A national fraternity organization has revoked the charter of its chapter at Middle Tennessee State University, citing a range of violations, even though the university was unaware of problems and even though the chapter was named the best in the country last year. In a report to the university described in The Daily News Journal, a newspaper in Murfreesboro, Tenn., the High Council of Sigma Nu said members of its Theta Iota chapter had served underage drinkers, turned pledges into personal servants, kidnapped pledges, and harassed them both physically and psychologically, among other things. The report did not describe specific instances of such abuse.

The university’s vice president for student affairs, Bob Glenn, said revoking the charter was an excessive penalty, given the chapter’s record of good grades, good works, and personal responsibity. He also criticized Sigma Nu for its lack of specificity in the allegations. Sigma Nu declared Theta Iota its best chapter last year out of almost 180 in the national organization.