Fraternity to return January 2014, earlier than expected
Alpha Tau Omega fraternity headquarters will revoke the charter of its USC chapter for a year starting in January 2013, the fraternity’s national chief executive said.
In an agreement between the university and the fraternity’s national headquarters, the chapter will return to campus in January 2014, cutting its absence from campus in half, said Wynn Smiley, the national fraternity’s chief executive officer.
“The original hearing decision was a four-year suspension, and it’s now one year, but, given the fact that this process has taken a year, it will be two years total,” Smiley said.
The chapter was closed until 2016 by USC last spring due to drug charges and has not been recognized as an on-campus student organization since March. Police searched the chapter’s Greek Village house in December last year, and two members were charged with possession of marijuana. The fraternity was also one of seven placed on probation in 2011 for violating alcohol policies during rush.
Previously, the chapter was still recognized by its national headquarters, and the chapter has remained active.
“Over the past year, we had our charter and we were told by our national officers that we were a chapter in the eyes of nationals, and we acted accordingly,” said third-year business student Brett Bowman, the chapter’s president.
Bowman said the chapter would begin a recolonizing process upon its return to campus. It will then be recognized again by both its national headquarters and the university.
“I think it’s clear that we all want a strong ATO chapter on the campus, and the men who currently make up the ATO chapter have acted very well since this whole process started,” Smiley said. “Under very difficult circumstances, they have acted exemplary. We also wanted to be able to return an ATO experience to these men prior to graduating.”
With the new timeline, current members of the fraternity who graduate in 2014 or later will still be on campus when the chapter returns. The composition of the chapter, however, may not remain the same come 2014, as the national fraternity will conduct a “redevelopment process” and interview students who want to join.
“We’ll also be recruiting lots of new members who want a very positive experience,” Smiley said. “Our goal is that every member of the ATO chapter will be a positive community member and a positive citizen.”
Upon its return, the chapter is not set to be subject to any type of probation, Smiley said. Instead, they’ll be given a fresh chance back on campus.
“The ultimate probation is that they’re gone; there is no chapter at the University of South Carolina right now,” he said. “It would be like putting someone in prison and have them getting out and saying ‘Oh, well, we still don’t trust you, so we’re going to put you back in prison.’”