The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is temporarily suspended from the Gannon University campus after concluding a tour of destruction that Greeks haven’t seen since Alexander the Great.
The suspension comes after members of the fraternity vandalized the properties of Sigma Sigma Simga and Alpha Sigma Alpha and broke into the Alpha Phi Delta house over back-to-back weekends, according to Eric Pope, associate director of the Student Office of Leadership Development.
Tau Kappa Epsilon will remain inactive until after meeting with representatives from its national chapter scheduled for next week.
The first incident occurred Oct. 23 when members of TKE placed a toilet on the second-story overhang of the ASA house, a prank which Josh Angelotti, president of TKE, acknowledged. A shattered window accompanied the porcelain present; however, Angelotti denied any connection with it.
A week later, members of TKE broke into the APD house, according to Pope, and damaged Homecoming posters for APD and Tri-Sigma.
Pope said they later smashed Halloween pumpkins outside on both the Tri-Sigma and ASA stoops before spray painting the side of the ASA house and hanging banners promoting AGD and TKE for homecoming.
“They were running amok that night, basically,” Pope said. “We informed all the houses that they had the right to, and should, contact Police and Safety to file complaints.”
ASA, however, was the only organization to file one.
“It’s kind of ridiculous and we feel targeted,” said Erika Greco, a member of ASA. “We feel like it was a prank gone a little too far and the timing was terrible.”
TKE was instructed to reimburse both ASA and APD $75 each for damages and was docked 50 points from its float in the homecoming parade. Additional punishments for those involved are pending in the Office of Student Living.
The events come during a time when the national chapter was investigating TKE for what Angelotti refers to as hazing violations after having three potential members drop out of recruitment.
“Having three guys drop sent them a red flag,” Angelotti said. “But we’re actually making strides in the opposite direction. We definitely regret everything.”
But from the outside looking in, enough was enough.
“This was kind of like the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Pope said.
The suspension means that TKE is not allowed to have events on or off campus or social events and must suspend new member education. As far as intradisciplinary actions go, Angelotti said TKE handed down its own punishments, barring the culprits from certain events throughout the year.
Despite the punishments handed down, the events have left people affected, like Greco, wishing something more was done.
“We thought [the punishment] should have been a bit more,” she said. “I feel like they need to get in trouble with the law and Gannon.”
