 @ 10:11 AM EST
You know you're either in or you're out. You're with me or against me. You're going full steam ahead or not with it. Cause when you see that person on the side of the road you have to stop, cause if you don't, who is going too?
wiggles
posted 3/14/08 @ 10:53 AM EST
How do you get injured putting shout on your head? I just don't understand. Can someone please explain. Thank you. FRAT!
Sharpie
posted 3/14/08 @ 11:06 AM EST
The real question here is, was the ZBT pledge able to Shout it out?
Michael
posted 3/14/08 @ 11:16 AM EST
It seems as if The Diamondback has over-inflated interest in Zeta Beta Tau. In a story about years of ongoing and intense abuse by Delta Tau Delta, two full paragraphs (20% of the article) are devoted to a minor incident by another fraternity. (Continued…)
Shawn
posted 3/14/08 @ 11:18 AM EST
I was right when I commented on the last article on fraternities.
( http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2008/02/19/News/Fraternity. (Continued…)
Plus LT
posted 3/14/08 @ 11:42 AM EST
Almost every house on campus from my time at MD (late 80's) is now gone. If you drive around where the off campus houses are, they are all boarded up. (Continued…)
Tim
posted 3/14/08 @ 12:05 PM EST
What happenned at Delta Tau Delta is a lot more than said in this article. This article has about as many details as the press release does on the UMD website. (Continued…)
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