PENALTY REDUCED FOR W&L FRATERNITY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992                   TAG: 9202280152
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
PENALTY REDUCED FOR W&L FRATERNITY
The Student Affairs Committee at Washington and Lee University has voted to reduce the punishment for a fraternity that vandalized its own house in December, the university announced Thursday.
Delta Tau Delta will be able to return to the Lexington campus in a year and a half, John Wilson, W&L's president, said in a news release. Originally, the chapter had been suspended for five years.
"The chapter is very pleased with the decision," said Robert Wilson, president of the fraternity, who is no relation to John Wilson. "We think the president justly and fairly considered the mitigating circumstances. We're very optimistic about the future of Delt as it grows and changes and restructures."
When the vandalism occurred, the members were moving out of their house at 106 Lee Ave. so it could be renovated. For two years, the university has been buying fraternity houses, fixing them up and then leasing them back to the fraternities.
John Wilson said the Student Affairs Committee was correct in penalizing the whole fraternity instead of individual members.
But he said a lesser penalty was in order because the chapter has made progress in the past two years, despite the destruction in December. Membership has grown, the brothers have worked on community service projects and the chapter's overall standings have improved, he said.
Upon returning to campus in July 1993, the chapter will remain on "critical probation" for three years, according to conditions of the suspension. If there are any further serious violations of the university's standards during that period, the chapter will be expelled from campus permanently.
As part of the reduced penalty, the Student Affairs Committee requested that the international Delta Tau Delta fraternity put the W&L charter in the hands of a special alumni committee, which would conduct a full review of the chapter. That alumni committee could remove members who did not embrace the values or ideals of the fraternity and the university's standards.
The House Corp., an alumni group that owns the Delta Tau Delta house, will be invited to submit a new application to participate in the university renovation program.
"I'm very grateful the president chose to review the decision and to take a personal interest in this matter," said Taylor Cole, an alumnus who heads the House Corp.
He said he could not comment on whether the corporation would submit a new application until he had talked with other members.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB