CSUF Moves to Ban Fraternity for Two Years

Cal State Fullerton, spurred by renewed charges from neighbors and city officials about out-of-control fraternities, moved Monday to throw one of its most notorious brotherhoods off campus for at least two years after a recent partying spree.

It was the strongest sanction the university has ever sought against one of its fraternities during years of tense relations, officials said.

CSUF President Jewel Plummer Cobb said she was “appalled” by reports that about 400 party-goers broke into a near-riot at a recent rush-week gathering on fraternity row--screaming, urinating in public, drinking heavily and eventually pelting police with eggs and yelling obscenities at them.

The Sept. 1 incident at the Tau Kappa Epsilon house--a storm in a period of relative calm among the campus’s 20 Greek houses--prompted Fullerton officials to complain about the school’s attention to the problem.

“If riotous beer-swilling parties, unkempt property, police officer goading and patent contempt for the neighbors are the essence of fraternity life, then why does the university have any interest in their encouragement?” City Manager William C. Winter asked in a letter late last week to Cobb.

Winter, requesting that the university respond quickly and decisively to what he called the “riot” of two weeks ago, said, “We sincerely hope that this is not a forerunner of things to expect for the 1989-90 school year.”

Cobb reacted swiftly, directing a university vice president to oversee the matter and promising the full suspension of Tau Kappa Epsilon for at least two years. Just four days before the party, the fraternity had been cited as a “public nuisance” by a judge ruling on a separate court case.

The proposed suspension, still to be reviewed by the university’s Greek system, is the strongest sanction ever sought against a CSUF fraternity, Cobb said in an interview.

And Charles Buck, acting vice president for student services, said he understood from discussions with Tau Kappa Epsilon’s national representatives that the organization was considering revoking the fraternity’s local chapter.

The local fraternity’s president could not be reached for comment. And members questioned at the house refused to discuss the developments, citing the “bad press” they have received in the past.

Officers Criticized

But members of neighboring fraternities said that police and city officials had overblown reports of the party. They criticized the 21 police officers on the scene for their handling of the episode.

“The party got pretty big, but I think (reports of a riot) are an exaggeration,” said Sigma Pi fraternity member Craig Gougis. “If anything, the cops really mishandled the situation, roughing people around and coming in (to the Sigma Pi house, across the street from the party) and throwing people out.”

The problems apparently started, according to police and city officials, when a widely publicized party being put on at a nearby park by Tau Kappa Epsilon was canceled at the last minute.

University officials said that the fraternity, in putting out flyers and placing local radio announcements about the party, misled them about the scope and intention of the party. The event was canceled at the last minute, apparently by the park owner after finding out about the party.

Several thousand people who had shown up for the canceled party and tried to park at a university lot were turned away by university officials, but an estimated 300 to 400 apparently decided to stay around the area and party at Tau Kappa Epsilon.

“It got pretty wild,” said Tammi Fernow, who lives across the street from the fraternity. “They had the ends of the street blocked off with sofas and were partying out there.”

Eggs, Obscenities

Police, responding to neighbors’ complaints of blasting stereos, screaming and speeding cars, arrived at the scene and tried to clear the area. They were greeted by tossed eggs and obscenities from some on the scene, police said.

Fullerton Police Lt. Al Burks said police normally would have given the party-goers at least two warnings about excessive noise and other problems, but “in this case, it was such a large group of people that we dispersed everyone immediately.”

Burks said the incident may not have been reported to local media because of the late hour and the lack of any violence. No one was reported injured, but police did cite seven unidentified people for a variety of liquor law violations.

Acting Vice President Buck said that although the fraternity has been a problem for the university in past years, the most recent party alone merited the strong sanction against it.

“They really tried to manipulate and deceive the university, even though they knew they were breaking all sorts of rules--that was more than enough,” Buck said.

On Aug. 28, just four days before the party, Tau Kappa Epsilon lost a court bid to overturn as unconstitutional a city regulation that requires fraternities to submit to a permit review process for their houses.

‘Public Nuisance’

Superior Court Judge Betty Lou Lamoreaux, citing Tau Kappa Epsilon, Sigma Pi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon as “a public nuisance” for their repeated partying and disruptions to the area, ordered the three houses to apply to the city for use permits.

Attorney Ron Talmo, representing the houses, said that the ruling would not be appealed and that Tau Kappa Epsilon had planned to go through the review process. But he could not comment on the Sept. 1 incident or what effect it might have on those plans.

The controversy over the party comes at a time when university officials and Greek system representatives alike say that relations between the two sides have been improving after years of tension.

“It’s too bad,” said Sigma Pi fraternity member Rich Lacoy. “We keep trying to show people the good that the fraternities are doing, but then we get bad publicity over stuff like this.”

Buck added: “Many of us in the university are disappointed that this had to happen. A lot of people already assume that every fraternity or sorority is an animal house, and this certainly doesn’t help that image.”

FRATERNITY POLICE CALLS

Between Jan. 1, 1986, and Jan. 1, 1989, Fullerton police filed reports on 147 incidents involving six fraternities in the Teri Place-Milton Avenue area, where most of Cal State Fullerton’s fraternities are situated.

About 85% of the reports were for noise or alcohol-related misconduct, such as disturbance of the peace, public drunkenness, sale of alcohol to a minor or underage drinking. The remaining 15% included reports of offenses such as simple assault, petty theft, burglary and aggravated assault.

The figures do not account for incidents in which an officer was dispatched to the fraternity but filed no report.

The house-by-house breakdown for the three-year period ending Jan. 1, 1989, was:

Fraternity Calls Sigma Pi 41 Sigma Alpha Epsilon 40 Tau Kappa Epsilon 28 Delta Sigma Phi 17 Lambda Chi Alpha 16 Delta Chi 5

Source: Ted Commerdinger, associate planner for the city of Fullerton