Greek Life at The University of Missouri - Recent History

Recent History

1986
An out-of-control New Year's Eve party hosted by Alpha Tau Omega resulted in five arrests and more than $40,000 in damages when the raucous crowd spilled out of the Holiday Inn Riverfront into downtown St. Louis. A trail of broken glass and underwear led out of the hotel into the streets. Police Lt. Richard Swateck said that "it was disgusting," in reference to the event that was described as "worse than 'Animal House'"

1988
In the early hours of April 22 the Phi Delta Theta house caught fire and burned to the ground. Residents were forced to evacuate and move into dorms. The fire caused an estimated $700,000 in damage to the property. The house was rebuilt in the summer of 1988 and the members moved back in for the fall semester.

1989
At the annual Bid Day Bash street party in August, the first in a series of sexual assaults took place when a sophomore was raped as she returned home from the fraternity-sponsored event.

In October, the University suspended 28 "little sister" organizations following four alcohol-related, fraternity-associated sexual assaults during the first half of the fall semester. The action was followed by a new alcohol policy in December that restricted drinking to party guests who are at least 21 years old and prohibited the distribution of alcohol after 1:30 am.

1990
Sigma Kappa re-chartered on January 28, 1990. The sorority had originally chartered on campus with a small group in 1968, but without ever acquiring permanent housing, it closed soon after in 1973.

In August, the annual Bid Day Bash resulted in 7 arrests and 35 people were admitted to the hospital with injuries. The Greektown-wide party, sponsored by Phi Kappa Theta and sanctioned by the Inter-Fraternity Council, was an annual tradition to celebrate the selection of women by sororities. An estimated 10,000 people attended, despite Phi Kappa Theta's to refusal to supply liquor due to new restrictions imposed following alcohol-related problems the previous year. Many party-goers brought coolers full of beer and overwhelmed the 25 police officers assigned to the event. A local high school student sustained serious burns when he climbed to the top of a telephone pole and attempted to drink a can of beer while being pelted from below with bottles and cans full of beer. He fell into the crowd below after grabbing an electrical wire. When emergency crews attempted to reach the student, the front window of an ambulance were broken out and a police car's back window was broken by bottles and cans thrown from the crowd.

In September, Phi Kappa Theta and Alpha Tau Omega were placed on probation for their roles in the Bid Day Bash street party.

1991
In February, Phi Kappa Theta, which was already on probation following the fall Bid Day Bash, was suspended for four years following reports of sleep deprivation of pledges and other hazing activities at the fraternity house.

1993
At the close of the spring 1993 semester, Alpha Gamma Delta headquarters dissolved MU's Epsilon Alpha chapter after several years of unsuccessful recruitment. The sorority had struggled continuously in membership numbers since returning to campus in 1982. The former Alpha Gamma Delta House was purchased in 1993 by Alpha Kappa Lambda.

1994
Phi Kappa Theta returned to campus in the fall, following its three-year suspension. In addition, the Beta Tau chapter of Iota Phi Theta was chartered on April 17.

1995
Sigma Chi was placed on probation for the fall semester after tying a member naked to a light pole in the middle of campus and throwing garbage at him.

1996
National expansion representatives from Delta Sigma Phi began recruiting on campus in January in an effort to recolonize the chapter at MU, which lost its charter in 1994. Tau Kappa Epsilon leased the Delta Sigma Phi house while that fraternity was dissolved.

1997
Lambda Chi Alpha's charter was suspended, and the fraternity moved from its house at 503 Kentucky Ave.

Tau Kappa Epsilon turned over its charter to its headquarters.

Predominantly Jewish sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi closed its doors due to declining membership at the end of spring semester and Alpha Kappa Lambda purchased the house.

The new Alpha Tau Omega house was completed at 909 Richmond Ave., and it was touted as the first substance-free house at MU. The $2.5 million, 22,000 sq ft (2,000 m2), house included a state-of-the-art computer room, an underground parking garage, and six-person suites complete with common areas.

In October, a freshman Beta Theta Pi pledge was found drunk, naked, and injured outside Mark Twain Hall after a pledge event. This issue was the breaking point in a series of alcohol-related problems with Greek houses that forced campus officials and the Greek community to begin looking into a complete ban of alcohol from the Greek houses on campus. The policy to be implemented would become commonly known as "Dry2K".

Also in October, Alpha Tau Omega members were discovered to have dumped approximately three truckloads of garbage around the house of UM President Manuel Pacheco. The garbage consisted mostly of straw, plastic cups, broken beer bottles, smashed pumpkins, and a broken toilet bowl. The trash was found to be from the fraternity's "Cornjigger" party.

1998
Sigma Tau Gamma closed its chapter due to membership difficulties. At the time, the fraternity was located on Providence Rd. between the Alpha Phi and Pi Kappa Alpha houses.

The Beta Epsilon chapter of Pi Kappa Phi closed on August 22 following several semesters of warnings from its national headquarters regarding low recruitment numbers. Ownership of the Pi Kappa Phi house was immediately turned over to Boone County National Bank and Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity.

Since reaching a low point as the smallest sorority on campus in 1997, Alpha Phi found itself in the middle of a membership crisis. Alpha Phi International forced current members into immediate alumnae status in 1998 to prepare to recolonize the chapter with new members beginning in September. The result was a divided Greek community. Many Greeks wore buttons that said "MU Greeks Stand Together: I Support the new Alpha Phi".

1999
On May 8, MU freshman Dominic Passantino died in a fire at the Sigma Chi house at 500 S. College Avenue. Passantino had been sleeping on the top bunk of a wooden loft that was enclosed in sheetrock. A lit candle caught the bunk on fire and quickly spread through the house before firefighters could contain the flames.

On July 6, fire gutted the vacant former Pi Kappa Phi house at 915 Richmond Ave. The cause of the fire was ruled as arson, and the last person in the house before the fire committed suicide. The house had been sitting vacant for the past year since Pi Kappa Phi has disbanded due to financial troubles.

In 1999, both Alpha Tau Omega and Kappa Alpha Psi were found guilty of hazing violations. Kappa Alpha Psi denied the allegations and were suspended from campus for four years. Alpha Tau Omega admitted to the violations, and the chapter was banned from many campus activities. In response, the fraternity's headquarters placed a full-page advertisement in The Maneater that stated that the fraternity condemns hazing and is taking actions to assure ATO becomes a "strong community citizen."

2000
The Dry 2000, or "Dry2K," policy went into effect beginning in the fall semester. The new policy banned alcohol in Greek housing, and also at off-campus social events unless a licensed third-party vendor is contracted to handle the alcohol.

In November, Sigma Alpha Epsilon was found guilty of violating Dry 2000 and coercing pledges to drink. SAE was to be suspended until December 31, 2001. SAE national headquarters appealed the suspension, citing due process violations, and as a result, the suspension was reduced to one semester and lifted prior to the start of the fall 2001 semester.

2001
Several freshman lead an initiative to bring Sigma Tau Gamma back to the MU campus; however, the IFC's President's Council unanimously rejected the group's request for IFC recognition of the fraternity twice in 2001. The IFC cited that the fraternity needed to show more professionalism and seriousness.

In the fall, Phi Mu began recruiting in its efforts to establish its new chapter at MU. It had been selected the past May to become the 14 sorority on campus, beating out other finalists Delta Zeta and Alpha Omicron Pi. Phi Mu would reconstruct a house at the site of the former Lambda Chi Alpha house at 503 Kentucky Ave. Phi Mu had previously been active at MU from 1913 until World War II. Phi Mu's original chapter resided at the same location nearly 60 years earlier.

In October, the colony of Delta Sigma Phi regained their charter to once again become an official chapter.

2002
In fall 2002, Lambda Chi Alpha began recolonization on the MU campus, creating the largest fraternity colony in the history of Mizzou.

In October, Greek Life and the interim vice chancellor for Student Affairs at MU imposed a four-year suspension on Sigma Chi following severe hazing violations. Sigma Chi's international headquarters went on to revoke the chapter's charter in response to the violations.

2003
In April, the new Lambda Chi Alpha colony signed a three-year lease with an optional fourth year on the Sigma Chi house at 500 S. College.

The first Latino fraternity to establish a chapter at MU was Lambda Sigma Upsilon, when the Cemi chapter was established on April 4, 2003.

Sigma Tau Gamma was denied recognition for a third time by IFC before finally gaining approval following its fourth request for recognition.

Acacia was granted recognition as a colony on their first attempt, returning to campus after their 1983 departure.

In the fall, Pi Kappa Phi began the process of recolonizing on the MU campus, following their 1998 departure.

Sigma Kappa was warned by its headquarters that it could face losing its charter if recruitment numbers were not significantly boosted in the fall.

2004
On January 28, Sigma Kappa voted to cease operations and assume dormant status, because the charter was still falling significantly short of minimum numbers for recruitment that had been set by the sorority's national headquarters. Sigma Kappa members remained active in Greek life through May, at which time they assumed alumnae status. The sorority's housing corporation planned to retain ownership of the house at 908 Curtis Avenue.

On April 6, the Greek Week blood donation coordinator for Gamma Phi Beta, sophomore Christie Key, wrote in an email to sorority members, "I dont care if you got a tattoo last week LIE. I dont care if you have a cold. Suck it up. We all do. LIE. Recent peircings? LIE...Even if youre going to use the Do Not Use My Blood sticker, GIVE ANYWAY...We're not messing around. Punishment for not giving blood is going to be quite severe." The sorority was disqualified for the blood drive event, and the story was picked up by the Associated Press and gained national attention through coverage on media outlets such as Fox News and the New York Times. According to a statement from Gamma Phi Beta national headquarters, the blood drive e-mail had been sent "without the consent or approval of any chapter officer."

In late April, it was reported that members of Kappa Alpha Order packed an antique cannon on their front lawn with fireworks in an attempt to simulate a cannon blast. The cannon was actually packed with gun powder only. The fireworks were set off away from the cannon hours before the cannon exploded. The blast from the gun powder destroyed the cannon and sent an 8-inch (200 mm) portion of the cannon crashing through the roof of an apartment building across the street. The large piece of metal tore through the fifth floor of the apartments before crashing through the ceiling and coming to a rest on a pingpong table a fourth floor lounge. Three members of the chapter were arrested, and the chapter was temporarily suspended pending the results of an investigation. Following the investigation, the chapter was allowed to keep its charter, but it was placed on social probation for one year and ordered to provide educational training to other MU Greeks.

Sigma Tau Gamma was officially re-chartered in the fall. On November 13, Pi Kappa Phi also regained its charter from its national organization.

In December, two members of Alpha Gamma Rho were charged with animal abuse after stuffing about 40 opossums into a plastic barrel as part of a bizarre contest. Following the incident, which took place on November 19, the Missouri Department of Conservation quoted members as saying they "planned to release the opossums into the yard of another fraternity." Only half of the opossums were found to still be alive after they were discovered. The Department of Conservation released the living opossums in a remote area.

2005
Expansion consultants from Tau Kappa Epsilon arrived on campus in October to begin recolonization efforts at MU following the fraternity's 1997 departure from campus. Acacia was officially re-chartered in the Spring.

In November, a junior member of Phi Kappa Psi sued the fraternity, alleging that the former MU chapter president Kyle Jackson sexually assaulted him in October 2003. In his complaint, he also alleged that neither the local chapter nor national organization did anything when he complained. Records indicated that several allegations of sexual assault had also been filed against Jackson while he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter at Arizona State University. Jackson was later expelled from the Arizona State chapter before coming to the University of Missouri.

2006
In February, Sigma Chi returned to the MU campus after losing chapter status in 2002 due to severe hazing violations. According to the Department of Student Life, members of Sigma Chi contacted the university in 2005, and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs gave them permission to begin recruiting new members in 2006. The fraternity would face intense scrutiny and be forced to meet certain criteria during its first several years back on campus in order to get out of probation.

On March 7, 2006, the Tau Kappa Epsilon colony was admitted to IFC, following a vote from the Interfraternity Council presidents. The colony initiated its first members on March 12.

Spring 2006 also brought the loss of Phi Gamma Delta's charter because of hazing violations and financial difficulty.

Pi Kappa Phi began leasing the vacant Sigma Kappa house at 908 Curtis Avenue in August 2006.

In 2006, Sigma Phi Epsilon implemented drastic changes to improve the image of its MU chapter after a hazing incident in which a group of pledges were told to “kidnap” an older member member of the chapter in a prank that caused worried onlookers to call campus police. In response, SigEp eliminated its pledge program at its Missouri Alpha chapter and adopted the "Balanced Man Program" along with a new set of membership standards that included a minimum 2.6 grade point average. The fraternity's national headquarters kicked out a dozen members who did not meet the new standards, and another 41 members chose not to return to the chapter as a result of the changes. The house also underwent an extensive renovation and expansion that was completed in 2007.

In November, Alpha Tau Omega once again found itself under intense scrutiny when the MU chapter caused more than $10,000 worth of damage to a Lake of the Ozarks resort during the weekend of November 12–13. The fraternity was responsible for throwing dishes and furniture into the lake and causing significant damage to a golf cart when a fraternity member attempted to drive it over the lake retaining wall. ATO's national chapter chose to penalize the individual members involved rather than the chapter as a whole, and the resort agreed not to press charges as long as the fraternity compensated for the damages within one week of the offense. The MU Greek Life office, however, imposed nine sanctions on Alpha Tau Omega as a result of their actions at the resort.

2007
Alpha Tau Omega was banned from participation in Greek Week activities after holding a major social event that violated the social probation that had been imposed on the chapter after damaging property at a hotel in Lake of the Ozarks in November 2006. Delta Upsilon was also banned from Greek Week as part of probation that would last until May 2008.

The Xi Xi colony of Sigma Chi regained its house at 500 S. College Avenue in summer 2007, which had previously been leased to Lambda Chi Alpha since 2003. In August, the chapter hosted Sigma Chi's International Balfour Leadership Training Workshop, and the colony regained its status as an official chapter of Sigma Chi at that time. The international president of the fraternity was on hand to lead the initiation of the members and return the charter.

With Lambda Chi Alpha forced to move out of the house at 500 S. College, it in turn purchased the house formerly belonging to Delta Chi at 111 E. Stewart Road. Low membership forced Delta Chi to sell its house on Stewart. Despite low membership, Delta Chi planned to remain active on campus and hoped to invest the money toward purchasing or constructing a new house in three to five years.

Zeta Beta Tau fraternity reactivates its chapter at the University of Missouri. The Omega chapter left Missouri in 1994 due to dwindling recruitment rates.