ORONO (AP) – A fraternity that has been banned for two years from the University of Maine is refusing to vacate its house.

Dean of Students Robert Dana has tried to persuade 16 students to leave the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house during the two-year sanction.

But chapter President Jesse Ouellette said the university can’t legally make them leave.

The faceoff stems from a 911 call in March alleging there were women who needed medical help at the house. Police who arrived were initially denied entry. By the time they got in, there were no women in the house.

A complaint filed by the campus police resulted in the two-year ban. Two appeals were denied.

Ouellette and officials at the fraternity’s national headquarters say expelling the students was sufficient punishment.

“We do feel that the university may have overextended its sanction,” said Brandon Weghorst, director of communications at SAE’s headquarters in Evanston, Ill. “We didn’t feel further action was needed.”

SAE first ran into serious problems in September 2002 when a fire damaged its house. After a search, investigators found $10,000 worth of stolen signs inside.

The house was closed shortly afterward, partly because of the signs and partly because of safety violations. SAE responded by putting $250,000 worth of renovations into the house before reopening in the fall of 2003.

SAE and four other fraternities have been sanctioned since 2001. One-third of all fraternities have been disciplined in the last four years.

Dana said problems with the fraternities could and should be overcome.

“Any time you have a house full of that many college-age men you’re going to see your share of problems,” he said. “But if the university just did nothing and said “good luck,’ then you would have a disaster of epic proportions.”

The current sanction has even drawn attention from the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

The university has barred the fraternity’s brothers from wearing their letters anywhere on campus. Zachary Heiden, a staff attorney with the Civil Liberties Union, said the university needs to be careful about infringing First Amendment rights.

“For a university that is such a well-respected organization, this wide censorship doesn’t seem like a fair punishment,” Heiden said.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com