Lambda Chi loses members

The house sat quietly with its main door propped open. The atmosphere was somber. Moving day had come, but no goodbye celebrations full of hope and promise were taking place.

Up the stairs to the right, down the winding hallway lined with boxes and bare walls, sophomore Jack Haake's room is decorated with two beds and a coffee table between them. In the corner beside a stack of LSAT prep books is the Band of Brothers DVD set.

Dr. Pepper cans litter the flat surfaces, and a sombrero hangs on one bed.

Haake is wearing his LXA letters, even though he's not supposed to as a former member in bad standing.

"I'm not going to leave until they do [put an eviction notice on my door]," Haake said. "I'm not going to leave because an alumni said I had to. The school owns the house—the school didn't kick me out. Texas State Law says you have 90 days to be evicted. And neither the national fraternity or the school is above the law."

Haake is sitting next to another sophomore, Hayden Blair. Both students were expelled last weekend from the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity because of charges THAT they say are a lie.

"We don't deserve this," Haake said.

SMU's Lambda Chi Alpha chapter saw 36 members expelled last Sunday after conducting a membership review the previous Saturday.

Forty-seven members saw all charges against them dropped and were returned to good standing within the organization. Several members, who were not expelled, as well as alumni, have resigned their membership from the fraternity. The Daily Campus could not find any official total concerning those who have resigned because the number keeps growing as each day passes.

According to John Holloway, director of chapter services of the international headquarters for Lambda Chi, the membership review came after a "thorough and sophisticated assessment" from which chapter alumni and international headquarters "corroborated reports of hazing, drug use in the chapter house and risky behaviors with little to no consequence at any level within the organization."

"None of us saw any of this coming," sophomore William Crouse said.

Crouse resigned from LXA after the membership review did not expel him. He had been the social chair.

Members were notified of their expulsions by letters dropped off at Hughes-Trigg. Many members' mothers were in attendance because it was Mothers' Weekend for the fraternity.

"The room went pandemonium," Haake said. "Some people were crying, people were screaming, moms were yelling—moms didn't know what was going on, moms still don't understand, we still don't understand."

Expelled members lost their standing in the organization and cannot live in the LXA house, wear insignia with the LXA letters or represent themselves as members of LXA.

Expelled members will be given pro-rated refunds for dues, housing and meals.

Those who lived in the house, both expelled and resigned, were given hotel accommodations paid for by LXA for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night. After Tuesday, Alumni Control Board member and SMU alumnus ('05) Andrew Baker said the fraternity does not have an obligation for housing those members. Campus housing is being made available by SMU.

Thirty-one brothers lived in the house before the membership review, and all but eight have been expelled or have resigned.

"I'd rather take the charter from the ritual room downstairs, walk it across the street and give it to SAE than have 20 kids carry on what used to be our name," Haake said. "A fraternity of 20 men can't compete."

Among those expelled included all but three of the fraternity officers. Four freshmen that had only been full members for a week and a half were also expelled. They had been associate members for eight weeks.

"They paid [pledge dues] to have a miserable f**king existence," Haake said.

"Lambda Chi Alpha International Fraternity intends to further grow and develop a collaborative relationship with the SMU campus community and administration by ensuring our chapter provides a quality co-curricular experience where every man is treated with equality and respect," Holloway wrote in an e-mail. "We recognize that it is unfortunate for some that such an action was needed to identify individuals who exemplify our core values and traditions."

Members each sat for a 15-minute interview with alumni during the membership review.

SMU did not play a role in these proceedings and had no role in expelling members.

Holloway said the interviews "seek to establish better understanding in regards to chapter operations and the fitness of each individual in the restructuring and refocusing of the chapter."

LXA had been placed on probation for risk management violations by the international headquarters in January 2009. According to Holloway, the chapter was making "little progress" on completing the probation terms and additionally, "they had two more risk management incidents which violated state and local laws, General Fraternity laws and the policy of SMU."

The chapter then asked, in October, to be allowed to impose a self-governing plan that would correct their behaviors to the brotherhood's core values. However, Holloway wrote that the chapter "provided zero evidence" that they were following this plan, even after repeated promises to the contrary.

"In late February there were some efforts beginning to be reported, but the local alumni had reason to believe that there was still questionable behavior going on," Holloway wrote.

"Issues continued to arise and more focus on social enjoyment rather than responsible adherence to the standards of the brotherhood."

Blair and Haake denied that the fraternity had engaged in rampant drug use and hazing.

They said interviews were taken out of context and misconstrued. They also said the LXA headquarters had failed to tell them exactly why they were being kicked out.