Lambda Chi: It’s Official Again
April 27, 2009 • By Katie Hibson, Contributing Writer
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HARRISONBURG, Va. — What started as a regular weekend party ended with the revocation of a fraternity’s 15-year-old charter.
Twelve years later, Lambda Chi Alpha finally got its charter back on Friday night with a formal banquet at Clementine Café.
A charter is the official acknowledgment of a Greek sorority or fraternity by JMU and all other Greek organizations. The charter allows fraternities and sororities to officially recruit members, participate in Greek activities, receive funding from the university and be covered by university insurance.
The charter was given in the spring of 2008, but it took until the spring of 2009 to formally organize a banquet. The fraternity had needed Lambda Chi alumni and the JMU Greek Life coordinators to be present.
“It’s just the final piece of paper that makes you feel like you’re part of an official organization,” Lambda Chi President Ben Moore said.
Lambda Chi’s journey to reclaim its charter began in 1997 when an assistant Greek coordinator (AGC) visited a Lambda Chi party, deemed the party unsafe and shut it down.
Assistant Greek coordinators are responsible, among other duties, for monitoring the safety of registered Greek social functions. They often visit registered events to ensure all policies and procedures are being followed in accordance with JMU, the InterFraternity Council (IFC), Panhellenic Association (PA) and JMU’s office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. When they find problems with an event, they report the incident to Fraternity and Sorority Life.
“We don’t have details about what really happened. We just know the party was shut down,” Moore said. “Several of the brothers didn’t take that too well, and the situation escalated.”
The Breeze reported in 1997 that the fraternity was reported for 15 violations of charter guidelines. These included serving alcohol to minors, buying alcohol in bulk and hosting open parties without guest lists. The national chapter prohibited buying alcohol in bulk (such as kegs, which were then allowed on campus by JMU policy) and required guest lists for safety reasons. The fraternity also violated risk management policies.
The suspension began in July 1997 and was to be in effect for three years. During that time though, members were still part of the fraternity and were considered alumni in good standing; they could wear their letters but couldn’t do anything under the group’s name. The fraternity was also removed from Greek Row.
The chapter went underground for a few years following the confiscation of the charter, and although it secretly maintained itself as a fraternity, the brothers were barred from participating in typical Greek activities and were not covered by insurance.
In 2005, the underground fraternity began the process of trying to get its charter back. The first step was to become a colony, which is a fraternity in the process of trying to achieve a charter. The colony status gave the fraternity the rights of any other Greek organization, except without the official charter document; they were allowed to actively recruit, participate in Greek activities and were informally recognized by the university.
“Once we were colonized, everything was similar to when we had a charter,” Moore said. “We were allowed to initiate members and to hold rush events on campus for potential new members.
“But it was always on our minds, even when we were planning the little events, that we were working towards getting our charter.”
Contact Katie Hibson at hibsonks@jmu.edu
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“The Breeze reported in 1997 that the fraternity was reported for 15 violations of charter guidelines. These included serving alcohol to minors, buying alcohol in bulk and hosting open parties without guest lists. The national chapter prohibited buying alcohol in bulk (such as kegs, which were then allowed on campus by JMU policy) and required guest lists for safety reasons. The fraternity also violated risk management policies.”
Hell if that’s all it takes, HPD and JMU Police could get every fraternity here thrown out this weekend.
Rumor has that if that after this party was shut down (which happens fairly regularly) one of the brothers dumped a beer on the AGC’s head. And apparently there had been numerous infractions before this particular incident.
If the rumor is true I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s knuckleheads that do such things who ruin a lot of fun for the rest of us. If you can’t compose yourself after a few hours of drinking then you should just drink alone.
Drink by yourself? How about don’t drink at all?
Congratulations on getting your charter back!
Forget those things that are behind…
Congrats bros.
Congrats on the chartering! Times may get tough, but things come back around. Once a brother, always a brother.
Actually, kegs were banned at JMU around 1994, not 1997
Actually, kegs were banned in 1997. I was there. We celebrated the last night of kegs on campus before the switch was made to cases.
JMU ALUM 2001 thats not true. I was at JMU from 94-98 and kegs were allowed and used. I was also in a Fraternity so I know what i am talking about. In fact we had kegs at our 98 days till graduation party at PC Ballroom my Sr. year. No way the school would have allowed us to have that party which they basicly sanctioned and allowed us to have kegs if they were not allowed. In fact when I was there we were like one of only a handful of schools in the US who allowed kegs on campus. It was a fun time to be in college.