UT Pi Kappa Phi chapter shut down for hazing allegations
Another fraternity has been forced to close its doors at the University of Tennessee.
Pi Kappa Phi’s registration was retracted and individual members could face criminal charges following a decision by the fraternity’s national office to close the UT chapter based on hazing and misconduct allegations.
Pi Kappa Phi was already under disciplinary probation this fall because of hazing that occurred earlier in the spring. UT Student Life and UT Police began an investigation after more accusations of hazing were made. They informed the fraternity’s national office about these allegations, prompting the closure of UT’s chapter.
UT Police received a report from a concerned parent claiming his son, a Pi Kappa Phi pledge, was being “physically and verbally attacked during fraternity activities,” according to a Notice of Charges document sent to the national office from UT’s Office of Student Judicial Affairs. The notice read that a photograph of a bleeding new member was provided and UT Officer Benjamin Doty confirmed that some new members were being injured from the hazing.
The investigation is still going on with the possibility of individual members facing charges.
Current Pi Kappa Phi members will be allowed to stay in the fraternity house until the end of this semester’s finals, but they must find another place to live for the remainder of the 2013-2014 school year.
The chapter cannot return to UT until the fall of 2017.
This is the second fraternity at UT to close its doors since 2012 when Pi Kappa Alpha was suspended on charges of underage alcohol consumption and misconduct. Pi Kappa Alpha cannot return until the spring of 2015.
More details to come as they develop.
Edited by Jennifer Brake
