2008 Woodie Awards
Disbanded fraternity to return
KIMBERLY BOWERS
|
That is what the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity is trying to achieve at the University.
Alumni from ATO decided it was time for the fraternity to recolonize -- starting with the men who showed up at Monday night's recruiting event.
"We want to come back because of the 122 years of history that a lot of us feel very strongly about," said Huxely Nixon, a University and ATO alumnus.
Nixon was quick to point out some aspects of the fraternity -- officially an "interest group" until they have 20 members -- have been completely reworked.
The Alpha Beta chapter of ATO was formed in 1878 and remained on campus until it was disbanded in spring 2000 -- when a hazing prank killed one of its brothers and placed four others on trial.
Ben Grantham, a 20-year-old from St. Simons, died on March 30, 2000 when an SUV, in the back of which he sat handcuffed and possibly blindfolded, ran into a tree and flipped.
Grantham was being "road-tripped" by a group of pledges into Oconee County, where he would have been left in the woods with the pretense of having to find his way back.
On April 13, 2000, after the University charged the fraternity with violating the code of conduct, ATO members voted to disband the chapter.
Four members who were in the car with Grantham, were criminally charged with vehicular homicide and involuntary manslaughter in Oconee County Superior Court.
The vehicle's driver pled guilty Dec. 16, 2000, to vehicular homicide and was sentenced to five years probation and 100 hours of community service. The three other brothers pled guilty to misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter and were sentenced to one year probation and 100 hours of community service.
Now the fraternity is taking a second chance.
"We want to look forward and not backward," Nixon said. "We didn't want (the fraternity) to end on a negative note, not on our watch."
The fraternity is going ahead with support from the National ATO, the University and the family of Ben Grantham.
In a statement released by the family they said: "Ben, who died suddenly while at UGA, would not want his fraternity to be forgotten ... His brotherhood in ATO fraternity was very important to him. He would never want to see it closed down on his account."
According to the release, the last time Grantham spoke with his mother, he told her "he had to stay another year at UGA because he wanted to be with all his friends and ATO brothers."
Richard Mullendore, vice president for Student Affairs, said the University has a long-standing relationship with the fraternity, one he has been discussing with fraternity alumni since late 2000.
"These are not bad people. There was a terrible error in judgment made by a few members," Mullendore said. "I think they will return stronger."
To begin a new chapter, the fraternity must go through several stages during the next few years -- the first of which began last night in Memorial Hall.
Robert Kent, a junior from Tucker, attended the recruitment meeting because his brother was an ATO.
"I met all his friends, and they were really good guys," he said. "They were all best friends, and that's what I wanted."
He said ATO's past was not a problem.
Evan Randall, a sophomore from Kennesaw, said he went because he was impressed by the Mercer chapter of ATO.
No ATO members from the former chapter at the University will be allowed to join.
The new group has a list of expectations from the Office of Greek Life -- particularly that no event can involve alcohol, Mullendore said.
The Office of Greek Life also wants to "insure that there would never again be a hazing incident with ATO," he added.
"We have had an excellent relationship with (the national organization) and look forward to working with ATO if they come on board," said Claudia Shamp, coordinator of Greek Life.
-- Contributing: Staff reports
