MIT Frat Loses Housing License

BOSTON--Upon returning from their Thanksgiving holiday, the 37 members of MIT's Phi Gamma Delta fraternity will begin to search for new homes.

The Boston Licensing Board suspended the fraternity's housing license on Wednesday for eight months, beginning Jan. 15. The unanimous decision comes in the wake of the Sept. 27 alcohol-related death of Scott Krueger, a first-year Phi Gamma Delta pledge.

In an interview, Ellen Rooney, chair of the three-member board, said the decision was based on the seriousness of the incident as well as past violations.

"When we license a fraternity, we want to make sure that public safety is intact," Rooney said.

The decision was well-received by at least one member of Krueger's family.

"Suspending the fraternity is a step in the right direction," said William W. Burke-White '98, Krueger's cousin, in an interview last night.

"At my aunt's dinner table this Thanksgiving, there was an empty seat that was once filled by a wonderful...and innocent boy," he said.

The board waited two weeks since an initial hearing held on Nov. 6 to give its ruling.

During that time, parents and students bombarded the commissioners with letters. Most of them asked that the fraternity be allowed to retain its license, according to Rooney.

The decision will serve as a warning to other fraternities, Rooney said, adding that it "touches on both the people living there and the university."

The board also voted to ban alcohol at the fraternity until 2000.

Bill Martin, the national executive director of Phi Gamma Delta, announced in September that the fraternity had decided before Krueger's death to ban drinking in all of its chapters, beginning in 2000.

MIT spokesperson Robert J. Sales said yesterday that the university is pleased that the board allowed the fraternity to stay open until the end of the semester.

He said MIT will find housing for all of the students.

"We're going to try to keep them all together, especially the 11 freshmen," Sales said.

According to Rooney, it is unusual to suspend a fraternity's license. Rooney, a commissioner since 1992, said that the licenses of two New England fraternities were suspended in the 1980s for reasons that current board members could not recall.

Phi Gamma Delta members refused to comment yesterday, saying their attorney, Allen Shapiro, would be out of town this week

He said MIT will find housing for all of the students.

"We're going to try to keep them all together, especially the 11 freshmen," Sales said.

According to Rooney, it is unusual to suspend a fraternity's license. Rooney, a commissioner since 1992, said that the licenses of two New England fraternities were suspended in the 1980s for reasons that current board members could not recall.

Phi Gamma Delta members refused to comment yesterday, saying their attorney, Allen Shapiro, would be out of town this week