Beta nationals close campus chapter (Photo by John Schreiber, The Daily Campus )

Though the end of finals often signals a month of rest and relaxation for students, the end of this semester saw not only the closing of books but also that of one of SMU’s fraternities, Beta Theta Pi.

The national organization of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity closed SMU’s chapter on Dec. 10, 2005, the last day of finals, citing violations of its risk management policies and poor academic performance.

According to Judson Horras, director of national chapter services for Beta Theta Pi, the chapter violated the risk management policies for both the university and the fraternity.

There is not a definite date set for the fraternity to restart its chapter, but Horras said it would not happen for at least two years.

SMU Beta chapter president Jeff Sasser said the decision to close the chapter came after a culmination of events over the past five years.

Sasser said the final decision occurred after an incident in October when a student set off a fire alarm while smoking marijuana in the house.

According to an SMU Police report filed on Oct. 13, “Officers responded to a fire alarm at the Beta Theta Pi house. Six students and two non-affiliated people in one of the rooms were smoking marijuana, which caused a smoke detector to activate.”

Sasser said the chapter member who was responsible for the incident was expelled from the fraternity.

Sasser admitted the chapter had struggled but said members who had caused many of the problems already had graduated.”We were turning things around,” he said. “I feel really bad for the guys living in the house, because they have to find new places to live because of the actions of one person,”

Sasser expressed frustration with both the fraternity system and the Beta national office. “There are all these chapters [at SMU] getting multiple alcohol violations, and we have one slip-up and we’re shut down,” he said.

Although Horras refused to comment on any of specific details surrounding the chapter’s closure, he said the decision to close the house came from the counsel of local volunteers, Beta alumni and the Beta Board of Trustees.

Sasser said he had put together an advisory board with Beta alumni to help the chapter this semester before the house was shut down. Since the closure, he said he has talked to many alumni from the chapter, including his father, who was a member of the chapter, and disagrees with Horras’ claims that alumni wanted the chapter closed.

“That’s absolutely not true,” he said. “I don’t know one guy [Beta alumnus] who wanted us shut down.”

Sasser admitted he had not spoken to every Beta alumnus from SMU, but said he did speak to many who graduated in the 1970s and 1980s.

The SMU administration did not initiate the discussions to close the house, but Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Jim Caswell said SMU supported the decision.

“We were sad to see our Beta chapter go, but we respect and support Beta Nationals in their decision,” he said.

Caswell said the fraternity’s house would be closed during the spring semester, at which time repairs will be made. Most of the chapter members removed their belongings before the semester was over, but some students who went home before the chapter was notified of the closure will be allowed to retrieve their belongings with an escort.

The nine chapter members who resided in the house will have to find alternate housing for next semester, but Caswell said those members would certainly receive a place in a residence hall if they desired.

Caswell said the fraternity was in good standing with the university and did not have any outstanding debt. He said it was the national organization that contacted SMU about closing the chapter, but they worked closely with Ryan Williams, coordinator of Greek Activities and Student Affairs.

Williams said the chapter was shut down because the “fraternity felt they [SMU Beta chapter members] weren’t living up to their values.”

Williams worked with the national office to coordinate the manner in which the chapter would be shut down. He said both the national office and the university were sensitive to the needs of the involved students, particularly those students who resided in the house.

Sasser said he believes he and the other chapter members should have been notified sooner, so members who lived in the house would have had more time to find a new place to live before leaving for the break.

Williams said the announcement was not held until the last day of exams to prevent interference with the students’ exam schedules.

According to Williams, in the past three semesters, from the spring of 2004 to the spring of 2005, Beta has ranked ninth, sixth and seventh in grades among the 10 Interfraternity Council chapters on campus. The IFC rankings for the fall 2005 semester were not yet available. Williams added that while Beta has been on the lower half of the chapter rankings, the Beta house had raised its chapter GPA two out of the last three semesters.

While neither Horras nor Caswell would explain what aspects of the risk management policies were violated, both said that hazing, or allegations of hazing, had nothing to do with the decision.

Caswell said there are no final plans on what will be done with the house after it is repaired, but he said he would like to see it become an “IFC Leadership House,” where the members of the IFC Executive Board would live until Beta returns to campus.

Horras said that while the current members of the chapter have been expelled from the organization, the fraternity does plan to return to SMU.

“We’d like to have Beta come back to campus at an appropriate time,” Caswell said. He added that Beta would have “right of first refusal” to return to the house at a future date.

According to Horras, all of the students’ membership has been moved to “undergraduate alumni status.” Members of one fraternity cannot join other IFC chapters once they have been initiated. The chapter members do have the right to appeal the decision to first the fraternity’s Board of Trustees and then ultimately at its annual summer convention.

This was the second Beta chapter shutdown in 2005, according to Horras. The chapter at Kettering University in Flint, Mich. was also closed.

The last fraternity to be removed from SMU’s campus was Alpha Phi Alpha, which was kicked off campus in November 2003 after a hazing incident left a student hospitalized.