At the Pi Kappa Alpha barbecue and party that spurred the fraternity?s suspension from UF held nearly one year ago, 60 Pi Beta Phi sorority sisters celebrated alongside the Pikes.
Patrick Duffey, the fraternity?s acting president, said the party was unregistered because it was not a formal event.
However, Duffey said the standards for what UF deemed as an official Pi Kappa Alpha party were not equally applied to their Pi Beta Phi guests.
"I think the standards we were held to in terms of how formal of an organization can be called an event were extremely low," he said.
The fraternity, known as Pike, was found guilty at every level of UF?s judicial system for holding an unregistered party and for disregarding the possible endangerment of an individual or group.
A history of unregistered parties also contributed to the verdict.
UF Spokesman Steve Orlando said Chris Bullins, UF?s director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, did not see it fit to involve the sorority known as Pi Phi.
The burden of hosting registering the party fell mostly on the shoulders of the Pike fraternity, Orlando said on behalf of Bullins.
Stephanie Gurlay-Thomas, spokeswoman for the international Pi Beta Phi organization, said the UF chapter of Pi Phi had nothing to do with the organization or execution of the party.
"Our girls were in attendance, but they did not purchase or serve alcohol," Gurlay-Thomas said in a phone interview Friday. "It?s unfortunate that this circumstance has cast a negative light on anyone involved."
However, Duffey said, "Sixty girls do not show up by accident."
"I?m disappointed that Pi Phi would chose to shirk responsibility in that way, both nationally and locally," he added.
While Gurlay-Thomas said the Pi Phi sorority was only invited to the party, Duffey said it was "pretty clear to anyone who was present that day who was hosting that party."
Cara Costa, president of the UF chapter of Pi Phi, could not be reached for comment.
This is not the first time a sorority?s involvement in a troublesome fraternity party has been an issue.
According to Alligator archives and UF records, the Delta Delta Delta sorority was held partially accountable for violations at Sigma Alpha Epsilon?s off-campus "Pimps and Prostitutes" party in 2000.
Then-sorority president Heather Willyard later said the theme had been changed to Mardi Gras.
The fraternity was placed on an interim suspension "normally reserved for fraternities unable to 'control their members.?"
Meanwhile, the sorority, known as Tri-Delta, was also charged with violating UF?s alcohol policy and holding an unregistered social event.
Tri-Delta was also not allowed to have alcohol at any social events for the semester.
Several members of Tri-Delta who attended an after party at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house were not allowed to attend any social events for the rest of the semester.
Similarly, in 1999, the Alpha Chi Omega sorority was found guilty of violating UF policy at an off-campus Kappa Alpha Order party, according to records from UF Judicial Affairs.
Alpha Chi Omega was charged with failing to comply with UF?s alcohol policy, disregard to the possible harm of an individual or group and holding an unregistered party even though the sorority did not co-host the party.
The list doesn?t end there.
These are only two cases of many other sororities in the past that have been given the same consequences as the fraternities attending the same parties, including Chi Omega and Zeta Tau Alpha.
