The former KA house currently houses students who are waiting for resident hall assignments. (Tyler Williams/ The Daily Campus)

Their charter was removed early in the 2009 spring semester, and the 18 members living in the house were originally given five days to pack up and leave.

This date was later extended when the former members were not able to find housing in time. They were given the choice of moving off campus or taking whatever rooms or roommates were available.

The suspension for the SMU chapter for Kappa Alpha Order went into effect on Feb. 14, 2009 at 5 p.m.

Although The Dallas Morning News reported that they were suspended until the 2011-2012 academic year, a recent press release from Andrew Carr, associate director for chapter development, and Jesse Lyons, states the chapter will be re-colonized at SMU this semester. Carr was a KA at Texas State University, and Lyons was a KA at Western Carolina University.

The chapter is coming back to campus after their proposal to return early was accepted by SMU, according to Kristal Statler, director of fraternity and sorority life at SMU. This is the chapter’s second proposal, after SMU rejected the first one in Jan. 2010 .

Carr said KA was allowed to re-colonize its chapter a year early with full recognition from SMU after several months of negotiation between SMU administration and the Kappa Alpha Order National Administration Office.

KA had been on deferred suspension since Dec. 2008 and was not allowed to host or co-host a social event whether it was on or off campus.

When the fraternity then held an event off campus, allegedly having supplied alcohol to minors, they were suspended.

In order to avoid a repeat of the behavior that lost the Kappa Alpha charter, Lyons said a staff member of KA will live close by for most of the semester. Additionally, an alumni advisory committee and the staff member on campus will run a full educational program for new members on the history, values and basic operation of the chapter to help new members learn from the past.

Statler explained that SMU will help the chapter as it joins campus, just as it would with any new organization.

“We’re working closely with their headquarters and current membership on campus,” she said.

IFC President Mike Alberts is optimistic for KA’s SMU chapter to return.

“KA was a strong chapter while they were here, and they’re coming back strong,” he said. “I’m absolutly thrilled that they’re coming back.”

Both Carr and Lyons think recruitment will go well with the support of alumni. He said he has already spoken to 30 prospective members that are interested and hopes to fill at least 20 spots this fall.

Future plans involve recruiting a full class of underclassmen in the spring, and eventually, he said, their intent is to become fully chartered by the end of spring 2011 and move back into the original KA house. According to Statler, this will be possible if the chapter recruits enough members to fill the available spaces in the house.

The former KA house is where the body of Joseph Hunter Green was discovered in spring 2010.

The remaining former members of the chapter are seniors, who were just sophomores when the chapter was removed.