By Kristen Griffith, The Whetstone 

The Delta Phi Epsilon sorority was suspended until at least next year for hazing.

“For Wesley College, we have a full anti-hazing, zero tolerance policy across the board,” said Dean of Students Wanda Anderson

The sorority has been put on interim suspension after a 3-week investigation that ended March 16.

“That meant not wearing their letters, no formal meetings as an organization and the executive board members needed to go before a conduct board,” Anderson said. “They were found responsible.”

Anderson refused to say what specifically the sorority did. The sorority also would not say.

Students who were pledging this spring reported the hazing Feb. 27.

“I can’t go into the details but the complainant expressed serious concern about the new member process for this organization,” Anderson said.

Sophomore Alena Brown, a new member of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, said she heard about the suspension.

“I know they got suspended for hazing but I didn’t know why,” she said. “I recognized that there weren’t many wearing their paraphernalia so I figured they were hazing.”

Brown said Zeta Phi Beta does not tolerate hazing.

“Finer women don’t haze is what we say,” she said. “It doesn’t go along with our principles which are scholarship, service, sisterhood and finer womanhood.”

Anderson said all Greek letter organizations were suspended for 48 hours after the hazing was reported.

She met with members of each organization from Feb. 28 to March 2 and spoke with them about the seriousness of hazing.

“It affects people’s psychological, emotional and physical health and new members should not have to go through an exhausting process to become members,” she said.

Sophomore Landon Hall said he was going through his new member process for Alpha Phi Omega when Anderson met with each Greek organization.

“We all had to come in at separate times and (Anderson) had to talk to us about hazing and how it wasn’t acceptable,” he said.

He said they weren’t told which Greek was hazing but he assumed it was between Delta Phi Epsilon and Alpha Phi Delta.

Hall said Delta Phi Epsilon’s suspension didn’t faze him.

“I knew we weren’t hazing, so we put it past us,” he said.

Hall didn’t know about the suspension and said administration should have told everyone.

“It’s like they are trying to hide it, but they should bring it to the surface,” he said.

Anderson said Delta Phi Epsilon’s degree of hazing was not too drastic, but still unacceptable.

They remain on interim suspension until they complete a list of guidelines, “One of which is reeducation of our hazing policy,” she said.

Anderson and Brown both said hazing isn’t always a physical assault.

“Hazing can be a bunch of different things,” Brown said. “It can be mental or physical.”

“It can be any organization that forces an individual to participate in activities that will place them at harm, humiliate and disrespect them,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the people who reported the hazing were brave.

“There’s a lot of respect for those individuals who have the courage because they really are saving the organization.”

Anderson said people already have negative views of fraternities and sororities.

“We want their image to stay positive because they do wonderful work in the community and training students to be leaders in the future,” she said.