On Friday, Sigma Alpha Epsilon's (SAE) national headquarters officially put a "cease-and-desist" order in place on NU's chapter in the wake of sexual assault allegations, according to the Chicago Tribune. SAE spokesman Brandon Weghorst told the Tribune that the fraternity has been ordered to "cease and desist all operations," and it can no longer hold chapter meetings or attend social events. The order will remain in place until the investigation into the sexual assault complaints has been completed.
Weghorst said this doesn't mean the chapter will be closing permanently, and that residents will be allowed to remain in the house due to a leasing agreement with the home's private owners. Additionally, the SAE letters will remain on the campus house unless the chapter is eventually disbanded altogether. Weghorst said in an email that the cease-and-desist order "means that normal (or daily) chapter operations must halt until further notice. When we, as the national organization, suspend a chapter, that means we are no longer recognizing it as an official group, which is not the case with Northwestern currently."
Northwestern University spokesman Bob Rowley also told the Tribune on Friday that NU's Interfraternity Council (IFC) has indefinitely suspended all fraternity social events on campus. On Friday, students held a protest to call for the suspension of SAE and to stand in solidarity with surivivors and victims of sexual assault. ASG had also released a statement calling for SAE's suspension last week.
Editor's note: a previous version of this story said that national headquarters was suspending NU's SAE chapter. This was not entirely accurate based on SAE bylaws, and has been corrected within the story along with a quote from SAE spokesman Brandon Weghorst at 1:30 p.m.