The Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity has paid the city a $1,725 fine in connection with fire alarm tampering at a New Year’s Eve party, fire officials said.
Although DKE was derecognized and kicked out of the fraternity house in 2000, the organization was held responsible for the false alarm — set off by current tenants — early on Jan. 1.
Northwestern graduate students live in the house, 2325 Sheridan Road, but DKE still leases it.
At the party, one or more people used pepper spray to trigger the smoke detector on the building’s second floor, said Chief Jim Edwards of the Evanston fire department. The fire department was called and responded to the alarm after 1 a.m.
DKE was fined under Evanston’s cost-recovery ordinance, Edwards said. Under the city ordinance, adopted in 1996, residences can be charged for the unnecessary use of the Evanston fire system.
Active members of the fraternity no longer live in the house, but the DKE Alumni Association rents rooms to graduate students, said Emmett R. Kronauer, the Alumni Association’s treasurer.
“What happened was unfortunate,” Kronauer said. “We understand that the fine is a standard operating procedure, and it makes sense. This was something triggered by people clowning around and not by a fire.”
Kronauer said the fraternity was not responsible for the party. But as the building’s landlord, the association is required to pay bills and fines incurred by residents.
The Alumni Association was made aware of the fine and paid it within days of the party, Kronauer said.
“We are not pleased with what happened, but we won’t say who was responsible,” Kronauer said.
Qiang Yu, a Northwestern graduate student and one of the building’s residents, said he was invited to the party by Paul Neustadter, the building’s manager. About 100 people were at the party, he said.
“After the alarm, the landlord sent an e-mail saying that he did not authorize the party and had no previous knowledge of it,” Yu said.
It is Neustadter’s job to deal with building emergencies such as fire alarms, Yu said.
Neustadter, a Northwestern graduate student, declined to comment and referred all questions about the incident to Kronauer.
