Wesleyan officials said DKE has had ample time to plan for the changes.
Testimony concluded on Thursday in Middletown Superior Court where members of an all-male fraternity are challenging Wesleyan University's new policy requiring fraternities to become co-ed.
Wesleyan told Delta Kappa Espilon last September that the frat would have to allow women to live at its on-campus house within three years. Later, the school said that DKE members would have to move out at the end of this academic year because the frat was dragging its feet in its efforts to bring in women. In February, the Wesleyan chapter of DKE sued the school.
Reporter Jake New covers fraternities for the online journal Inside Higher Ed. He said it's not that common for universities to require frats to go co-ed.
"It seems to be a way of getting at banning fraternities, without banning fraternities, if that makes sense. You’re sort of fundamentally changing what a fraternity is, in that way, by requiring it to go co-educational," New said.
New said universities nationwide are trying to reign in negative behaviors linked to certain fraternities – including sexual assault, discrimination, hazing, and binge drinking. But frats like Wesleyan’s DKE have responded with the "bad apples"argument.
"I think Delta Kappa Epsilon looks at this through the lens of 'Don’t punish everyone for the actions of a few bad apples.' I don’t think DKE was under any fire itself when this happened, but two other fraternities at Wesleyan were," New said.
Wesleyan officials said DKE has had ample time to plan for the changes, but the fraternity did not present a good faith effort.
