Metal Frat, a fraternity in North Burns Park known as an influential cornerstone of Michigan’s alternative music scene, was recently shut down as part of a controversy relating to it’s admittance of women and non-binary people into its ranks — a practice it began in 2016.
According to multiple members’ accounts, Metal Frat’s alumni board have removed the organization’s membership of about 20 people from their house at 907 Lincoln Ave. to make way for a traditional all-male fraternity.
Metal Frat was initially established in 1858 as the University of Michigan’s branch of Sigma Phi Society — a national fraternity that has been protective of its all-male status. When Sigma Phi’s national board discovered Metal Frat’s co-ed policies in 2019, it sued the fraternity and revoked its charter, but was unable to shut it down for years due to the protection of a sympathetic local alumni board…