Northwestern's chapter of the fraternity Chi Psi will close immediately, according to a news release the national fraternity emailed to The Daily.
The fraternity's national Executive Council voted to close the chapter due to "an undergraduate experience incongruent with Fraternity values," Brad Beskin, Chi Psi's assistant executive director, wrote in the release. He noted the chapter's advisors and "Central Office" staff have been unsuccessful in attempts to "realign the chapter's experience with its core values."
Northwestern's Epsilon Delta Chapter was founded in 1892, according to the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life website. Its local nickname, "Lodge," stems from Chi Psi's history as the first fraternity to gain its own house in 1846, according to the Lodge website.Last year, the chapter won two NU Greek awards: Outstanding Contributions to Greek Build and Outstanding Joint Philanthropic Event.
According to the release, Chi Psi wishes to return to NU eventually. However, in the release Chi Psi's executive director Sam Bessey stressed any revamped chapter would adhere to University and national Chi Psi standards.
"‘Lodge,' as students are familiar with it today, is over," Bessey said in the release. "That experience will not be replicated."
All NU Lodge members become alumni with the chapter's closing, and current pledges are released from the fraternity, according to the release.
Update 8:40 p.m.:
NU's Interfraternity Council released the following statement regarding the closing:
"We are sad to see that Chi Psi National Headquarters has decided to close their Epsilon Delta chapter. The Northwestern Interfraternity Council prides itself on building a community that fosters maturity and leadership in the face of brotherhood. Our goal on this campus is to enrich the lives of Northwestern men so that they contribute to their own chapter, the rest of the Greek community, and the larger Northwestern community. Unfortunately, the series of choices this chapter has made has been incongruous with the ideals and goals put forth by IFC and by the greater Chi Psi National Headquarters. This is what ultimately led to Chi Psi Nationals taking the necessary steps to close this chapter. Above all, it is disappointing to realize that a chapter we supported at Northwestern was not a place where such fraternal ideals could be facilitated."
Update, 9:11 p.m.:
Lodge's president Mazdak Bradberry, a Weinberg junior, declined to comment.
Update, Feb. 8 12:01 p.m.:
Lodge's house must be vacated in 13 days, Brad Beskin, Chi Psi's assistant executive director, told The Daily on Wednesday. Chi Psi will begin talks with the University about the chapter's return and develop a timeline "soon," he said.
When the Northwestern's chapter does come back to campus, it will not be known as local nickname "Lodge," Beskin said.
"We think that it ties into some of the elements of the experience that we don't want to replicate when we return," he said. "We're Chi Psi Fraternity, and that's how we'd like to be known."
Beskin stressed the closing of Lodge, which had been on probation, was not based on a single incident. Instead, national Chi Psi concluded it did not wish to continue the "experience" offered at NU's chapter, he said.
"This was not a situation where the chapter got in trouble and we decided to close it," Beskin said. "We looked at it comprehensively...If you look at chapter disciplinary history, that's not the only decision-making criteria that we use."
Chi Psi does not impose any recruitment restrictions on the released pledges, who may rush other fraternities unless those houses have their own rules, Beskin said.
IFC President Patrick Schnettler declined to comment on the situation further, aside from what IFC released in their statement Tuesday night.
Note: The title of "Lodge" has been changed in some places to clarify Beskin's assertion that this is a local nickname only used at Northwestern.
— Michele Corriston