Delta Chi fraternity will begin the first stages of trying to return to the University this semester after a two-year absence resulting from hazing violations.
Officials from the fraternity’s international office said they will arrive on campus within the next week and make an effort to “rebuild from the ground up.”
“We are starting completely from scratch,” said Reed Davis, director of expansion with Delta Chi International Fraternity.
Delta Chi was officially kicked off campus in December 2002.
Assistant Director of Greek Affairs Angela Guillory said representatives of Delta Chi will come to campus to assess the interest of potential members.
After their arrival, Davis and Steven Meyer, a leadership consultant with Delta Chi National Fraternity, will hold informational sessions and attend organizational meetings, Davis said.
“We want to tell them what we’re looking for and who we’ll need to build a strong chapter on campus,” Davis said.
Davis said he began talking to Director of Greek Affairs Victor Felts about recolonizing last month.
“LSU is a very strong Greek campus,” Davis said. “We knew Delta Chi needed to be represented there.”
Davis and Meyer will remain on campus until March 19, Meyer said. During that time, they will recruit individuals and train future leaders in the fraternity.
“We hope to establish ourselves as a colony within the first two weeks,” Meyer said.
Meyer said Delta Chi is looking for “exceptional members” to help the fraternity rebuild.
“We are looking for leaders, scholars, athletes and gentlemen,” Meyer said. “Anyone who fits those categories.”
Meyer said there are no current plans to occupy or build a house on campus, but that is something to be addressed in the future.
Delta Chi was removed from campus after an investigation of numerous hazing allegations.
In a letter from Dean of Students Kevin Price to the Chapter President Robert Edwards written Dec. 19, 2002, Price said recognition of Delta Chi’s chapter at LSU had been rescinded the day before.
The letter said Delta Chi was invited to re-establish a colony after Jan. 1, 2005.
Price said Delta Chi violated the University’s hazing policy by forcing new members to “perform calisthenics — including pushups, jumping jacks and calf stands for up to an hour at a time.”
New members also participated in “Hell Week,” during which they were expected to exercise excessively, eat Spam for every meal and go without sleep for extended periods of time, Price said.
Price said new members were also paddled, yelled at and harassed.
Members of the fraternity singled out a new member, took him off campus and stripped him to his boxers, Price said. Members poured alcohol over his head and chased him while he was barefoot and blindfolded.
RC Damle, the International Fraternity Regent for Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas, said he personally received notice that there were hazing problems within Delta Chi.
“We placed the chapter on probation, but the University wanted to remove them,” Damle said.
Damle said there were three members involved in this specific hazing incident.
“However, when we came in, we saw that there were a number of other members with the same mentality,” Damle said.
Delta Chi has a 94 percent national colonization success rate.