After more than 30 minutes of deliberation last night, the Judiciary Board of the Inter-Fraternity Council found a campus fraternity in violation of the organization’s constitution for T-shirts produced for recruitment.

The shirts, created by members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, depicted two boys holding hands with the slogan “If you like boys more … rush the house next door.”

The 11 Board members ruled that in the production of the shirts, members of SigEp did not “act with good judgment and in good faith to other Greek organizations, the University community and the Bowling Green community as a whole” as IFC’s constitution states.

With the decision, the members now face sanctions including organizing a campus-wide clean-up effort on April 20 during the University’s Greek Week and documenting for the Board the fraternity’s completion of a six-step plan as arranged by their national chapter.

The clothing was called into question late last month by an English instructor who noticed a student wearing the shirt in class. The incident was brought to the attention of the BG News through a letter (which appeared in the March 5 edition) and was also sent to staff in the Office of Greek Affairs and other University officials. Board members discussed the possible meanings that the T-shirt had on-campus with Jonathan Brown, chapter president of SigEp and the three other SigEp members present at the hearing last night. Aside from homophobic concerns, the T-shirt could also be interpreted as an offense against SigEp’s neighbors and rivals Phi Kappa Tau, said Matt Maurer, vice president of external affairs for IFC.

“In my personal opinion I interpreted the shirt as a slam on the house next door [Phi Kappa Tau],” he said. “I thought that it just didn’t reflect good on the Greek community as a whole.”

According to Brown, the original intention of the shirts was to make the distinction between young boys and the men that involvement in a fraternity–like SigEp–should produce. Though the design of the shirts was discussed among fraternity members for two weeks, Brown did not approve the final wording or visual to be used.

Brown reminded the Board last night that SigEp isn’t the only organization that has made a similar mistake.

“We were neglectful in what we did and now we have to deal with it in a manner like this,” he said. “But also other organizations along the same lines have done things in the past or had the intentions of doing things that were not intended to be taken in the manner that it was.”

Currently, Greek Affairs staff must approve all items that fraternities or sororities want to be able to charge to their Bursar accounts. And since late January, IFC fraternities must have all items approved by Ron Binder, director of Greek Affairs, or his staff.

But this regulation came after the SigEp shirts in question were printed, Binder said.

Before the Board’s decision Brown reminded members of the “pro-active approach” the fraternity has taken toward addressing the issues the shirts have brought up on campus.

“We came up with this action plan … that night when we heard about this Letter [to the Editor],” he said. “Taking this as a learning approach not just for Sigma Phi but for the Greek community as a whole I think is a big, big deal. We want to take the lead in doing a lot of these things … to bring the issue to the Greek community as a whole.”

But despite the fraternity’s steps to clear the air including meeting with the leaders of Vision– the University’s organization representing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, questioning and straight-supportive students– the Board is restricted to base their decision only on the action in question.

“I understand that you’ve met with Vision and you have been extremely responsible .. in your action plan in contacting the correct people, but the issue on case is not what you’ve done to rectify it, but whether or not what you did was in violation,” said Anthony Calabrese, IFC chief justice.

The Board’s decision last night will resonate through other Greek organizations on campus, Brown said.

“In effect they have set a precedent tonight,” he said. “It is something that will not only effect this chapter, but BGSU as a whole.”