Phi Delta Theta fraternity has taken an opportunity to educate its members about cultural diversity and homosexuality following an incident in which three of its members shouted obscene and homophobic words out of the fraternity house’s window.

“[We are] taking the opportunity to educate ourselves so there are not issues like this in the future,” Phi Delta Theta President Zach Mandel said.

On Saturday, March 29, senior Mingyang Toh was playing tennis with sophomore David Weisshaar when three members of the fraternity interrupted their game with repeated homophobic and discriminatory slurs. Several minutes after the slurring began, Toh called WUPD.

“It was annoying at the beginning but then it slowly escalated, so towards the end it started to become hurtful,” Toh said. “Speaking out against it is part of my responsibility as a member of the community. There could be other people that would be hurt to a larger extent than I would be.”

The WUPD officers allowed the perpetrators to turn themselves in and left Phi Delta Theta to handle the matter internally.

“There has been a lot of aftermath within our house,” Mandel said. “A lot of things have happened all on our own accord. The members will not be allowed to attend spring formal, and the judicial board will be meeting to consider expulsion from our fraternity.”

Although there are no recent records of any similar incidents occurring within the Greek community, Ryan Henne, director of Greek Life, said that when problems arise, the Greek Life Office (GLO) typically implements educational measures.

“Whenever Greek Life receives a report like this, we immediately contact the chapter and find out what happened,” Henne said. “Most of the time all of our sanctions are educational.”

Toh hopes that the GLO will enact an official policy regarding such discriminatory incidents so that all members will understand the consequences of using homophobic language.

“I think the fraternities should have a fixed policy and the policy should be made clear to all members when joining,” Toh said.

Mandel said that while his fraternity takes responsibility for the actions of its three indicted members, the organization does not share or condone the views that those members expressed last Saturday.

“This is not an action of our organization; it was an action of the three individuals,” Mandel said. “We try very hard to make sure that we are represented on campus by those who uphold the dignity of Phi Delta Theta, and the actions of these members have ruined this for the time.”

The GLO has set up an educational workshop, scheduled for next week, which will include campus professionals from the Diversity Working Group, a coalition dedicated to teaching students about diversity.

Coordinator for Student Involvement and Multicultural Leadership Naomi Daradar-Sigg says that she, along with LGBT Coordinator Mike Brown and Julia Macias, academic coordinator in the College of Arts & Sciences, will facilitate discussions about diversity and tolerance.

“We want to have a dialogue about the incident, the Wash. U. community and how they can move forward from this in a positive way,” Daradar-Sigg said.

Daradar-Sigg added that this is a necessary conversation and is one that affects the whole campus.

“This is a wake-up that it’s not just this one incident that needs to be addressed,” she said. “We live in a multicultural world that we need to learn to navigate through.”

In spite of the poor choice made by the indicted fraternity members, Henne said that their slurs do not reflect a sentiment shared by Greek Life as a whole.

“We do have men and women [in fraternities and sororities] who are gay,” Henne said. “I would not say that homophobia runs rampant in Greek organizations. I hope that the action of one or two individuals does not impact the opinion that the University as a whole has of the 1,700 members involved in [Greek life].”

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