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A suspended Washington and Lee University fraternity will get its day in court for a lawsuit against the school for an alleged violation of the lease on the fraternity house on Henry Street. The jury trial, which is scheduled to last three days, will begin on Dec. 3 in Rockbridge County Circuit Court.
The ruling, made by Judge Christopher Russell at a hearing on May 10, also dismissed a complaint of a breach of implied contract between the university and the fraternity.
Phi Zeta Delta, which was suspended for five years in April of 2023 following a pair of hearings before the school’s Interfraternity Council (IFC) regarding an alleged hazing incident, filed the lawsuit against the university in January. It alleged that the university had violated the lease on the fraternity house by terminating the lease following the hearings by the IFC, arguing that any disciplinary action against the fraternity should not have been heard by the IFC, but by the Student Judiciary Council (SJC).
According to the university’s 2022-23 student handbook, the IFC has jurisdiction over fraternities that are part of a national fraternal organizations, but independent fraternities fall under the jurisdiction of the SJC. Phi Zeta Delta has not been affiliated with a national fraternity since 2018.
The May 10 hearing was on an amended complaint filed by Paul Beers, counsel for the fraternity, following a hearing on the initial complaint on March 5.
In the amended complaint, Beers argued that the university breached paragraph 15 A of the amended lease by acting “arbitrarily and capriciously” when “suspending the fraternity and terminating the lease without cause or lawful basis, particularly since the fraternity never hazed or engaged in any of the misconduct the IFC accused it of committing” and by “suspending the fraternity and terminating the lease arbitrarily without affording the fraternity a hearing in front of the SJC.”
For the breach of implied contract count, Beers cited several benefits the fraternity brought to the university, including tuition and student activity fees from members, fees and charges paid by the fraternity itself, assisting the university in “attracting and retaining students” by providing “fraternal development and leadership opportunities,” and assisting the university’s fundraising efforts by “maintaining and developing alumnae allegiance and loyalty to W&L.”
At the May 10 hearing, Maya Eckstein, counsel for the university, argued that paragraph 15 A is clear that “a violation of the Standards for Fraternities,” which could result in, among other things, a suspension of the fraternity “would be adjusicated by the SAC [Student Affairs Committee] in consultation with the Interfraternity Council and the Fraternity House Corporation” and that should action by the SAC “result in the withdrawal of University recognition, concurrent termination of this lease agreement would be automatic.
“It cannot be arbitrary and capricious to follow the express terms of an express contract,” she argued.
On the count of breach of implied contract, Eckstein argued that Beers had not offered evidence of how the fees paid by the fraternity had created an implied contract with the university. It was also noted that the fraternity had, during the time since disassociating with the national fraternity, sent representatives to serve on the IFC and, in 2019, had had a disciplinary matter heard by the IFC without complaint of violation of the handbook.
Beers argued that section 13 of the lease, which notes that the fraternity standards the termination section of the lease is guided by “may be changed from time to time” indicates that the handbook, which lists what the standards are, should be the guide by which the lease is enforced, and therefore the disciplinary action the fraternity faced should have been heard by the SJC, not the IFC. By not giving the fraternity a hearing before the SJC, Beers argued, the university violated the fraternity standards and, therefore, violated the lease.
