DKEs voted 26-0 out of IFC

A unanimous decision Wednesday night by the Interfraternity Council (IFC) has revoked the membership of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity from the group.

The decision, made by the presidents of the 26 fraternities in the IFC, has not yet evoked any major response from the fraternity. The UW stopped recognizing the house in 1998 as a response to hazing allegations and the January 1998 suicide of member John DaLuca.

"Our job was not to decide if hazing caused DaLuca's suicide -- just if [hazing] occurred," said Rob Keating, president of the UW IFC. He added there has been "no real change" in the fraternity.

However, members of the DKE house do not see the decision the same way. On the national level, the decision is being called "not very productive."

"These things always seem to happen at the end of the year," said David Easlick, executive director of DKE International. "It affects 40-50 kids that had nothing to do with a violation of policy."

Besides the removal from the IFC, the council is writing to the nation's chapter asking that it revoke its support of the UW chapter. A letter was being prepared as of press time.

The violation of policy -- which stripped DKE of its UW recognition -- was hazing practices, which came to light about two years after the 1998 suicide. A wrongful-death suit is still pending between DaLuca's family and the fraternity, which has forced members to keep quiet.

As reported in The Seattle Times in June 2000, the initiation process at the DKE fraternity consisted of force-feeding unhealthy foods, mind games and heavy drinking.

As a result of the DKE hazing process, the UW's Office of Student Affairs withdrew its recognition. Recognition of a fraternity or sorority allows the house to use University facilities and University-student lists, and makes student services available to the houses.

Ernest Morris, the vice president of student affairs, said he "supports the decision wholeheartedly."

"We make it clear at every opportunity to prospective students and their parents that [the DKE fraternity] is not recognized and not recommended," Morris said.

The biggest consequence of not being recognized by the UW, according to Morris, is that students look at recommendations when seeking to join a house. In a sense, UW recognition "is a seal of approval of sorts," Morris said.

The decision by the IFC will have consequences similar to the UW's.

According to Keating, Wednesday night's decision means the fraternity will not be able to participate in IFC-sponsored events, such as Naughty by Nature's concert, which was part of this year's Greek Week. Also, DKE will not have access to the IFC rush list, which provides a large number of the fraternity's recruits. Most importantly, however, the fraternity will not be able to hold any events with other fraternities or sororities.

"We're trying to ostracize them further, so that they are autonomous from the system," said Keating.

The decision last night, in addition to removing the house from the IFC, keeps it off. However, there are ways to regain recognition, which Keating guesses may take between 15 and 20 years.

"They've got a lot of work to do before they're anywhere close to being admitted," Keating said.

One issue that came up during the deliberations Wednesday night was the previous expulsion and reinstatement of the Theta Xi fraternity. In 1990, the fraternity was caught using sheep in hazing activities. It was expelled from the IFC in 1991, but reinstated in 1997 after major changes were made.

For the DKE fraternity to rejoin the IFC, Keating said, it would take the national office pulling the house's charter, removing the current membership and starting over. Notably, the last DKE brothers who were in the house during 1998 will graduate this June.

When Keating became the IFC president at the beginning of winter quarter, he hoped to give the Greek system more leadership to combat the negative stigmas sometimes surround the system. Particularly, Keating promised things like hazing will be dealt with strongly.

"This is one more step to eliminate hazing," Keating said. "It's a big step in the right direction."