ASU ‘permanently revokes’ TKE frat chapter
Jan 23, 2014, 7:33 PM | Updated: 7:59 pm
Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), the fraternity responsible for hosting a racially-insensitive party to “commemorate” Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, has had its chapter at Arizona State University “permanently revoked.”
The university contacted the headquarters of TKE and notified them on Thursday that the fraternity will no longer have a chapter at the school.
Revoking recognition means the 65-year-old local chapter is no longer
affiliated with ASU, the group won’t be listed on the university’s website and
it cannot recruit members or hold on-campus meetings.
Alex Baker, a spokesman for the national fraternity organization, said Tau
Kappa Epsilon has received the university’s findings and planned to release the
results of its own investigation shortly.
Baker previously said the group does not condone racist or discriminatory
behavior.
ASU officials continue to “investigate the actions of individual fraternity members and other students who may have attended the party under the ASU Student Code of Conduct,” according to a press release.
ASU President Dr. Michael M. Crow said one of the school’s “essential responsibilities” is to teach and nurture integrity among its young adults.
Students who violate the ASU Code of Conduct “will be subject to disciplinary sanctions in order to promote their own personal development, to protect the university community, and to maintain order and stability on our campuses.”
Prior to the incident, the TKE fraternity was already on social probation from 2012 and was not allowed to host “sanctioned university” events on the premises. The party in question, held Jan. 19, was an unregistered, off-campus event and involved partygoers “dressing like black people” and drinking from hollowed-out watermelons.
The Rev. Jarrett Maupin, an Arizona civil rights activist, said the party
antics were outrageous and offensive. He called for the school to expel all
students involved and permanently ban the fraternity from affiliation with ASU.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
