By Sophia Monson | Staff Writer
Baylor’s Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter is suspended until Aug. 21, 2028, after multiple hazing incidents.
According to Baylor’s current Hazing Transparency Report, the fraternity was found responsible for “Psychological / Emotional Hazing, Physical Hazing, Coercion and Power Dynamics, Secrecy and Obstruction.”
The report included that alcohol was involved in the incidents. The chapter has been removed from the Interfraternity Council’s website.
The suspension follows a previous hazing violation by the chapter in 2023.
“Baylor University is committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and Christ-centered community where all students can thrive,” Baylor spokesperson Lori Fogleman said in a statement.
Plano senior and TKE President Zach Shoulders, who was not present at the time of the violations, said he received the official sanction ruling in February. The chapter appealed the sanctions, but the appeal was denied in mid-April.
Shoulders said the disciplinary process stretched across several months, beginning with the investigation in Dec. 2025 and concluding with the appeal decision in April.
“Just going through that process alone, we stretched from our investigatory period to when I received the news of the suspension to the completion of the appeal process … from December of 2025 all the way to April of 2026,” Shoulders said. “So it’s a bit of a lengthy process.”
With the appeal process complete, Shoulders said he does not expect the chapter to pursue the matter further through Baylor.
“I don’t see it escalating any further,” Shoulders said. “I’ve been operating with our nationals and national organization as well, so a lot of it isf out of our hands in terms of anything that comes afterward.”
He also said TKE acknowledged the violations.
“We accepted responsibility for the violations because I believe that accountability was something that was very important,” Shoulders said.
However, Shoulders said chapter members believe the length of the suspension is disproportionate to the violations for which TKE was found responsible. He compared the sanctions with those imposed in other university disciplinary cases.
“Baylor’s own judicial and disciplinary records [show] kind of similar cases that resulted in significantly lower consequences,” Shoulders said. “[The] consequences that we received were very similar to a subsequent case that involved more severe accusations and more severe events that took place.”
San Antonio junior and TKE member Tyler Duysen expressed a similar view.
“I feel like the punishment did not fit what we’re found responsible for, considering precedent cases in the past of other chapters being removed from Baylor’s campus,” Duysen said. “The punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”
Both Shoulders and Duysen said the suspension will affect members’ involvement in campus activities, service and philanthropy.
“It’s a big interference with our college experience,” Duysen said. “In the spring, we weren’t able to participate in Sing … We’re not going to be able to work with St. Jude’s, our charity, anymore on campus.”
Shoulders said much of his Baylor experience has involved participating in activities through the fraternity.
“I’ve been on every committee … whether that be Sing, whether that be philanthropy, whether that be service,” Shoulders said.
Shoulders also recently visited the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. He was able to see the “direct work” TKE had with the hospital. Shoulders said not being able to work with St. Jude is “definitely disheartening.”
The suspension is the first hazing violation documented for the chapter in Baylor’s current Hazing Transparency Report. In 2023, the chapter was found responsible for physical hazing.
The report describes the violation as “activity … which may subject a student to an unreasonable risk of harm or that may adversely affect the mental or physical health or safety of a student.” According to the report, no alcohol or drugs were involved in that incident.
Sanctions stemming from the 2023 violation ended in September of that year.
