BLACKSBURG (WSLS 10) - The Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter at Virginia Tech, which was disbanded in 2013, is making a return to campus.
According to Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Virginia Tech, Byron Hughes, the chapter will be restarted in the fall semester by staff members from its national office in Richmond.
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Hughes said the fraternity will be allowed to move in to the Oak Lane house in 2017. The house has been used as a specialized living-learning community called the Transfer House since the fraternity left campus. national office has chosen fall 2017 as the semester that the chapter will move into the Oak Lane house.
Hughes said the fraternity was being established as a new organization, meaning the university's guidelines for starting any new, official student group will apply. Sigma Phi Epsilon's national office will also enforce rules established for starting a new chapter at a university.
Back in 2013, Virginia Tech's chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity was shut down, just three weeks after its new, $5 million house was built. The local chapter's national office made the decision after a reported 5-year history of alcoholism and hazing among brothers.
According to reports released in 2013, several incidents were documented. In April, 2012 during an off-campus incident, a fraternity member hit another man with a beer bottle. The victim received 55 stitches on his face. The documents showed the fraternity was already on suspended status at the time of that incident.
In a November 2012 incident, a new fraternity member, who the documents claimed was a straight-A student in high school, was forced to drink vodka and to buy food and gas for older members -- to the point his parents cut off his credit card.
And in spring of 2013, 16 of the fraternity's 70 members were responsible for 18 university violations, mostly involving drinking.