Eight new members were inducted into the Kent State chapter of Delta Upsilon Saturday. New member initiation was the first chapter-sponsored event since the university-issued cease and desist order was revoked Nov. 4 after the first presentation of their individual review.

The official review results will be presented during the first Interfraternity Council meeting of the spring semester, which has yet to be scheduled.

Dean of Students Greg Jarvie said two members from the chapter gave the first presentation before a panel of four university officials from the Center for Student Involvement. The members were Kyle Paugh, president of the Kent State chapter, and Joel Bellman, chapter treasurer.

The review was conducted through the DU Alumni Association.

“They review themselves to see if they need to make any changes within the fraternity,” Jarvie said. “It’s kind of like taking a mirror to yourself.”

Jarvie said from there the chapter determines what it needs to do to become a better chapter and to align itself more with the university and the community.

During the first presentation, the members discussed changes they plan to make in areas of risk management and gave their ideas for specific programming about issues such as alcohol and partying, Jarvie said.

Jarvie said the panel of officials included Brenda McKenzie, director of the Center for Student Involvement; Donna Carlton, assistant director of the Center for Student Involvement and campus adviser for DU; Beth Gittons, assistant director of the Center for Student Involvement; and Della Marie Marshall, associate director of the Center for Student Involvement.

Two members of the DU Alumni Association were also at the presentation, Stuart Thom, who was in charge of the review, and Michael Cesa.

Jarvie was also present, but could not comment further on the review because the report has not yet been finalized.

Thom, Carlton and Paugh declined to comment on the review as well.

Previously, Jarvie told the Daily Kent Stater the review was being conducted as a result of recent incidents that have occurred with the chapter, although he did not cite any specific incidents.

On Oct. 29, 2006, DU member Nicholas Zajac pushed 26-year-old Parma resident Dana Lim into the path of an oncoming tow truck during a party at the DU house, located at 202 S. Lincoln St. Zajac is no longer a member of DU. He served two-and-a-half months in prison and was released Aug. 27.

On Sept. 24 of this year, former DU president Robert S. Lewis, 21, was arrested on charges of felonious assault. According to the arrest report, Lewis had a knife in his possession when he assaulted Amanda M. Linna, his girlfriend at the time, at the DU house where he lived. His pretrial hearing, which was originally scheduled for Nov. 16 with a jury trial set for Dec. 4, has been rescheduled for Jan. 11 with a jury trial set for Jan. 15.

In a previous interview, Paugh said that while the incident involving Lewis and Linna did occur at the DU house, the chapter itself was not involved.

“It was a private issue,” Paugh said. “It involved Robby and his girlfriend. It’s in no way connected to the fraternity, nor did it involve any other members of Delta Upsilon.”

Paugh also said he could not discuss the incident involving Zajac and Lim because he was not the DU president at that time. He said that incident should not be in question because new member initiation occurs every spring and the fraternity has different members now than it had one year ago.

Contact public affairs reporter Kristen Russo at [email protected].