BOULDER, Colo. — Five Boulder fraternities have been fined over the last week by the governing body that oversees local member chapters for violating COVID-19 county health protocols after hosting large gatherings without masks or social distancing.
The first to be fined was the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity that received a $1,610 fine for a party hosted at its University Hill house last Wednesday.
The SAE gathering was attended by at least 120 people and they were all undergraduate men who lived in dormitories on campus, according to Marc Stine, Greek Advocate for the Interfraternity Council (IFC) on The Hill, the governing body of local chapters.
After the weekend, four more chapters were fined for not following the COVID-19 protocols set forth by Boulder County including:
- Phi Kappa Psi is being fined $1,610
- Phi Kappa Tau is being fined $4,470
- Tau Kappa Epsilon is being fined $1,860
- Theta Xi receiving is being fined $1,500
The president of IFC and a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity, Adam Wenzlaff, sent out a letter to all 22 member chapters that faulted the lack of leadership shown by the chapter presidents.
The letter says in part, "The behavior of your fraternities over the last two weeks has been nothing short of outrageous. As President of the IFC, it is my responsibility to ensure that our community is represented in the most positive light possible. Your lack of control over the members of your chapters makes it nearly impossible to accomplish that goal. The actions that have been displayed by a majority of our member chapters are completely indefensible. I am at a loss for words as to how to further communicate to all of you the severity of our situation."
Wenzlaff wrote that the fines from the fraternities will be donated to Clinica, a local health care organization.
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