The University of Colorado today condemned the actions that led the arrest of nine fraternity pledges on Sunday.
“It’s an outrageous breach of student conduct on the part of these individuals,” said CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard.
The nine were arrested after police found them in a Super 8 Motel suite in Estes Park that had been heavily damaged, with blood and vomit throughout, shattered mirrors, holes in the walls and ceiling, and the heater and TV ripped out of their stands.
The pledges face criminal-mischief and underage-drinking charges.
“Most of our fraternities and sororities play by the rules, and conduct themselves with honor and decency,” said Hilliard. “It was an outrageous, stupid, senseless, thoughtless act.”
“We’ve had this situation before. We’ve had national chapters suspend their local chapters. That’s happened six times since 2002,” Hilliard said.
In each case, he believes, the CU chapters were eventually permanently shuttered.
The Delta Chi International Fraternity suspended the CU chapter indefinitely after the arrests. The suspension means all chapter operations in Boulder have been shut down.
Today, Delta Chi leadership announced the organization is conducting its own interviews and awaiting the outcome of the criminal case against the pledges.
Police found “an extreme amount of damage” in the rooms when they arrived early Sunday morning, responding to complaints about a loud party.
Detective Rick Life of the Estes Park police said the two-room suite was being used for the pledges to “get to know” each other. They’d been dropped off Saturday by veteran members of Delta Chi.
All those arrested were under 21. The Larimer County Sheriff’s office identified them as Britt Cherster, Andrew Sapiro, William Martin, Anthony Cronin, Kyle Jungels, Matthew Bowen, Kyle Maltz, Nicholas Mortimer and Lucas Feyh.
“Delta Chi believes very strongly in providing a quality fraternity experience for young men,” Delta Chi executive director Ray Galbreth said today in a statement.
“Delta Chi does not condone nor tolerate activities inconsistent with the values of strong moral character, leadership, educational excellence and civic responsibility.”
CU’s Hilliard says that Delta Chi is not an officially recognized student organization and has refused to sign a code of conduct that governs other Greek sororities and fraternities.
“Most of our fraternities and sororities play by the rules and conduct themselves with honor and decency,” he said. “When they don’t, when the individuals act in this way, it casts aspersions on our entire Greek system, on our entire student body and on our university. I think the sanctions that Delta Chi are taking in the short run are absolutely appropriate.”
Hilliard said the university wants to work with each of the dozen or so fraternities that has declined to sign the Registered Fraternal Order Code, which stipulates the group agrees to a ban on hazing, waits until spring to rush new members and has a live-in adult supervisor in the chapter house. He said the measures were attempts to secure the safety of students in Greek organizations.
“We want to bring them to the table. We want to bring them into the CU family to join their Greek brothers and sisters who have already signed and are making responsible, mature decisions.”
Hilliard said those involved could face consequences at the university level, as well as the legal and fraternal, based on the student disciplinary code.
