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Dear Mu Deuteron Brother,
I am writing to inform you of recent action taken against the Mu Deuteron Chapter by
the International Fraternity.
On Monday, August 15, the Archons of the Fraternity voted to impose a temporary
suspension of the chapter operation pending consideration of further action by the
Fraternity’s Board of Conduct (disciplinary board) and the Archons.
The incident that triggered this action was an informal party at the house on Wednesday,
August 10, which involved nine brothers and eight female guests. Most if not all of the
brothers and guests, a number of whom were under 21, consumed alcohol. The party
violated the Fraternity’s Risk Management Policy and our requirement that chapter
houses be alcohol free.
At this point, some review of the recent history of the Chapter is in order. Since
December 2001, the Chapter has operated under a Graduate Trusteeship, in which a
group of graduate brothers are given authority to supervise the Chapter, discipline
members, and make many of the decisions normally left to the undergraduate members.
While working with the Chapter to improve its overall operation, the Graduate Trustees
focused particular attention on the use of alcohol to try to assure that the Chapter
followed the policies of the International Fraternity and the University as well as alcohol
ordinances in Iowa City.
In January 2004 the Board of Conduct issued a warning to the Chapter for multiple
incidents of the pooling of funds to purchase alcohol (violating our Risk Management
Policy).
In January 2005 the Board of Conduct met with chapter representatives, found that
other violations of the Risk Management Policy had occurred in fall 2004, and informed
the Chapter in writing that “Any further violations of the Risk Management Policy
between now and January 1, 2006, will result in a second strike and trial before the
Archons.”
The party on August 10 was the further violation of the Risk Management Policy. It was
all the more disturbing for the Graduate Trustees because last spring they had
withdrawn the chapter privileges of a number of members and felt that the remaining
brothers understood the importance of following the rules.
Given the persistent violations of policies and bylaws and the many efforts by graduate
brothers to change this direction, the Archons concluded that it is in the best interest of
Phi Gamma Delta to suspend the operation of the Chapter. Those graduate brothers
who have worked closely with the Chapter concurred with this action.
The Fraternity’s Board of Conduct has received a report on the August 10 incident and
has begun the process that will lead to a hearing before the Archons, with the indefinite
suspension of the charter a likely outcome.
If the charter is suspended indefinitely, that action will be taken with an eye to our future
at Iowa, a campus where Phi Gamma Delta can and should have a chapter of which we all
can be proud.
Fraternally,
Bill Martin
Executive Director
P.S. If you have email and want to stay in the loop on graduate developments from Iowa
City, send an email indicating that to the following address: iowafijis@mudugrads.com
Perge!
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