GREENCASTLE, Ind. | DePauw University has severed ties with the Delta Zeta sorority, where a mass eviction of members sparked allegations that only attractive, popular students were asked to remain.

"We at DePauw believe that the values of our university and those of Delta Zeta sorority are incompatible," school President Robert G. Bottoms wrote in a letter delivered Monday to the sorority's national president, Deborah A. Raziano.

The university in Greencastle, 40 miles west of Indianapolis, planned a 2:30 p.m. EDT news conference to discuss the decision.

The sorority's members have long had a reputation as being known more for academics than conventional beauty or partying, and their chapter was widely known among students as the "dog house." The chapter started the school year with just 35 women in the sorority house, far short of the nearly 100 members at other sororities on a campus where 70 percent of students join the Greek system.

Delta Zeta's national leadership conducted a review last fall to determine members' commitment to recruiting. As a result, it moved 23 members to alumnae status in December, evicting them from the sorority house. Six others left on their own.

A call to the executive director of the national Delta Zeta organization was not immediately returned Monday.

Executive Director Cindy Menges has said Delta Zeta based decisions on the women's willingness to recruit new members to revitalize a nearly 100-year-old chapter whose numbers had fallen steadily over 10 years.

But those who were asked to leave the sorority charged that they were removed because of their looks and contended they had been active and supportive members of the sorority.

DePauw's decision follows a letter of reprimand sent to the national organization Feb. 19.

"We at DePauw do not like the way our students were treated," Bottoms said in Monday's letter.

Bottoms said the university would not recognize Delta Zeta beginning with this fall's semester.