The UW-Madison Committee on Student Organizations voted to reinstate the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity to campus Friday, according to the group's president and committee members.
The university suspended SAE after the fraternity hosted a Halloween party in the fall of 2005 that was over capacity. Charges included the running of an illegal tavern for charging admission to the party and serving alcohol to underage drinkers, which totaled $94,000 in fines.
After the fraternity's suspension ended Friday, SAE President Matt Bernstein presented his plea to the committee to reinstate the fraternity.
All of the members this year were pledges at the time of the suspension,"" Bernstein said. ""For that reason we had no say in the decision-making process for this party, which is basically why they allowed us to make this effort to return to campus '¦ We learned what not to do.""
The committee asked SAE to present a plan for practicing the values and principles of its 12 core areas as a national fraternity, including scholarship, philanthropy and campus involvement.
""We actually have a plan and we're committed to our goals,"" Bernstein said. ""We wanted to show the committee that we are a group of young gentlemen who wish to contribute again to the Greek community, the university community and even the greater Madison community.""
Allison Reitman, an ASM representative and Committee on Student Organizations member, said SAE's presentation was well organized and impressive.
""It was obvious that they acknowledged the problems with what their older brothers had done and learned from that,"" Reitman said.
Future plans for SAE include returning to their house at 627 N. Lake St. within the next two years and holding year-round recruitment.
""Most of our members are seniors and we need to build a solid base of young men for the fraternity to continue to exist and to grow,"" he said.
Bernstein's brothers elected him president due to his significant effort to reinstate SAE and his optimism about the future of SAE on campus.
""I have seen a tremendous level of involvement from my fellow brothers,"" he said. ""Seeing the level of commitment that they have has been inspiring to me '¦ It helps me feel validated in all the effort that everybody has put into this reinstatement effort.
