Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the first fraternity on Auburn's campus, and the first SAE chapter in the nation, to require its members to undergo drug testing.
However, the fraternity is currently only testing officers, pledges and brothers who live in the house. But officials say it is working up to eventually testing all 120 members.
"It's common knowledge for anybody's who's around college campuses that Auburn University has a drug and alcohol problem," said chapter adviser Greg Smith. "And this is just one of the ways for us to say, 'Hey, we're gonna be part of the solution, not part of the problem.'"
The change began when Smith proposed the idea of drug testing the members to House Corporation. House Corp. is a group of fraternity alumni who own the chapter's house and the property where it's located.
House Corp. agreed it was a good idea and discussed it with the fraternity officers, who agreed to implement it within the chapter.
"I talked to the chapter and asked them how they felt about people being drug-tested," said Sim Penton, chapter president. "And they said they were fine with it. We really kind of started it to fix the reputation, I guess."
Brothers living in the house were informed before the beginning of the fall semester that they would be tested sometime during the semester. Men pledging the fraternity were also notified they would be tested.
Pledges were tested once during pledgeship and again before initiation. Brothers were given a few days notice before they were tested about a month ago.
The tests were administered by a company from Prattville. Penton said they were tested for "everything," including marijuana and amphetamines.
Smith said he thinks it would be difficult for a brother to cheat the test by ingesting a substance to conceal any drugs in the system because that substance would also show up on the test.
All of the members passed.
However, in the case that a brother doesn't pass, Smith said their punishment depends on their position.
Pledges who fail are removed from the pledge class. Officers who fail are removed from office and elections are held to replace them. Brothers living in the house who fail are evicted until they attend an assessment session with the University Health Behavior Assessment Center and then pass another drug test, Smith said.
However, the new policy doesn't seem to have deterred many potential members.
"I thought it would change it a lot more than it has," Penton said.
Penton also said the fraternity has received a lot of encouragement from the national organization, as well as the parents of potential pledges.
"(We started drug testing) basically because we knew fraternities and kids at Auburn and just because we've been where fraternities have a drug problem," said Matthew Murphy, a member of House Corp. "And we knew it would be a good way to rid our fraternity of the drug problem and hopefully try to influence more fraternities down the road to do it."
Murphy said he had even tried to implement drug testing while he was president of SAE during his time at Auburn, but said the amount of obstacles hindered him.
Murphy said not only is drug-testing expensive, but there is also the legal issue of making sure everyone has provided consent. And for anyone under 19, the fraternity needed parental consent.
Penton said he feels good about the caliber of man this change will attract to the fraternity. And while he agreed drugs may have been a problem, Penton said he thought people exaggerated the severity.
Murphy said he thinks the change will help the brothers to be better fraternity members and to take better care of the house. Murphy said the insurance policy will be renewed next year, and he hopes drug-testing will be a factor that lowers the cost of insurance.
"We didn't do this really thinking we were gonna catch a lot of people," Smith said. "I think we want to set the example that the Greek system needs to be drug free."
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