Following a four-month investigation by the Office of the Dean of Student Life, the University has issued a two-year suspension to the Alpha Delta Phi (WAWA) fraternity. Though the fraternity could have applied for automatic re-recognition after the suspension lifted, Alpha Delta Phi chose instead to revoke their recognition at the University and with their national office.
Vice Provost for Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger announced the suspension in a campus-wide email on Thursday.
“Alpha Delta Phi is no longer a recognized student organization, even if operating under a different name,” he wrote. “All members of our student community should be aware that any activities of an organization, ‘underground’ or otherwise, that violate university policies and/or the Student Conduct Code could result in misconduct charges against individual students.”
The Office of the Dean of Student Life had been investigating the fraternity for allegations of assault, hazing and violations of its cease and desist order, which was related to a reported sexual assault at the fraternity house on Mar. 9. The fraternity had been put on interim suspension since April 9 pending investigation.
Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) Calvin Smith wrote in a statement that FSL, Alpha Delta Phi alumni and the chapter’s primary advisor met with junior Joseph Figueroa, the chapter’s former president, to discuss how the fraternity could move forward with meeting the University’s sanctions.
According to Smith, the University had originally planned to help Alpha Delta Phi return from suspension in fall 2019. Smith wrote that because of the chapter’s issues in the past year, the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity will not be permitted to return to the Homewood Campus before the fall of 2024.
“The return of the chapter would not be a guarantee, but we would be willing to consider if the fraternity is an appropriate fit for the community at that time,” he wrote.
At this meeting, Eric Callocchia, president of the Hopkins chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi alumni association Star and Crescent, Inc., presented the documents rescinding the fraternity’s recognition from the Interfraternity Council (IFC). In the fraternity’s resignation letter from the IFC, Figueroa and Callocchia described why they waited to rescind their chapter’s charter.
“We have refrained from such a serious move in the hope that our relationship with the administration of the University could be improved and that the University was genuinely interested in a healthy fraternity and sorority system and was open to a reasonable and common-sense approach to regulation of the Greek system,” Figueroa and Callocchia wrote. “It appears that our hopes for such an outcome were unfounded.”
The chapter’s decision to revoke its charter and change its status to inactive with the Alpha Delta Phi national office went into effect on June 30. Smith’s letter to Figueroa accepting the fraternity’s resignation stated that even though the chapter has revoked its charter, students will still be expected to adhere to the sanctions outlined in the suspension.
Several other fraternities and sororities on campus are pending investigation or have closed investigations and sanctions. Both Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) and Phi Delta Theta (Phi Delt) fraternities are pending investigation, while several other fraternities and sororities including Phi Kappa Psi (Phi Psi), Pi Beta Phi (Pi Phi), Beta Theta Pi (Beta) and Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) have closed investigations and current sanctions. Full details about chapter conduct and disciplinary status as of Aug. 7 can be viewed here.
The former chapter president of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and the national office of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity declined to comment.
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