photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The Beta Theta Pi fraternity house at 1425 Tennessee Street is pictured on Feb. 6, 2023.

The oldest fraternity at KU has disaffiliated from the university, following a national trend of Greek organizations breaking up with their schools.

Beta Theta Pi formally broke ties with the University of Kansas in early December, meaning the 150-year-old fraternity will continue to exist but no longer will have to follow rules set by KU’s various leadership councils and other organizations that monitor sorority and fraternity life at the university.

Fraternities at other universities across the country have been executing similar breakups, but unlike at many of those schools, representatives with Beta Theta Pi and KU said this breakup wasn’t spurred by a disagreement or by certain controversial rules.

“We didn’t have a falling out with KU,” Luke Rottinghaus, last semester’s Beta Theta Pi president who oversaw the split, told the Journal-World. “I could totally see where people would say ‘oh, they got in an argument.’ That’s not what it was. We left in good standing with KU.”

Rather, Rottinghaus said the decision to disassociate had more to do with efficiently using resources of the local fraternity, which paid dues to KU and also was required to complete many reports and compliance activities that often were already required by Beta Theta Pi’s national chapter. The fraternity also was required to pay per-member dues to the university, which it no longer is required to do.

The breakups at other universities often have been spurred by university decisions to limit drinking or social activities at fraternities. KU leaders haven’t yet imposed those types of restrictions, although the university came close to doing so in 2018. The Interfraternity Council at KU announced a temporary freeze on social activities while the university addressed what Chancellor Douglas Girod said were “systemic problems related to student conduct” at KU fraternities. But the freeze lasted only four days after fraternities pushed back against the changes.

If KU were to ever again implement a ban on fraternity parties or impose restrictions on alcohol use, for example, Beta Theta Pi would not be obligated to follow those new regulations, now that it is no longer affiliated with the university.

As it stands now, though, Beta Theta Pi has not loosened any of its own internal rules related to social events, alcohol or other such issues.

“There is nothing that KU asked us to do that we don’t still do,” Rottinghaus said.

While the fraternity itself won’t be subject to regulation by the university, members of the fraternity who are students at KU will continue to be subject to a code of conduct, and university officials could administer punishments against students if they break those rules. For instance, hazing is an example of an offense that fraternities can be punished for, but individual students also can be punished for hazing.

“While Beta Theta Pi as an organization will no longer be subject to certain expectations of affiliated groups, individual student members are still subject to the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities — just like all students on campus,” KU spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson said via email.

Thus far, KU’s reaction to Beta Theta Pi’s breakaway has been different than how some universities have responded to fraternities separating at their schools. In August, leaders at the University of Southern California made special efforts on the university’s website and elsewhere to warn prospective students against joining eight fraternities that broke away from USC’s governance structure.

KU hasn’t issued any such warning, and in a brief interview with the Journal-World Chancellor Girod said KU was approaching the split with an open mind.

“To be blunt, I think we don’t know what it means yet,” Girod said. “We, of course, think the tighter the linkage the better for everybody. But we haven’t lived it yet, so we shall see.”

The breakup does mean that Beta Theta Pi has had to give up some resources it previously had access to through the university. The fraternity no longer will receive referrals from the university, which previously provided contact information for prospective students who had expressed an interest in joining a fraternity. Rottinghaus, though, said the fraternity had its own processes in place to find and attract new members.

The fraternity also won’t have access to KU space for fraternity events, won’t receive grade and academic information about members, won’t have access to organizational advising services, and won’t be able to use the KU name, logo and the Jayhawk image without receiving special permission and paying a fee.

However, the fraternity still has means available to it to convey that it is located next to the University of Kansas. Indeed, its house at 1425 Tennessee St. is on the edge of the KU campus, and the fraternity’s website touts itself as “Beta Theta Pi Alpha Nu Chapter @ The University of Kansas.”

Now, a question becomes whether other fraternities at KU will seek to disaffiliate from the university. Last month, Girod told the Journal-World that he was not aware of any other fraternities actively considering such a move.

Rottinghaus said he has not heard of any other fraternity that has decided to disaffiliate, but he said several other fraternities have reached out to Beta Theta Pi to inquire about the process. He said, however, he didn’t think the disaffiliation conversation had become an “urgent matter” for any of the other fraternities currently.

That’s perhaps partially because KU has not been as active as some universities in creating new rules and regulations for fraternities.

“It is not like a direct policy change has instigated this,” Rottinghaus said, pointing to how KU’s situation is different than at USC, where administrators have clamped down on social events. “But we just kind of thought if a problem like that were to happen in the future, and we don’t necessarily need KU to help us allocate our resources, then we might as well leave on good standing and at a good time.

“I think other fraternities, there certainly have been other fraternities reach out to us as the why, how and the pros and cons, but I think everybody is taking it on a case-by-case basis.”