I am a proud Chi Phi Fraternity brother. I pledged in the fall of 2004, my first semester, basing my decision off of visiting numerous other fraternities’ rush events as well as the word of mouth of older students. Never once have I regretted this decision, and I have in turn given my heart and soul to Chi Phi; since my initiation, I have held a position every semester, including those of secretary and social chair.

I have held bottled-up emotions and questions regarding how we have been treated by the UNCW campus since we were kicked off in the spring of 2005, and I have heard many nasty rumors surrounding the incident. I would like to voice my opinion and clear up what happened to us nearly two years ago.

While I was still in high school, Chi Phi threw a party at our fraternity house on freshman move-in day; I believe it was 2001. Due to several alcohol violations that occurred during the event, the university forced our president at the time to sign a document that made the fraternity house a completely dry house: No alcohol was to be permitted on its premises. How you can tell a rent-paying twenty-one year old that he can’t drink in a house owned by a private realty agency is beyond me.

It’s a fraternity house. Thirteen young men live in close quarters. There is going to be alcohol from time to time, even though we did abide by the document well enough to not throw any parties during this period. Between the time when the document went into effect and when we were kicked off campus, there were a few minor alcohol-related violations, but nothing major.

Because we have an official fraternity house with letters above the door, it is okay for us to be a target? Nearly every single other fraternity has an unofficial house they throw parties at weekly and are not penalized at all. Our letters are outside, theirs are hung inside, but we are punished for alcohol in our house, and they are not.

Near the end of the 2005 spring semester, Chi Phi was charged with anonymous allegations of hazing. After an investigation that spanned a few weeks, both by UNCW and Chi Phi’s national office, the allegations were dropped. However, during the investigation, it was found that there had been alcohol in the house once again. The university immediately suspended us, and we were told we could reapply in a year, before the fall of 2006. There was no formal jury. We were never allowed to present our case. IFC fraternities never got to vote on our behalf. One day we just received a letter that said we were no longer recognized by UNCW. Our national office did not agree with UNCW’s decision and continued to support us as a chapter of Chi Phi.

I and 55 brothers were devastated. We could no longer associate with other Greek organizations, including sororities, and were banned from participating in anything on campus. We served our year suspension, continued doing recruitment, philanthropy, community service, grab-a-dates, semi-formals, formals and anything else we were still allowed. Our numbers didn’t suffer that much, despite not being able to advertise on campus or have mixers with sororities.

This past summer when we went to reapply, we were met with several problems. Just as there was no formal protocol that went on during our initial suspension, there was no formal protocol for our readmission. We didn’t know where to start. We scheduled meetings and wrote letters, many of which were ignored. We were told there was a vote held to decide whether we should be allowed back on, though none of us were invited, and were not allowed to present our case. We never, to my knowledge, received documentation stating the university’s decision and the basis behind it.

Chi Phi has established relationships with sororities, fraternities, philanthropies and the Wilmington community. Haunted Forest, an event that raised thousands of dollars for the Red Cross annually and was a staple of Halloween in Wilmington, hasn’t happened in two years because it’s too difficult to do without sorority support. Why continue to admit brand new fraternities, who don’t have established community-benefiting traditions, and not let us back on campus?

We have been, still are, and will continue to be a fraternity in Wilmington, N.C. We have a strong desire to once again be a positive part of the UNCW campus. I hope that our next application for readmission will be met with more encouragement. Either way, on- or off-campus, Chi Phi is here to stay.