| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4/1/2008 Penn
State Students File Lawsuit Against
On March 31, 2008, six former members of the Pennsylvania Theta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Penn State, filed a lawsuit against the Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity, seeking an injunction to set aside an illegal suspension of the Penn State Chapter. The lawsuit alleges that the General Council of Phi Delta Theta did not follow their own Constitution and General Statutes, the official laws that govern the fraternity, when they suspended the Penn State Chapter. The General Council suspended the Penn State Chapter on December 7th, 2007 because of an alleged violation of the General Council's Dry-Housing Policy. The General Council "announced" the Dry-Housing Policy in 1997 but never bothered to have it approved by the General Convention as required so it is not part of the Constitution and General Statutes and even contradicts the Constitution and General Statutes. For the past 10 years, the General Council has used the policy to shut-down chapters of Phi Delta Theta across the country.
The suspension effectively ends an aggressive 5-year Return to Glory Campaign that was launched in summer 2004 to make the Penn State Chapter the top fraternity in the country and a model for others to follow. The former chapter's many accomplishments are documented in great detail on their website www.ProudToBeAPhi.com. As a result of the suspension, the undergraduates and their alumni advisors produced a 40 page brochure titled United We Stand that contains a chronology of events leading up to the suspension, opinions from their alumni, a portion of their Annual Report, and a plan to get their charter back. United We Stand also presents compelling evidence that the General Council suspended the chapter in an attempt to silence them when the General Council learned of the chapter's plan to present an Exemption Alcohol Policy for approval at the General Convention this summer. The proposed policy would have an exemption option that would be available to chapters that meet very specific and very high standards. It's similar to the policy adopted by other fraternities and recommended by the leading provider of Liability Insurance to fraternities and sororities. United We Stand was mailed to their 900 plus alumni and the parents of their undergraduates. In response, many wrote to Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters to express their overwhelming support for the former chapter. Two such letters are included below. Representatives of General Headquarters responded by calling some alumni and parents to present their side of the story. Despite everything our undergraduate's have accomplished in the last 4 years, General Headquarters plans to replace them with new "hand-picked" members who will agree with their Dry-Housing Policy. The undergraduates and alumni are now planning to rally support from other chapters and alumni clubs and attend the General Convention this summer were they hope to get get their charter back, present and pass an Exemption Alcohol Policy, and elect several new General Council members. To prevent this, on March 26, 2008, the General Council expelled all the undergraduates and the Alumni Corporation President. They have also threatened to sue the undergraduates, the Alumni Corporation, and the Alumni Corporation President over copyright and trademark violations in an attempt to stop them from contacting other chapters with their United We Stand Brochure and their website. The intent of the undergraduate's lawsuit is to seek an immediate preliminary injunction against the suspension so they can continue to execute their Return To Glory Campaign, participate in the General Convention this summer and participate in Greek Life at Penn State as they deserve.
To: Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters
Oxford Ohio 45056 I have been the wife of Bruce E Ross ‘47 PA Theta for 54 years, and the sister in law of Donald B Ross ‘35. Donald is deceased and Bruce is alive and well, but unable to write. Both of them dearly loved Phi Delta Theta and their brothers, in fact Bruce continues to wear his ring today. I feel the need to voice what I know they would say to you. Do Not Close Down PA Theta! As a psychologist, I am very aware of college behavior. I have worked for the past 15 years as a volunteer counselor at Planned Parenthood, where the bulk of our patients are college students. I am totally up on the tremendous amount of binge drinking - it is a standard question I always asked. I have also done volunteer counseling for 15 years for women affected by domestic abuse. Although I am 74 years old, I am "current". I am the one who keeps up with the PA Theta house. I have been very impressed with the brothers of PA theta who have shown incredible maturity by voluntarily accepting responsibility of a physically and emotionally declining chapter, that I thought surely was going down the drain. These actives have done a wonderful job in the last 3 years to bring back an ailing house to it’s former glory. Therefore I was aghast when I read that you were unable to recognize their efforts, and in effect, chose to punish them rather than reward them for their diligence. Personally, I think responsible drinking should be taught, and your aim for the fraternity in general should be that, rather than a 100% dry house. And while I’m at it, I also think that you should encourage your fraternity to learn that power and control ---this goes for you at headquarters as well as fraternity brothers--- is something that should be recognized and shared- rather than be one sided. That comes from my long time work with domestic abuse, which is all about power and control. Most people think that abuse occurs only within the home, and that it takes bruises and broken arms. Indeed it occurs in all segments of our society. I think your are abusing your power and control, and need to do a little compromising. I hope you will rethink your options. Sincerely, To: Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters
Oxford Ohio 45056 Gentlemen, I am a Phi, Michael W. Brown, Indiana Alpha, Indiana University, and BS ’80. My son is a Phi, Denton T. Brown, Pennsylvania Theta, Penn State University, a sophomore with a Business Major in Supply Chain Management and Minor in Economics. I was informed by my son that PA Theta received a notice of suspension from General Headquarters (GHQ) and cancellation of liability service on December 7, 2007. The suspension letter was received as the brothers were preparing for final exams and 6 weeks after the alleged violation of the dry housing policy. I must question your understanding of the meaning of a “brother in the bond”. I would think that your organization would take into consideration the cost of today’s education and students that are preparing for all important final exams rather than conducting a “hazing” campaign designed to disrupt the chapter during finals while at the same time attempting to force them to look for alternative housing by canceling liability insurance. PA Theta’s purpose for the past 3 ½ years is a campaign entitled, “Return to Glory” with a stated goal to become the #1 Phi Delta Theta chapter in the country. A strong desire exists to protect the heritage of the Pennsylvania Theta Chapter, the chapter house and the pride of all 1500+ brothers that have called the house home. Most importantly, the campaign puts decision making & financial responsibility into the hands of the actives and has restored both profitability and full occupancy within 3 ½ years of the campaign’s inception. I’m struck by GHQ’s misunderstanding of the word, “truth”. Do you have it confused with the word, “deceive”? Case in point, requesting that the chapter send younger fraternity brothers to the summer convention by misleading the chapter to believe they were in-line for national awards and instead ambushing the young group of actives with the threat of chapter suspension. Failure to disclose that GHQ owns a % of a James R. Favor & Co. and requiring that Phi Delt chapters purchase liability insurance for its own profit. A GHQ owned insurance company which refuses to refund the unused portion of the canceled premium in an attempt to cause financial hardship on PA Theta. Your dry housing policy appears to be nothing more than a glorified insurance scam. Presumably, as a result of the dry housing policy your underwriter provides reduced rates to the GHQ owned James R. Favor & Co insurance firm. In turn, you require your member fraternities to purchase liability policies at non-competitive rates and pocket a large profit of each policy. This statement is substantiated by the fact the PA. Theta was able to obtain liability coverage at lower premiums from another insurance firm after GHQ terminated their policy. Your website indicates that as a result of the dry housing policy a few chapters had to be closed. After receiving notification of PA Theta’s chapter suspension, I began to research suspended chapters and was shocked to learn that in addition to IN Alpha and PA Theta, chapters have been suspended at Rutgers, USC, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Miami of Ohio, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah & Butler. According to the Plain Dealer article, a total of 35 chapters have been closed since 1997. Is this GHQ’s definition of a few chapters? What struck me are the thousands of Phi Delt alumni you’ve affected with your suspensions. Not to mention destroying the historic value of these chapters. How embarrassing is it to GHQ that you can’t successfully manage the fraternity chapter in your own home town or did you use Miami of Ohio as a scapegoat to prove your point with the dry housing policy? Your website indicates that University of Indiana and University of Southern California are new campuses with recent expansion efforts. It’s a slap in face to Indiana University that you refer to the school as University of Indiana (that’s why it’s call IU). Indiana Alpha is not a new campus expansion when in excess of 2000+ brothers have called Indiana Alpha home nor is the University of Southern California a new campus as that chapter was also suspended by GHQ. Your organization visiting PA Theta on the weekend of the biggest night football of game of the season amounted to nothing more than a witch hunt at a time with a high probability of alcohol being found on the property. It didn’t matter that the brothers had already left for the game and those observed were dressed in scarlet & grey that were Phi’s and alumni of Ohio State. Has the Ohio State chapter been investigated for violating the dry housing policy? I find it ironic that both of the alleged incidents the past two years have involved rival Phi Delt fraternity brothers visiting the chapter for nationally televised night football games. Do you think the visiting Phi’s are concerned that they don’t have tickets to the sold out games that are in huge demand? They could care less as long as they have a place to watch the game and drink the alcohol they’ve purchased. In this case, that location was the PA Theta house. Can you please show me where in your dry housing policy it indicates that the chapter is responsible for policing all visitors 24 hours a day? Does the dry housing policy state that visiting fraternity brothers in violation of the dry housing policy can result in the hosting chapter being suspended? If that’s the case, all Phi Delt fraternities should be closed at all times to member fraternity brothers. I had the privilege of attending the Spring ’07 stock holders meeting for PA Theta. What impressed me was the commitment of the fraternity to the “Return to Glory” campaign and the academic and chapter progress that had been documented over the past 3 years. I was also impressed with the desire expressed by the actives to work with national headquarters to discuss and resolve their differences regarding the fraternity dry house policy. In fall, ’07 I again attended the stockholders meeting and this time was impressed by the large number of PA Theta alums in attendance. It was clear the success of the Return to Glory campaign was energizing PA Theta’s alumni base. Why would GHQ choose to ignore the work of a member fraternity with a successful campaign that should be a blueprint for all Phi Delt chapters? At the time, I had no expectation of writing this letter as it was clear to me that the brothers’ commitment to success and their executive board backbone would be well received by anyone that took the time to review the organization. Both expressed a desire to work with GHQ on an exemption policy; however it was cautioned that GHQ was unapproachable on the subject of the dry housing policy. It’s very clear that your agenda doesn’t include working with your member organizations to resolve differences or do you operate under separate agenda’s one for legacy chapters and one for re-colonized chapters? Gentlemen, you need to understand something. My goal is to provide my son the best education possible in the safest possible environment. Recommending that students partake in alcoholic beverages at appropriate places in order to avoid the dry house policy is a recipe for disaster. In today’s world, why would you encourage anything offsite that potentially creates situations of DUI and fatal accidents. I’ve reviewed your letter dated February 27th sent by GHQ threatening separation of membership for violation of the Bond, Constitution and General Statuses of the Fraternity and conduct unworthy of a member. For an organization with an anti-hazing policy this represents hazing at its best with required responses again tied to an upcoming school break. Is your unstated goal to eliminate the PA. Theta and every voting member before the general convention? I can assure you that debonding of any members of PA Theta will be taken very seriously the alumni of PA Theta and myself. PA Theta will have a voice at the national convention with or without your consent. I request that your immediately restore the chapter charter. Have an open forum at the national convention to discuss stringent exemption policies to the dry housing policy. Return the funds from the unused portion of the canceled insurance premium. I trust you’ll respond in detail to the requests for information and questions I’ve ask in this correspondence. Thank you for your time. Yours in the Bond, |
