The Delta Tau fraternity has been forced to cancel a scheduled event this weekend after being placed on a six-week probation this week by Greek Council. The council sanctioned the fraternity for failing to properly register a charity auction it held two weeks ago.
DTau members said they believe the probation is unfair.
Matt Kahn '10, DTau's treasurer, said the probation was in response to an unregistered event in Olney House on Sept. 19. The Date-a-Delt charity event auctioned off about 10 fraternity brothers to raise funds to aid victims of Hurricane Ike. Kahn said DTau chose to give the proceeds of more than $800 to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund through the Greater Houston Community Foundation in an effort to "give as directly to the people as we possibly can."
Greek Council Chair Adam Kroll '09 confirmed that the fraternity has been placed on probation for not registering the event.
Though Delta Tau was aware that any event bringing in over 100 people or selling alcohol must be registered, Kahn said the group held the event anyway to try to get money to the Gulf region as quickly as possible.
DTau brother Nicholas Jessee '11, who was manning the door that night, said an officer from the Department of Public Safety came by around 11 p.m. Jessee said he offered the officer a walk-through, but the officer declined, giving Jessee his card and telling him to call if there was a problem.
Kahn said the fraternity was surprised four days later, on Sept. 23, when it heard Greek Council would hold a hearing about the unregistered event.
DTau Vice President David Tagle '11 was one of three representatives present at the Sept. 30 hearing. Tagle said he and the two other representatives explained the incident before a board of six Greek Council members.
The board, made up of four members of the Greek Council's executive board and two Greek house presidents, then explained the grievance against the fraternity before making a decision in private and e-mailing the results to DTau's president.
Kahn said the council decided to place DTau on six weeks of probation retroactive from the date of the Sept. 19 event.
The probation forces the fraternity to cancel BlackOut II, a Class F party - the largest type sanctioned by the University. The party was scheduled for tonight.
Kahn said DTau had invested considerable funds in preparation for the party. For example, it had already paid for a disc jockey and applied for a one-night liquor license from the city of Providence.
"I just want to leave it at that we followed our internal review process and we're upholding our decision," Kroll said.
