Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house on the University of Tennessee campus in this 2009 file photo. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By MJ Slaby of the Knoxville News Sentinel

From two separate reports of hazing to alcohol in the fraternity house and hazing observed by University of Tennessee police, violations over the past three years caused the Indianapolis-based headquarters of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity to shut down the Epsilon-Omicron chapter at UT.

"The board of directors took this action (chapter suspension) in response to multiple operational and new member incidents over a three-year period that violated the oaths and laws of our fraternity," said Nick Zuniga, director of chapter services at the organization's headquarters.

The UT chapter will be closed for up to five years, according to UT spokeswoman Katherine Saxon.

On Monday, fraternity members were notified of the suspension and that their status is inactive, but they can be listed as alumni of the fraternity after graduation, Saxon said.

During the suspension, the 112 members can't represent the fraternity, hold fraternity gatherings or display fraternity emblems or symbols.

UT will help the 22 fraternity members who live in the chapter house relocate by March 6, and Saxon said the students will have the option to move into residence halls.

Once the house is vacated, the local house corporation will review leasing options to another student group, Saxon said.

The last fraternity to be suspended on the UT campus, also at the decision of its headquarters, was Kappa Alpha in January 2015.

It's also possible for UT and a fraternity headquarters to decide together to close a chapter, or for UT to initiate the closure of a chapter, as the university did in the case of Pi Kappa Alpha in September 2012 following the now infamous "butt chugging" case involving students who reportedly got drunk via wine enemas. That case resulted in UT forming its Greek Life Task Force.

According to UT disciplinary records, Lambda Chi Alpha has been penalized for violations three times since fall 2013.

In September 2013, "separate but similar accounts of alleged hazing" were submitted to the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, and the university found the incidents included exercises, yelling and caused at least two injuries. Records don't make clear what kind of injuries.

Then, December 2014, UT officials found a trash can filled with beer cans during a fire drill. In September 2015, UT police observed "10 new members in a darkened storage room doing pushups as two members watched." It was later learned that new members were also required to swim 300 yards.

The fraternity was penalized by UT following each of the incidents, each time with a different set of sanctions including limits on social events, educational sessions and a probationary status in the first half of 2015.

According to Lambda Chi Alpha headquarters, fighting hazing, sexual assault and alcohol abuse are priorities for the fraternity, which has initiated more than 280,000 members and had chapters at more than 300 universities.

"Lambda Chi Alpha has a zero tolerance policy in regard to hazing, and this closure imposes the appropriate penalty given the circumstances," Zuniga said in the release.