The sun shone on underground pledging at the end of the spring semester resulting in the suspension of two fraternities.
According to Chris Cameron, director of the Office of Co-Curricular Programs, both the Beggars and Alpha Delta Gamma fraternities have been suspended from campus for the fall semester.
The Beggars and ADG will start serving their one-semester suspension in August for having “dirty” pledge classes.
“Suspension of charter means that the organization has no legal basis for operating on campus or at off-campus university-sponsored events, for recruiting members, or for promoting the organization, its identity, or its activities, ” said Cameron.
“I view the suspension as a fortunate chance to correct some internal issues and that in the end, this brief time off will only solidify our presence here as a fraternity. We’ll be back soon, much improved,” said Beggars president Matt Nolan, jazz studies junior.
Outgoing ADG president, Matt Baughman, visual arts senior, said Tom Kupferer, then assistant director of Co-Curricular Programs, reported six underground pledges wearing their jerseys on campus, which prompted the suspension.
The fraternity was emailed and told they were suspended for one semester.
“It’s not clear what’s going to happen with us, but I’m sure we’ll be on some sort of probation,” Baughman said.
The office of Co-Curricular Programs’ official statement to The Maroon stated that “separate judicial hearings were conducted with the Beggars fraternity and Alpha Delta Gamma fraternity wherein each group was charged with violating the Recruitment Administration and Eligibility policy as stated in the Interfraternity Council constitution.”
The hearing boards placed both chapters on disciplinary suspension through December 31, 2009, said Cameron.
“We want to show that we want to get things done to help others so we’ll be doing a lot of community service and things for the school,” Baughman said.
This is not the first time ADG has been suspended from Loyola’s campus. In 2005, the fraternity was removed from Loyola because a freshman was drinking at an ADG party.
“More than half of these so called dirty pledges that we initiated brought their grades up to the qualifying level, which I believe is a 2.0,” he said. “We have study hours so the fraternity helped them bring their grades up to where they had to be in order to be a part of the fraternity.”
While the school will not recognize the students with low GPAs, the national fraternity did, so the students will still be a part of the national organization, according to Baughman.
Cameron said that “chapter leadership worked cooperatively and in a spirit of good faith to resolve this matter.”
“The office of Co-Curricular Programs looks forward to working with the chapters to complete the required sanctions and assisting the groups in becoming stronger organizations,” he said.
Bob Thomas, the Beggars fraternity adviser, said that following the hearing, the fraternity offered to sponsor a workshop educating fraternities about the harm underground pledging can cause.
“Even good drivers are caught speeding once in a while,” said Nolan.
Eduardo Gonzalez can be reached at [email protected].
