Kappa Sigma Expelled by Interfraternity Council

The Interfraternity Council (IFC) Judicial Appeals Board upheld the IFC’s decision to expel the Delta Eta Chapter of Kappa Sigma from the Interfraternity Council on Tuesday. This came after Kappa Sigma appealed the IFC’s decision to expel the chapter.  The President of Kappa Sigma has not yet spoken out about the expulsion, but an official statement is expected soon. IFC President Tanner Sandoval sent a notice of the fraternity’s expulsion Wednesday. He said this is one of the most drastic punishments the IFC has imposed in a long time.   

“This is something the IFC hasn’t done in several years. We don’t know exactly how we’re going to move forward when it comes to bringing Kappa Sigma back as a fraternity, but I can tell you that it will be a long time if they do get the opportunity to come back to USC,” said Sandoval. 

The fraternity had three previous instances this semester in which the IFC placed judicial sanctions on the fraternity. These sanctions included a capped pledge class.  After the third violation, the fraternity was placed on deferred adjudication of expulsion, which means that if the fraternity was found in violation of any other sanctions, it would be expelled from the IFC. 

“We kind of gave them a little leniency in terms of the wording of that, so, in the off chance that something was kind of incidental and wasn’t necessarily the fault of the fraternity, we wouldn’t necessarily expel them, but they would have the opportunity to go back to the judicial board,” said Sandoval.

But the fraternity had to appear before the IFC Judicial Board for a fourth time this semester after violating those sanctions again. After going through the judicial process for the fourth time, the board decided to expel them from the IFC. The fraternity appealed the decision, but the IFC Judicial Appeals Board decided to uphold the expulsion.

As a result of the expulsion, Kappa Sigma is no longer part of the IFC.  The fraternity can still appeal the board’s decision to the USC Office of Student Affairs to remain a student organization at USC, but Sandoval insists that will not affect the IFC’s decision. He says this decision is a necessary part of maintaining the IFC’s legitimacy.  

“One of the things that we’ve tried to establish ourselves as is an organization that can really regulate and govern the fraternities independent of the University,” said Sandoval. “At the end of the day, this is what we deem as necessary to maintain our integrity and our role as a self-governing organization.”