UPDATE: Kappa Sigma expelled by Interfraternity Council


The Interfraternity Council Judicial Appeals Board upheld the ruling of the Interfraternity Council Judicial Board to expel the Delta Eta chapter of Kappa Sigma from the USC Interfraternity Council on Tuesday.

IFC President Tanner Sandoval sent a notice of Kappa Sigma’s expulsion from the IFC to members of the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils Wednesday. According to the notice, Kappa Sigma had a prior standing injunction on social events, as well as three previous instances this semester in which the IFC had placed judicial sanctions on the fraternity.

Austin Vogel | Daily Trojan

Austin Vogel | Daily Trojan

“[Kappa Sigma’s] sanctions originally stemmed from recruiting violations during the spring semester,” Sandoval said.

The sanctions imposed on the fraternity included a semester-long social ban, excluding events which had already been financed in advance.

“In the subsequent sanctions, they didn’t necessarily break rules set by the administration, but they failed to adhere to the sanctions that were already in place,” Sandoval said.

Prior to Tuesday’s ruling, the fraternity had been on deferred adjudication for expulsion during the semester.

As a result of the expulsion, Kappa Sigma’s relationship with the IFC will be severed indefinitely. However, Sandoval said it’s possible for the fraternity to be reinstated in “the distant future.”

“Typically the way the university handles pulling chapters, which IFC was considering modeling, the university will usually expel a chapter for five years,” Sandoval said. “It’s so that none of the original violating members of the fraternity are still there.”

Despite the IFC Judicial Board’s decision, Kappa Sigma can still be recognized as a student organization with the university pending appeal.

In response to the decision, Kappa Sigma’s Delta Eta chapter issued a statement through Jacob Courtney, the chapter’s president, Saturday. The statement acknowledged that the IFC Judicial Board’s decision came from both recruitment policy violations and one incident involving a social event violation.

“Kappa Sigma is currently appealing the IFC’s decision to the University,” the fraternity said in the statement. “There are no plans to change who resides at the Kappa Sigma chapter house in the upcoming Fall Semester.”

When contacted by the Daily Trojan, Courtney could not specify details of the violations or offer any personal comment on the matter, citing the ongoing appeals process with the university.

UPDATE, May 10, 1:15 p.m.: the statement was not issued by Kappa Sigma’s national headquarters, but instead reviewed by the national headquarters and issued by the Delta Eta chapter through fraternity president Jacob Courtney.

UPDATE, May 10, 12:48 p.m.: included comment from IFC president Tanner Sandoval and Kappa Sigma statement. Original article was posted May 9 at 12:14 a.m.