Members of Delta Chi blame unequal treatment from the university for their current state of suspension.
Delta Chi defaulted its mortgage payments and lost the lease on its house, assistant director of student organizations and activities Rob Turning said.
"They were not kicked off campus but rather suspended until they can make their payments," Turning said.
Delta Chi took out a mortgage to build its house in 1994.
The chapter had loans guaranteed by the university, Turning said.
"Essentially the university co-signed with Delta Chi," Turning said. "When Delta Chi defaulted the university was left with the bill."
Representatives of International Delta Chi said the Ball State chapter will be on Level 4 Corrective Action as of May 31, 2004. Level 5 means that the chapter will be automatically closed without university approval. Level 4 requires university approval.
It was the university who put the chapter in its current state of suspension as of June 1.
"Right now they are suspended for two years, and after that until it becomes current," Turning said. "This was not a disciplinarian decision."
Members of Delta Chi blame their financial situation on the membership drop they have experienced.
The Ball State chapter of Delta Chi has spent the last two years on probation. Members have not been allowed to drink alcohol in the house during that time.
"It is understandable that people do not want to live in a house for four years that they are not allowed to drink in," former Delta Chi president Scott Clark said. "There has since been a huge drop in membership."
"We were one of the top three houses when I joined in 1999, as far as members and philanthropic hours are concerned," Clark said.
The house has been in trouble with underage drinking and sexual assault in the recent past, he said.
The male accused of sexually assaulting a female at the Delta Chi house was not a member of the fraternity, Clark said.
The university, along with a board made up of teachers and students, made the allegations concerning the sexual assault, he said.
"Though they never proved we were guilty of anything, they still put us on probation," he said.
Clark said 20 accusations were brought out at the hearing, at least six of them having nothing to do with the house, including a broken beer bottle on the 1100 block of Riverside Avenue.
"We could get legal action involved if we wanted to," he said.
He said he voluntarily went to the police station to offer any information on the sexual assault incident and they did not follow proper procedures.
Delta Chi was awarded recognition for its outstanding retainment rate among fraternities on campus for the spring and fall of 2002, Clark said. They also had the most philanthropic hours out of all Delta Chi chapters in the region.
"There was a huge number of (members) when I joined," Delta Chi member Andrew Bales said. "We had a lot of influence."
Bales said the number of men joining fraternities is declining at Ball State, but the number of women joining sororities is increasing.
"We like to have a good time and they have been cracking down a lot," he said.
He said Delta Chi was always the first to get into trouble.
"We all feel we have been treated unjustly," Bales said. "We have never done anything that any other fraternity does not do every night."
Turning said some people drop out because it is too expensive.
"The university may be trying to diminish greek life altogether," Clark said.
Clark said employees of student organizations and activities may have had something to do with the fraternity's mistreatment.
"Maybe they are trying to set examples and not target our house specifically," Clark said. "The university already said that they are not going to add any more houses so maybe they are trying to keep the numbers low."
Clark said Rob Turning has worked positively and helped with the Delta Chi Ball State chapter a lot.
Other Delta Chi members, including the current Delta Chi president, were unable to be reached for this story.
The former Delta Chi house, located at 1100 Riverside Ave., is now owned by the university, Turning said.
"The house is not good for anything right now," Turning said. "It will just sit there with no use."
The Delta Chi chapter will not lose its membership, Turning said.
"We are all sad about it but we are still a really tight group," Bales said. "It is a shame."
"The house was just too much," he said. "The current condition that the greek system at Ball State is in does not allow for the numbers that we needed."
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