Western Kentucky University has suspended Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity for three years after an incident involving a party with alcohol and hazing involving a goat.

&#8220I feel a three-year suspension for this fraternity is appropriate given the seriousness of the violations,” said Dr. Gene Tice, vice president for student affairs and campus services. &#8220This inappropriate behavior somehow has been part of the culture for this group.”

People were making goat noises at the fraternity house Friday as they drove by. When contacted by the Daily News, an Alpha Gamma Rho representative said they were not making any statements about the suspension at this time.

The fraternity will have a chance to apply for reinstatement in 2009, Tice said.

&#8220As a result of the suspension, AGR, a national social and professional agriculture fraternity, may not participate in any campus activities as an organization,” according to a statement from Western. &#8220Additionally, individual members of the organization may face further sanctions as they now proceed through the university’s internal judicial process.”

Any actions taken against individuals will remain private by federal law.

The fraternity members were cited for nudity, psychological hazing involving an animal and alcohol abuse, according to the statement. This is AGR’s second violation of Western’s alcohol policy.

Western’s investigation reports said the goat was not harmed by any member of the organization. But Howard Bailey, associate vice president for student affairs and development, said no one at Western examined the goat, which was taken in by the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society.

Alcohol was present, underage drinking occurred and individual fraternity members purchased alcohol, according to the investigation. There were, however, no signs of forced alcohol consumption.

Four initiates and at least five older members took part in a streaking incident, but the initiates were not forced to streak, according to the report.

&#8220It has been determined that this type of hazing has occurred on initiation night at least since 2003,” according to the investigation.

&#8220Without going into a lot of specifics we determined that similar psychological hazing has occurred (other years),” Bailey said.

No student code violations were uncovered during the incident that would result in any individual students being suspended or expelled from Western, Bailey said.

&#8220Incidents of this nature are never good public relations, but in higher education it is our responsibility to take these unfortunate occasions and hopefully use them as learning tools,” he said.

A Bowling Green Police Department report said when officers arrived at the fraternity house at 1436 Chestnut St. at 2:25 a.m. Feb. 16 for a party complaint, a male goat was found standing in its own waste in a small basement storage room without food or water.

Trenton Dakota Jackson, 19, of Henderson said the goat was at the fraternity as a joke.

The goat was in the house to make the pledges believe they were going to have sex with it, but no one did, Jackson told officers, according to the report. Jackson is the only one who has been charged in the incident. He faces a misdemeanor charge of second-degree cruelty to animals.

No one at the party was cited by police for underage drinking because when officers arrived underage individuals were intoxicated but none were witnessed drinking, said Barry Pruitt, crime analyst officer.

AGR President Brian Peyton would have been cited if he had been in the house when officers arrived. The fraternity president is the person ultimately responsible for the activities in the house, Pruitt said.

Alpha Gamma Rho issued an apology through the university e-mail system Wednesday.

&#8220It is with sincere embarrassment that the Alpha Chi Chapter of Alpha Gamma Rho participated in activities last week that tarnished the name of Western Kentucky University, its faculty, students and staff, the WKU Department of Agriculture, the national fraternity, the 606 alumni of Alpha Chi Chapter of Alpha Gamma Rho and the citizens of Bowling Green,” the apology read.

In the apology, the members admitted they violated both Western policy and the rules of the fraternity’s national chapter.

&#8220The undergraduate brothers of Alpha Gamma Rho regret their misdeeds and humbly accept the sanctions that will be imposed by the university and the national fraternity,” according to the statement.

All 29 members of Alpha Gamma Rho signed the apology letter.