Phi Delta Alpha fraternity plans to file a formal appeal by Wednesday against the College's derecognition decision on March 2, according to former house president Matt K. Nelson '00.
College rules stipulate that a formal appeal must be made within seven days of the decision, however Nelson informed The Dartmouth that Phi Delt received an extension, moving the deadline to Friday of this week.
However, Nelson declined to comment on the details of the appeal, saying that he would make them public after the appeal had officially been filed.
Asserting that the derecognition decision was not warranted "in the least," Nelson told The Dartmouth in a previous interview that Phi Delt had decided to dispute the verdict on the basis of "a couple of procedural errors."
There are three grounds on which defendants can appeal a JC verdict. One is based on receiving new information not available during the original trial, a second is a plead for clemency. Phi Delt may chose the third appeal type -- one based on procedural errors of the handling of the case.
The College's decision to indefinitely derecognize Phi Delt -- asking all members to evacuate the physical plant by June 12, 2000 -- came from two separate cases against the house.
On the one hand, Phi Delt was found guilty of serving alcohol to underage students, tolerating drug use, "dirty" rushing, providing false information to the College and using techniques of peer pressure and coercion during pledge period.
These allegations were initially made after Dartmouth received a letter last fall from a former Phi Delt brother Adam Dansiger '00, who had a serious car accident driving back to Hanover from Burlington, Vt..
At a previous occasion Nelson, however, said he was surprised that the College believed the allegations set forth by Adam's letter.
Phi Delt was also charged with failing to take action against four of its members, who broke into Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity last December, stealing property and causing a fire.
According to guidelines, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman would be the one to hear the appeal. Redman told The Dartmouth previously, as he was the one who made the decision in the first place, "Given the amount of time I spent thinking about this and agonizing over the decision, I can't imagine that in good conscience I would change my decision."
As a result, chances of the Phi Delt derecognition being revoked remain low, although Redman is bound by College guidelines to hear an appeal,
In fact, Redman had also previously met with Dean of the College James Larimore to ask whether someone else could hear the appeal in order to increase the fairness of the case.
