11/14/01

DELTA SIGMA PHI FRATERNITY CHAPTER REMOVED FROM AUBURN CAMPUS

AUBURN -- Auburn University on Wednesday withdrew its recognition of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.

Meanwhile, the organization's national board of directors voted to close its AU chapter.

The chapter's closure comes as the result of a controversy surrounding photographs taken at an Oct. 27 Halloween party.

"Hopefully, as a result of both our actions and those taken by the national fraternities, the students involved will realize that they will be held accountable for their actions and that Auburn University is not the place for the insensitive, hurtful attitudes that belie this entire episode," said AU Interim President William F. Walker.

John Boma, national president of Delta Sigma Phi, called the actions of AU's chapter of the fraternity "intolerable."

"We felt that anything less would not do justice to the many, many people who were hurt and offended by the actions of the members of our Auburn chapter," said Boma. "The actions of these men were intolerable and we felt that decisive action needed to be taken in this situation."

The actions by Delta Sigma Phi and Auburn were taken after photographs with racist overtones surfaced on a local photographer's Internet website. The photographs were taken at Halloween parties at both Auburn's Delta Sigma Phi and Beta Theta Pi fraternity houses.

On Monday, AU withdrew recognition of the local Beta Theta Pi chapter as well.

Walker added that Auburn is still reviewing actions against the individuals involved in the two Halloween incidents.

"We have been gathering evidence and weighing our options for discipline of the individuals for several days now," Walker said. "We want to make sure that those responsible are held accountable. Then, we hope to move on to the greater task at hand -- attacking, through whatever effective means we can, the attitudes that result in these types of overt displays of intolerance."

Walker cited Wednesday's Tolerance.org seminar on the Auburn campus -- "Education & Tolerance At Home" -- as one of the first steps toward creating a more tolerant atmosphere at AU.

The seminar was organized by the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center at the request of Walker.

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