More than half of the members of the national fraternity Kappa Alpha Order's Rhodes College chapter have been suspended, according to the Commercial Appeal. All 36 members were evaluated according to their academic and disciplinary records and 22 were dismissed on violation of such grounds, although Kappa Alpha's national executive director Larry Wiese refused to divulge details in order to protect the affected students.
The Appeal reports that chapter president Angelo Scippa was among those suspended.
Dean of students Carol Casey told the Appeal that Kappa Alpha officials "had talked about looking at drug issues," which she later clarified to mean "drug screening," but added that she had "no information about any results of tests or any other information along those lines." Wiese said that most suspensions were unrelated to use of illegal drugs.
The dismissals occurred during an ongoing hazing investigation of the Kappa Alpha Rhodes chapter -- one student told WRIC that his fingers had become frostbitten after an ice cream eating contest he'd participated in as a pledge.
The suspended members will be allowed to reapply as soon as January or as late as one year from now.
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