Delta Upsilon incidents spur individual review

Kristen Russo

The Kent State chapter of Delta Upsilon is under review by the university.

Dean of Students Greg Jarvie said that while all Greek organizations at Kent State are currently undergoing Greek Review, DU’s review is a separate case.

On Sept. 24, former DU President Robert Lewis was arrested on charges of felonious assault. According to the police report, Lewis assaulted Amanda M. Linna, his girlfriend at the time, at the DU house located at 202 S. Lincoln St. The report indicated Lewis had a knife in his possession during the assault.

This is the second felonious assault charge against a member of the fraternity in less than one year. In October 2006, Nicholas Zajac pushed Dana Lim into the path of an oncoming tow truck. Zajac pleaded guilty on March 23, 2007 to a lowered charge of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to six months in prison on June 11 and was released Aug. 27. He is no longer a DU member.

Jarvie said when a chapter undergoes individual review, the university looks at the individual’s value to the chapter, what the chapter has done and the chapter’s value to the university. He could not comment further on the process.

Beth Gittons, assistant director for fraternity and sorority affairs, said that while the Center for Student Involvement is the body conducting the review of DU, the individual members of the review board are yet to be determined.

As of Oct. 3, Justin Kirk, executive director of the Delta Upsilon International Fraternity, said because the office didn’t know all the facts concerning the case, it wasn’t taking any action against the chapter at that time.

“Once we get all the facts about what happened, whether it was an individual or the chapter was involved, then we’ll decide what to do from there,” he said.

Kirk was unavailable to comment on the current status of the issue as he is out of the office on business until Monday. No one else was available for comment.

Donna Carlton, campus adviser for Delta Upsilon fraternity, said she could not comment on the matter, and Kyle Paugh, the current president of the Kent State Delta Upsilon chapter, declined to comment on the chapter’s behalf.

Linna also did not wish to comment about the incident.

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