July, 2021 Suspension

The FAQs below may be helpful.

Acacia Fraternity, Inc. announced to members and alumni on July 1, 2021 that the charter of the Indiana Chapter of Acacia Fraternity has been suspended. This decision was made in collaboration with Indiana University and closes out several cases of misconduct charges against the Chapter.

Two off-campus parties in violation of IU and Monroe County COVID-related policies were at the heart of the misconduct allegations. But suspension is a result of a wider range of issues, including failure of the Chapter leadership to cooperate with IU Student Affairs, hazing allegations, and continuing misconduct during a cease-and-desist period while IU investigated the parties.
This sadly ends what had been an extraordinarily stressful year of pandemic-related restrictions and personal losses for Indiana Acacia members.

It would be wrong to characterize the suspension as a consequences of IU students "just wanting to throw some parties." During COVID times blowout parties were a big mistake. IU officials communicated their restrictions and policies frequently and consistently to all students. And all students signed a statement of commitment to follow the rules or face possible disciplinary actions, including suspension or expulsion.

There is no excuse for ignoring obvious COVID rules, nor for being deceptive, dishonest, and for hazing. It's worth noting: Active members of Acacia in 2021-2022 were asked to navigate more restrictions (COVID), more stress, and more personal loss – the passing of two undergraduate brothers – than probably any other group of Acacians in our history.

Fraternity life at IU has changed dramatically in the last decade. We don't believe IU wants to shut down Greek life. The university does want to stop nonsense, however, and what it believes is genuinely risky behavior. So should all members of Indiana Acacia.

Frequently Asked Questions

All media inquiries should be made to communications@acacia.org.

What were the issues?

Indiana University's official communication to Acacia Fraternity, Inc. Executive Director Patrick McGovern included the following items:

Hosting off-campus parties at rental houses with 200+ attendees.
Damage to both rental houses, the extent of which is in dispute.
The parties were not approved and violated IU and Monroe County COVID policies.
Chapter leadership provided "information that was known to be false" regarding the parties.
Multiple reports of "alleged hazing, a majority of which have been verified." These included pressuring pledges to reserve the rental houses and to clean up afterward; cleaning active members' off-campus residences, activity caught on video; personal servitude; verbal abuse, physical abuse, intimidation, forced food intake and alcohol consumption.
Two IUPD-reported incidents during a cease-and-desist period.

When did all of this happen?

The parties were held on March 6 and March 13, 2021.

Was this an Acacia event or just a bunch of college students gathering together?

Chapter officers have asserted these were not Acacia events. Evidence points to chat messages during the long winter break that informed members of plans to do Airbnb or rental house parties in the Spring semester. An Acacia pledge, less than two weeks into pledgeship, set up a VRBO account used to reserve the houses. The Chapter treasurer paid for the rentals with his personal credit card. The Chapter president and a few actives and pledges appeared at the houses the next days to clean and speak to the owners.

Attendees included many Acacia members. Many more Acacia members did not attend. But there were also many non-Acacians and non-IU students.

When can the Indiana Chapter return?

No sooner than August 1, 2024. It's a three-year suspension.

Didn't other Greek houses on campus host parties and receive less severe punishment?

Acacia is currently the 10th Greek house suspended from campus. We don't know the details of investigations into misconduct at other houses, some of which received various probations instead of suspension. The list of Acacia issues above is compelling to IU and to Acacia HQ, however. Evidence suggests Acacia leadership was not cooperative or truthful with IU and Acacia HQ officials, and perhaps this changed the nature of the investigation and outcome relative to other organizations' investigations.

Sigma Pi also hosted parties, on campus, and also received a three-year suspension.

What about the Capital Campaign?

Our campaign to raise funds for major renovations to 702 E Third continues. The asset still requires investment and upgrades. And we are already well into those renovations:

The Kibler Room is complete and serves as a design model for coming changes to the formal, senior library, and dining room.
Fully upgraded HVAC is 90% complete. The house is running on all central air. The boiler and radiators are gone.
New cabinetry and floors in individual rooms is scheduled for July-August.
Bathroom renovations are tentatively scheduled for the winter, 2021-2022.

We have moments - such as after summer work is complete - to revaluate priorities and our campaign cash flow before moving forward.

Alumni donors may also want to know that all campaign funds are devoted to renovations. No campaign funds are supporting operations. Just the opposite, actually: We will use some operations and reserve funds to accelerate the renovations as the house is closed this academic year.

Should I keep my campaign pledge or is my contribution going to be wasted?

You won't be surprised that the Indiana Acacia Building Corporation (IABC) and many other alumni hope you will maintain your campaign commitment. But this is your decision. We certainly understand the Chapter suspension is disappointing and frustrating. We hope you can imagine how disappointing and frustrating it is to those of us involved with the Chapter.

There is still work to do on our former home, however, and we intend to follow through on the plans.

If you have questions or want a conversation about the campaign and your role in it, please contact IABC president Scott Lakin ('77) at slakinrn@gmail.com or IABC treasurer Michael Oakes ('76) at mjoakes@mac.com.

A second suspension in nine years. Do we really want to try again?

Good question. The answer is yes. But active members have demonstrated to us twice now that this current model of fraternity at IU won't work.

There are several issues that need more time and space than is available here. We nevertheless need to think different and to challenge some long-standing structures in the Laws of Acacia (from HQ) and our own sense of what fraternity life should be like. Look for more information soon from IABC on how the process of investigating best practices will work.