University of Tennessee students had mixed reactions hours after the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was given an "indefinite suspension" of at least two years following a case of alcohol abuse on campus.
"It is getting national attention. It's crazy," said UT junior Dylan Goff. "I think it makes UT look bad. It's something that one student did. I don't think the whole chapter should get shut down for it."
The PIKE chapter plead guilty Friday to seven charges of misconduct related to
Saturday's underage alcohol incident, allegedly involving an alcohol enema.
Charges were also pending for an earlier incident in August.
In the agreement reached, the university will not consider allowing that fraternity to start up again until the spring of 2015. Fraternity members must leave the PIKE house by October 7.
"I think two years is too much," Goff commented. "I think the person in the incident, he should've been kicked out of the chapter, maybe. But the whole chapter shouldn't have been kicked out."
However, others on campus said the uncertainty of the fraternity's future is an appropriate punishment.
"I feel bad for the other members that weren't involved in it. Feels a little unfair for them, but it sends a good message for the rest of the campus," said UT freshman Courtney Gretchell.
"This is something to say that 'this is not okay to do. We find out about this. This is not just fine, can't just let this go,'" said UT sophomore Nevin Sawyer, who said has a friend in PIKE.
As the 40 members of the fraternity are looking for new homes, students agreed on one thing: they hope people will forget about what happened in the PIKE house.
"People are probably going to still make fun of us for it," Sawyer said. "We'll get past it, it's just going to take some time."
"Hopefully we can pass that and can move on to better things," Goff added.
PIKE members had no comment on Friday's decision.