Police taped off a large area of the West Bank on Wednesday afternoon after someone found a “suspicious object,” said University Police Chief Greg Hestness.

He said the police arrived and taped off an area of about 300 feet outside the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and Carlson School of Management in the area between the two buildings.

Police decided to call the Minneapolis Bomb Squad to dispose of the object, the chief said.

The bomb squad sent one of its men wearing a protective suit to retrieve the object, Hestness said. It was placed in a blast-proof box and remotely detonated.

Diana Schleisman, a senior working on a nonprofit management degree, said she heard a small explosion.

“It sounded like it was louder than a gunshot,” she said.

Hestness said the object turned out to not be an explosive device.

“As it turned out, no (one was in danger),” he said, “but you don’t know that. That’s why you use all the safety protocols.”

Fight breaks out after frat “date party”

An unwanted visitor created a stir late Friday at the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

The incident happened following a small get-together, said Alec Catsuros, president of the Interfraternity Council. He said 10 to 15 people were sitting inside the house when someone knocked on the front door.

Three men stood outside wanting to come in, thinking the gathering was a public party, Catsuros said. When fraternity members asked the men to leave the house, a confrontation ensued.

The intruders threw punches, and two fraternity members were injured, said Matt Mountain, Delta Kappa Epsilon president.

The fight migrated to the front yard, where the fraternity members again asked the men to leave. When they refused to leave, police were called to handle the situation, Mountain said.

But before officers arrived, the men fled.

The intruders and the fraternity members each filed police reports. The DKE members filed the first one immediately upon the officers’ arrival. Fraternity members suffered only minor injuries and refused medical treatment, police said.

One of the unwanted guests filed the second report against the fraternity members Saturday afternoon, accusing them of third-degree assault resulting in significant bodily harm. Police said one of the victims suffered several broken bones in his face and received treatment at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Catsuros said the fraternity had problems with one of the non-members in the past, who is not a University student.

“They knew him by name,” he said. “He would come by, starting confrontations.”

Catsuros emphasized that the incident did not happen at a party, but rather at a small, social function. That does not prevent the fraternity from receiving sanctions for the altercation.

The Interfraternity Council’s new risk-management policy requires all events to be registered with the council 72 hours prior to the function. But Friday’s party was not registered with the council, Catsuros said.

The council will hold a judiciary board meeting before the conclusion of finals week to hear all the facts in the case, he said.

“They’ll find out exactly what happened,” Catsuros said. “And what, if any, disciplinary actions need to be taken.”

It is too early to tell what the severity of the punishments could be, he said.

Police said the case remains under investigation.