UNT fraternity issued four-year suspension
Associated Press

DENTON — Members of a University of North Texas fraternity, suspended for hazing, are sought by police in connection with alcohol violations.

Police at UNT have issued arrest warrants for six Sigma Alpha Epsilon members for furnishing alcohol to minors, Deputy Chief Ed Reynolds said Wednesday.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national headquarters has imposed a four-year suspension on the UNT chapter after police found a freshman pledge unconscious near a trash bin Oct. 12. University officials determined the student, who required hospitalization, had been drinking at a fraternity event and that the fraternity was in violation of its own policy and the school’s.

The national fraternity headquarters imposed an additional four-year suspension of the affiliations of the chapter’s UNT members.

The UNT fraternity, under the suspension, cannot hold meetings, participate in service projects or solicit or accept new members.

Reynolds said the warrants were issued as a part of the criminal investigation of the October event that also resulted in the fraternity’s suspension from the university.

“These are six of the fraternity members who played a significant role in making the alcohol available,” Reynolds told the Denton Record-Chronicle in Wednesday’s online edition.

Some fraternity members told the newspaper in October that while there was alcohol at the event, the university’s story was exaggerated and no one was forced to drink.

“The university acted immediately after the incident to suspend the organization,” said Kelley Reese, a UNT spokeswoman.

Reese said it is a violation of the university’s code of conduct for students to break any law, including possessing alcohol when underage or distributing alcoholic beverages to minors.

Since 2000, UNT has suspended six fraternities, including three during the last academic year.