Syracuse University suspended its chapter of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity after an SU conduct board found it violated the university’s Code of Student Conduct, an SU official said in a statement to The Daily Orange.

Rob Hradsky, SU’s senior associate vice president for the student experience and dean of students, said the university’s conduct board suspended ZBT for two years. He declined to comment further on the suspension because the conduct process is ongoing.

Libby Anderson, ZBT’s interim chief executive officer, said in an email Monday that the SU chapter is appealing the suspension.

“Right now, we are supporting our chapter leadership as they work on their appeal,” Anderson said. “All further information will be found in that appeal once it is completed.”

The nature of the conduct violation or violations is currently unclear. Matthew Wiener, ZBT’s president, did not respond to request for comment on this story Monday night.

SU put ZBT on disciplinary probation in 2018 after a video surfaced showing a fraternity member spitting into the open mouth of a person laying on the floor while other people talked, yelled and laughed in the background. The video was filmed in spring 2015, Hradsky said.

The university lifted the sanction related to the video in December.

In text messages to The D.O. in September 2018, Wiener said the fraternity was put on investigative status for a physical altercation before the beginning of the fall 2018 semester. During the investigation, ZBT was prohibited from hosting activities and recruiting new members.

SU has suspended or expelled the following Greek organizations since the beginning of the 2017-18 academic year:

• The Delta Tau Delta fraternity was suspended in fall 2017 for conduct violations that included hazing.
• The Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity was suspended in spring 2018 for behavior that threatened the safety of a person participating in its new member process.
• The Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity was suspended in spring 2018 after a months-long hazing investigation.
• The Theta Tau fraternity was permanently expelled in spring 2018 after videos surfaced showing people participating in behaviors Syverud has called “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.”
• The Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha sorority was banned from operating at SU in fall 2018, according to FASA. The nature of the conduct violations is currently unclear.

Four SU fraternities are currently under sanctions for violations of SU’s Code of Student Conduct:

• The Alpha Kappa Psi Business fraternity is currently on disciplinary probation through December 2019. The nature of the conduct violations is currently unclear.
• The Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity is currently under disciplinary probation through December 2019 for conduct violations related to hazing.
• The Phi Gamma Delta fraternity is under social probation through February 2019, and disciplinary probation through October 2019. The nature of the conduct violations is currently unclear.
• The Sigma Chi fraternity is under disciplinary probation through May 2019. The nature of the conduct violations is currently unclear.

Published on February 12, 2019 at 12:00 am

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18