SAE Fraternity Suspended From Two Area Universities In Under Six Weeks

EVANSTON, IL — The Northwestern chapter of Sigma Alpha Episilon has been suspended until September 2018 for violating the terms of its probation and providing alcohol to minors, administrators announced last Friday. So far this year, the Evanston-based fraternity has been investigated for sexual assault and druggings and suspended from two local universities. It has until the end of the week to appeal Northwestern's decision and continues to appeal its suspension from Loyola University Chicago.

Before any of this year's allegations, SAE had already been placed on probation at Northwestern through the rest of the 2017 calendar year after an inquiry last year found disciplinary code violations. The school's decision to suspend the group and vacate its frat house until September 2018 resulted from an investigation into its violation of the terms of that probation.

"With blatant disregard for the terms of that probation, SAE planned and hosted social events with alcohol in January 2017," said Northwestern media relations director Bob Rowley. "The safety and well-being of Northwestern students is our first priority, and we will continue to enforce the University's disciplinary code to the greatest extent possible to ensure that."

In February, Northwestern administrators issued a community alert that up to four women had been reportedly drugged and assaulted during a January 21 event hosted by Sigma Alpha Epsilon. A few days later the university received another report of a woman sexually assaulted and possibly drugged at another fraternity that has not been publicly named.

Rowley said that report "was unclear about where the reported assault occurred, including whether it occurred on campus, and therefore, the fraternity was not named." He said the University opened the case into SAE's probation violation once it became aware of incidents that occurred in January.

Rowley said this suspension, determined at an April 7 hearing, was completely independent of the Title IX investigation into those reports that had been closed without further action, referring to a March 30 statement from vice president for student affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin.

Telles-Irvin's letter to students said administrators continued to probe "other potential violations of the Student Code of Conduct by the SAE chapter not related to sexual misconduct that were learned in the inquiry into these reports."

It said the investigation into a separate, Feb. 2 event was closed "after assessing all information and carefully considering the wishes of the person" who spoke to administrators.

Telles-Irvin also said the school was adding "additional outreach and training to fraternities and sororities" and hiring a new staff member to assist with Title IX outreach.

Rowley said no fraternity has been found responsible for sexual assault in the last 10 years. He said the last fraternity to be suspended was Delta Upsilon in 2013. While all previous suspensions were related to alcohol or probationary violations, Rowley said a number of student organizations are currently "under review for conduct violations."

Northwestern student government president Nehaarika Mulukutla said she and and vice president Rose Gambrah were committed to lobbying for increased support to "ensure that victims feel safe and validated on this campus and an increased commitment to reforming alcohol policy."

On March 15, Loyola University announced the suspension of its branch of SAE during an investigation into hazing. School officials said the frat created a disturbance to the East Rodgers park neighborhood with its disruptive and disorderly conduct.

Representatives of SAE's national branch declined to make anyone available to speak about the suspensions. Earlier this month, SAE's national spokesman Brandon Weghorst told the Daily Northwestern earlier this month the organization was conducting a separate investigation into its Northwestern chapter.

Read More:

• Northwestern Fraternity Sexual Assault Reports: Student Government Calls For SAE Suspension, Frat Council 'Suspends' Parties
• SAE Chapter Suspended At Loyola: Two local chapters shuttered in one month for Evanston-based frat.

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