Spring semester started with confirmation that Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity had been officially dismissed from campus until Jan. 1, 2015.
Allegations began to swirl last November that SAE members were not acting in accordance with their creed “The true gentleman,” confirmed to be true in a report by The Daily Reveille last month.
“The way in which SAE was orienting new members was not in line with the with the principle of SAE: The True Gentleman. … The same behavior violates the University hazing policy,” said Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students K.C. White.
However, the dismissal of SAE did not shake the Greek community’s nobler efforts as it reached a milestone in philanthropic efforts.
In the eight years of partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge, the Greek community reached the $1 million mark of money raised for the charity, according to Greek Board of Directors President and Tri-Delta member Sarah Lichterman.
The Greeks were not the only on-campus organizations with major announcements in community outreach, as the African-American Cultural Center expansion project commenced this year, as the decision to expand has been in talks for many years.
The Cultural Center will feature a new library and student lounge, as well as a multi-purpose meeting space and office space.
“The old Cultural Center was a space student organizations would use for their own programs and meetings. We hope that will come back,” said Director at the Office of Multicultural Affairs Chaunda Allen.
The AACC held a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 3.
Along with an expanding African-American Cultural Center, the University has implemented diversity initiatives that have contributed to a spike in enrollment among African-American students at 10.6 percent, the highest since the University began keeping record in 1975.
Vice Provost of Equity, Diversity and Community Outreach Katrice Albert said there is no magic bullet to pinpoint which specific diversity initiative has helped to boost the numbers of African-Americans enrolled at the University, but the increase can be attributed to the sum of these efforts.
While there was a spike in the African-American student population, African-American faculty has remained stagnant with an average of 52 out of 1,552 total faculty between fall 1997 to fall 2011, according to the Office of Budget and Planning.
