ZBT Controversy

Zeta Beta Tau controversy

A crowd of students rally outside the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house last week to protest the racist and sexist overtones of the fraternity's scavenger hunt, which has created a furor on the Bloomington campus. Earlier this month, nine ZBT pledges, apprehended by Bloomington police after stealing a street sign, were also charged with stealing identification letters from the front of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity house. Photo of ZBT house

During the arrest, the police found a lengthy scavenger hunt list, which instructed the ZBT pledges to seek a number of items with derogatory references to African Americans, Latin Americans, women, gays, the physically and mentally disabled, senior citizens and other groups.

IU President Myles Brand condemned the ZBT action as "a despicable act that combines vandalism with vicious insult," and the IU administration and the national ZBT organization suspended the chapter pending a hearing this week, in accordance with university regulations.