Chi Omega Tragedy
 

My thoughts are with Chi Omega and the family of Samantha Spady. Such a tragedy....



Alcohol suspected in fraternity death
Woman identified as CSU sophomore from Nebraska
By STACY NICK
StacyNick@coloradoan.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Police believe the death of a 19-year-old woman whose body was found in a fraternity house near Colorado State University may have been alcohol-related and hope toxicology results due back later this week will shed light on the events leading up to the discovery of her body.
Police have identified the woman as Samantha Spady, a CSU sophomore from Beatrice, Neb., who was once a member of the Chi Omega sorority but resigned last year.

Spady was found dead Sunday evening inside the Sigma Pi fraternity house in an unoccupied second-story room, Fort Collins police spokeswoman Rita Davis said.

A fraternity member was showing the house to his mother when they discovered Spady's body, Sigma Pi member Darren Pettapiece said.

Spady, who was fully clothed, was lying down and showed no signs of trauma or sexual assault, Davis said. The room, outfitted with couches, is used as a gathering area for students, she added, declining to specify if Spady was lying on a couch or on the floor.

Toxicology tests will be conducted this week, said Dean Beers, Larimer County Coroner's Office deputy investigator. Results are expected within 10 days.

While it was estimated Spady died around 6 a.m., police declined to offer any information about where Spady was prior to her death or who she was with. On Saturday night, many CSU students were in Boulder or at sports bars and homes watching the CSU-University of Colorado football game.

This year, CSU's Greek community banned all parties involving alcohol at fraternity and sorority houses. Parties with alcohol are allowed only in third-party locations, such as bars or hotels, and guest lists must be submitted to the Greek Life office.

With their purple Sigma Pi flag at half-staff, fraternity members sat outside the house Monday afternoon, just west of the CSU campus, but declined to comment on Spady's death.

While police initially deemed the situation "suspicious," Davis said Monday there is no indication of foul play and there will be no criminal investigation.

Friends and family from Beatrice, Neb., arrived throughout the day but declined to comment. Calls to Spady's home in Beatrice were not returned. Flowers were delivered to Spady's former sorority house, Chi Omega, located just down the street from the Sigma Pi house.

Chi Omega members, wearing blue ribbons in remembrance, declined to comment, saying only that Spady had resigned from the organization last year but had maintained friendships with several of her Chi Omega sisters.

CSU Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Kuk said in a written statement that the university is assisting police and will take appropriate action pending results of the investigation. The university is providing counselors for university students and families affected by the tragedy.

Originally published Tuesday, September 7, 2004

This is such a sad situation. It sounds like this girl had a lot going for her and probably had a full life ahead of her. It's scary to think that this could have happened to a lot of us. Looking back there are a couple of nights when I probably was pretty close to alcohol poisoning. Hopefully students at that school and around the country will learn a lesson from this.

I graduated from Highschool with sam.
It just seems really weird because it is unlike her to drink that much. I visited her in colorado last year and i know that she had a lot of friends in sigma pi, so it is kind of easy to understand how she wound up staying there if she was too drunk to get home. But being that intoxicated is really unlike her.

how sad for everyone involved! her family and friends will be in my thoughts.

This is really to sad for words. Prayers to Her Family, Sisters and Friends.:(

Unfortunately, I think we can all (or at least many of us) remember times in school (for those who are out) where we did things that the folks back home would find very out of character.

I feel for this girl's family, and the sorrow they will have to live with for the choices that were made.

I also am left wondering, from the article, what other issues of general responsibility (not directly for this incident, of course) the fraternity is not handling or needs help with. The two items mentioned for past sanctions and the civil suit leave the chapter, and the organization as a whole, in bad light. I'm certain there are good people there, and I feel for them too.

Maybe chapters might begin to use their education meetings (ZTA has them, so I am guessing others might too) not just tell members "don't drink irresponsibly", but teach them what alcohol poisoning is, what the symptoms are, and what to do about it. Too many die this way, and it is tragic and unnecessary.

Just to bring up another possibility... It may not be alcohol related. We had a sister die of a brain annurism (I have no idea of how to spell it) in her dorm room. But of course the next day, because she was a greek, everyone was trying to speculate where she had been drinking and partying the night before. She had simply gone to work and went home and died sometime that night.

This girl's situation may or may not be alcohol related, I really can't comment on this situation. But it is such a shame that it has gotten to always assuming that all the greeks are bad. I also love it that she was no longer a member of Chi Omega, but the article in the paper brings it up.

There was also an other incident at my school where a fraternity had a party. Some non greek had been at the party and got way out of hand and was asked to leave. Sometime later in the night, he came back to the house to seek revenge. He found on of the new members passed out in the house and beat him to death. This crime wasn't committed by a member of the fraternity, but they were the ones who were punished.

Okay, sorry. I'll go to bed now. Somethings just get me all worked up.

*lonestaradpi steps off of her soapbox

I will keep the girl's family and the entire campus in my prayers. A shame to lose a life at such a young age.

sad...sad for all concerned.
thoughts and prayers to all.

According to the stories posted in a related thread, her death was alcohol related. It's a tragedy all the around.

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...threadid=56500

Actually, according to FCPD and CSUPD they have not released the toxicology reports and therefore have not said exactly what her blood alcohol level is.


James Baetke
The Collegian
Police reported Tuesday that the female CSU student found dead at the Sigma Pi fraternity house Sunday evening was involved in a single-car accident the night before.

Rita Davis, Fort Collins Police Services spokesperson, said 19-year-old Samantha Spady was coming home after the CSU football game and lost control of her vehicle in Fort Collins.

“The day after her death we received a call about an abandoned vehicle. Samantha had driven that car that evening,” Davis said.



Davis said the timeline from when Spady was picked up from the scene of the accident and when she was found dead at Sigma Pi the next day is still under investigation.

The national organization for Sigma Pi suspended the CSU chapter until the investigation clears the house of any wrongdoing.

Darren Pettapiece, president of the Sigma Pi chapter at CSU, said reports that someone from the fraternity house picked her up from the scene are untrue.“The investigators are still detailing her last hours,” Davis said.

There were no signs of obvious trauma nor was foul play a factor in her death, Davis said.

Giving a tour to his mother, a Sigma Pi fraternity member who did not live in the house at 709 Wagner Drive stumbled upon Spady’s body Sunday night. A coroner investigator and police responded to the scene around 6:30 p.m.

The Larimer County Coroner’s Office said Spady’s cause of death has not yet been determined but said officials cannot rule out that the accident may have contributed to her death.

“I do know that through the investigation we will investigate the car accident,” said Debbie Reifdorff, a deputy coroner for the coroner’s office. “If the car accident was involved in the death it will be on the death certificate.”

“The cause of death is pending,” Reifdorff said. More information should be available by the end of the week.

Although preliminary results show that Spady’s death may be alcohol-related, it is still unclear until the final autopsy results are finalized, Reifdorff said.

<b>Although some reports have stated Spady’s blood-alcohol level as five times the legal limit, FCPS, the coroner’s office and the CSU Police Department have all denied officially releasing that information.

“We do not have (her blood-alcohol level),” Davis said. Reifdoff said her office never releases preliminary information like that.

“I do not know where that information came from,” she said.

Yvonne Paez, public information officer for CSUPD, said that to her knowledge, CSUPD does not have that information, and if it did it would not be released unless it was public information.</b>

Students and faculty across the campus and residents in her hometown of Beatrice, Neb., are in shock.

“The whole (fraternity) house is in shock. It is a somber place right now,” said Pettapiece, who will remember her beautiful smile and caring personality the most.

Jason Sutter, Beatrice High School’s principal, knew Spady since the eighth grade and watched her grow up in high school as a cheerleader, National Honor Society member and homecoming queen.

“Sam was a leader. She was one of our best students in her class. She very much enjoyed school and was well respected,” Sutter said.

Chet McGrury, owner of Silver Screen Video in Spady’s hometown of Beatrice, employed Spady for about two years.

“She was a real neat girl, a real popular, friendly kid,” McGrury said. “She had real potential. She was going places.”

there was a piece on samantha on good morning american today. it was on right as i was waking up so i tried to pay close attention even though i was still half way asleep. they were saying something about greek life and alcohol, but i can't remember exactly what they said. i don't think they mentioned though that she was formerly a member of chi omega. they did however show the sigma pi house. such an unfortunate event.

chi o...a bum rap
 

Why does Chi Omega have to bear responsibility/implied blame,
or what have you in this case? The victim had resigned from the
sorority. This in itself is not common. Why? Chi Omega is one of the finest sororities...at least on most campuses.
What on earth did Chi O have to do with it...the reporter, likely an
ignorant but hurried writer, really did the Chi O's no favors.
The mention, in some reports, that the girl really knew how to
party...even in high school...hints at someone who was perhaps
out of control. This has been seemingly well-hidden, too.
The Sig Pi buddies...well, they--too--may be innocent. She was
obviously known to them and they were not too concerned to find her passed out...for whatever reason. They're paying dearly
for their admitted stupidity...we should all learn from this, too.
This slant is but one which we all must endure, and but another
of the reasons to advocate responsible drinking.
It is tragic that the young girl lost her life, but it is also possible that Chi Omegas and Sigma Pis are not guilty of creating this.

Actually, it seems that Chi O isn't getting a 'bum rap' from these articles, it just sounds like they're mentioning in passing that she was a member, like any other student activity...or, since they mention that she was found in a fraternity house, they cite the Greek connection in order to explain her presence. My heart goes out to Sigma Pi too whether or not alcohol or their involvement were factors - to have someone die on your property, let alone a friend of several brothers, is really traumatic. I just hope that improvements are made as the result of such a sad occurence.

chi o--yes, bum rap
 

The mention of Chi Omega and their involvement is very short-
sighted and small. Would they menion the methodist church or
Job's daughters or any other outfit she had once belonged to?
Did any of you read that the Beatrice girl was a party girl in her
high school days? Lots of unanswered questions...or at least to
the public. Chi Omega likely had no part in this...bum rap.
Why did she resign from Chi Omega? Was she asked to? Why?
The Sig Pis were friendly the her; she looks like a good looking
girl. If she was "passed out' and nobody bothered her, perhaps
she had been there in that condition before.
There are lots of unanswered questions and I do not see much in
the Denver papers or other media.
The Sig Pis, likely without a housemother, allowed women in the
private places of the house...dumb...cost 'em their charter, too.
I think Chi Omega has been slurred, but then, that is my opinion
only. Anybody agree? Bum rap--at least it so seems now. Oh, I
am not a Chi O, did not go to school at CSU, have no close kin
who are Sig Pi or Chi O's but I am an old greek and certainly do
extend my sympathy. This is simply tragic. Tragic.

After looking at the stories, I disagree. My perception was that they were making the point that the Chi O's there still cared, even though she was no longer a member.

I agree ... it showed that even though see was no longer a chi o that her former sisters still cared and were affected by the tragedy ... again though they probably did not need to point out the fact that she used to be a chi o in the article ...

you have a point there
 

It is indeed well worth mentioning that Chi Omega still cared
for her, and this is to Chi O's credit.
I would like to feel this was the case and not the other thoughts
I posted. Yes, that'd be classy...let us hope it is true.

It is very sad that this young woman died whether the reason is alcohol poisoning or the car accident.

Of course, my first thoughts are with the young woman and her loved ones that are mourning... but I also find myself thinking about the young man who found her body.

Can you imagine giving your mother a tour of your house and stumbling upon a person who has died?? That's not something that he'll soon get over. My prayers for everyone touched by this tragedy.

Frat tragedy
 

The saddest thing about this whole incident is that this girl has ruined this fraternity house. Because of this one idiot everyone is punished. I doubt anyone forced 40 drinks down her! :mad:

Re: Frat tragedy
 

Someone needs to get on the Nasty Bus and go the fock home.

unfortunately...
 

new info., somewhat still hidden, reveals that the girl was indeed
out of control, and even uglier things.
Chi O, pure class, has been mum about the whole thing.
Sig Pi, stupid alcohol violators aside, paid dearly, lost charter.
Will we ever learn? At CU nearby a rich Chi Psi boy dies in an
alcohol related incident, 15 underage Tekes arrested amongst
others in a drinking party...even with a rented bus--this week.
Duh. Dumb. How many campuses will now abolish the system.
Princeton has pissed backwards, prefers snooty eating clubs yet.
We got a lot of educating yet to do.

Re: unfortunately...
 

Probably because she isn't a Chi Omega. Once your membership is terminated or you terminate it, you don't exist as far as the sorority is concerned. Chi O has no more reason to say anything about this then they would if a G Phi B, AEPhi or any other sorority woman was in this situation - she's not their sister.

I know this sounds harsh, but that's what termination is. Her former membership should never have even been mentioned. And the title of this thread should be changed.

agree
 

I agree with 33; but the Chi O's added fuel to the fire, too, in that
they wore blue ribbbons, mourned, got sympathy for a girl they
....allowed to resign....
you are right...she is no longer a Chi Omega...in fact, she is no
longer.
Booze and idiocity still exists. Today's youth left their IQ if they
had any...about booze...and we still support them, pay their
bills, pander them...no answers here. Tragic.

Re: agree
 

I really don't think that anyone would wear a blue ribbon to "get sympathy" or add fuel to any fire....I don't know about you, but if a girl resigned from my chapter I sincerely doubt that my sisters would have forgotten they knew her during a tragedy such as this. There are various reasons why people forfeit their membership, I'm not going to speculate in this situation and neither should anyone else. Why is this even an issue? This is clearly a very sad tragedy, let the organizations, family and friends of the deceased deal with it as they see fit...

Was requested to copy this from Risk Management...

From CBS Denver...

Student Died After 11-Hour Drinking Spree

Sep 17, 2004 1:38 pm US/Mountain
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) A 19-year-old college student drank the equivalent of up to 40 beers in an 11-hour spree before she was found dead of alcohol poisoning in a fraternity house, officials said Friday.

Samantha Spady, 19, of Beatrice, Neb., had a blood-alcohol level of 0.436, well above the 0.400 level considered potentially lethal, deputy coroner Dean Beers said.

Investigators said Spady and some companions started drinking beer but switched to straight shots of vodka. He said Spady drank the equivalent of 30 to 40 12-ounce beers or one-ounce shots of liquor.

Police issued citations to 19 men and women this week for alcohol-related offenses in their investigation into Spady's death.

Re: Frat tragedy
 

I think your post is totally uncalled for and very very very disrespectful to the young woman that died! :mad: Shame on you!

Re: unfortunately...
 

Not all of the eating clubs are snooty, in fact, you can join many of them through a lottery system. Furthermore, that really has nothing whatsoever to do with this thread.


***

As for the resigning thing - we've had a number of sisters who resigned their membership for benign reasons (couldn't afford dues, could not put in time commitment, family disapproval) who are still very good friends of the chapter. If they died, we would mourn them no less than we mourn a "regular" sister.

Dennis Harrison, chief of police in Fort Collins, speaks about the Samantha Spady case Friday. "I think there are a lot of people on the CSU campus who are thinking, 'That could have been me,' " he said.

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/st...191935,00.html

The link above is to a story which details Samatha Spady's last day.

All of the Greek organizations at Colorado State have now mandated that all Greek Housing will be dry effective October 11. Additionally, the university has, at least temporarily, banned beer sales at Hughes Stadium for all CSU home football games.

Below is an edited version of a story about Sigma Pi's closing. It is from a Denver paper via Fraternal News.

Edited from the Rocky Mountain News:

Rocky Mountain News
Denver, CO
September 10, 2004

CSU SHUTTERS SIGMA PI FRATERNITY HOUSE;
DECISION FOLLOWS WOMAN'S DEATH, REPEATED VIOLATIONS

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News, Staff writer Sarah Langbein contributed to this report.

FORT COLLINS -- Colorado State University officials, citing repeated violations of alcohol policies, disbanded the Fort Collins chapter of Sigma Pi fraternity on Thursday.

The move came just days after a young woman died in the fraternity house after ingesting a large amount of liquor, and just hours after the national Sigma Pi office revoked the chapter's charter for unspecified violations of its "risk-management" policies.

"We felt it was serious enough that we had to take action and enforce our policies," said Mark Briscoe, executive director of the national Sigma Pi office, who spent the past several days in Fort Collins investigating Samantha Spady's death.

Although the police investigation into Spady's death has not been completed, officials from the fraternity and CSU acknowledged they had enough evidence to take the action they did.

"We believe there's a piece of responsibility there," said Anne Hudgens, executive director of campus life at CSU.

The president of the chapter, Darren Pettapiece, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The death of Spady, a sophomore from Beatrice, Neb., marked the fourth incident involving alcohol at the fraternity in the past 15 months.

Spady was found dead Sunday in a converted bedroom on the second floor of the fraternity house.

Thursday's action was the first disbanding of a fraternity or sorority at CSU since a series of new rules governing Greek life on campus went into effect in 2002. Those rules allow alcohol in some fraternities but prohibit parties in any of the houses.

Fraternities and sororities that want to have parties are required to hold them at off-campus locations where alcohol use can be monitored.

Since the new rules went into effect, 32 violations have been reported to CSU's Greek Judicial Board. Of those, 26 were alcohol-related, and two of them involved Sigma Pi.

In one, the fraternity was sanctioned for organizing a party and serving alcohol in March. In the other, members were ticketed for a noise violation after an August party.

In addition, the university learned this week of an incident in July 2003 in which several Sigma Pi members allegedly attacked a man who mistakenly drove onto their lawn after getting lost.

(Edit: The man suffered a broken leg)

Hudgens, while declining to talk specifically about the circumstances of Spady's death, said that alcohol was the common denominator in all of the incidents.

A deposition in the civil lawsuit (brought by the injured man) paints a picture of a fraternity where alcohol was a part of life. Under questioning by an attorney for the injured man, Sigma Pi chapter adviser Brian Carnduff said it was considered OK to drink in the house - even among members under 21.

"It's preferred it's 21, but it's not really frowned upon if you're under," he said, according to a copy of the deposition obtained by the Rocky Mountain News. "It's college."

Sigma Pi can apply for reinstatement as a "colony" - or probationary chapter - at CSU in five years.

Following the national Sigma Pi organization's decision to revoke the local chapter's charter, the Greek Judicial Board recommended Thursday the university withdraw recognition of the fraternity.

The university followed the recommendation and the fraternity's Fort Collins chapter was dissolved.

Hudgens said Thursday's move reflected the context of incidents in the past 18 months. After the March episode, Sigma Pi members had to take classes on alcohol awareness and write a risk- management plan.

INFOBOX

Other houses on the outs

A look at fraternities and sororities shut down by Colorado State University officials in recent years:

In 1998, officials disbanded the Alpha Chi Omega sorority and the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity after members scrawled "I am gay" on a scarecrow on their homecoming float just days after Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, was tied to a fence like a scarecrow and beaten to death.

That same year, officials revoked the charter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity after repeated alcohol violations.

In 2000, officials dissolved the Sigma Nu fraternity for hazing and repeated alcohol violations.

In 2001, officials shut down the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity for repeated alcohol violations.

So scary, and so true.

If people are thinking that it could have been them, then apparently they are unbelievably poor decision-makers, and hopefully they will change.

The latest story says that this young woman ingested between 30 and 40 drinks in 11 hours. That's not youthful indiscretion. That's not the mistakes we all make when we're young. That's not a random tragedy like a college student getting hit by a car. What she apparently did is about as smart as jumping off a twenty-story building.

It's a horrific tragedy for the friends and family involved, but I don't think we should deny the reality that (unless current reports are mistaken) this woman died because she made choices that anyone with basic intelligence should know are likely to be lethal. IMHO, Colorado State students, that could have been you if you habitually aim a shotgun at your own head. If you act like one-tenth of the adult you legally are, then it couldn't have been you.

True, Ivyspice, but if those in the fraternity house saw her drinking that much why was she left alone? Why didn't someone step up to the plate and cut her off?

What a horrible tragedy. Perhaps she was coerced into drinking? Something just seems odd about the whole story. It really is sad.

IvySpice, I agree. If you're an adult, you're the one who is responsible for your own actions, and if you drink way too much, you're the one to blame, period.

If I were responsible for the moral guidance of those young men -- if I were their parents, say -- I'd tell them that they had an ethical obligation to notice a person self-destructing in their midst and try to do something to help her. No question, that's the only right thing to do in that situation, even though there's no legal obligation to do it.

But the fact that people should have helped her doesn't take away her responsibility for her own death. You can't leap off a bridge assuming that someone's going to catch you.

Of course it's possible that some important facts are missing from the story that would totally change my take on it. The investigation is still underway.

The fact that she apparently died from making bad choices doesn't make her death any less sad -- in fact, it's probably even more horrible for her family to lose her over something so preventable. I just hope that what students take away from this is that they are the ones that have to live or die with the consequences of their actions. If the police chief is right that students are all thinking, "This could have happened to anyone," then they're missing the crucial point that this (unlike other kinds of tragic death) does not happen to people who drink responsibly or not at all.

I do agree, Ivy, that everyone is responsible for their own actions. Even smart people make stupid choices sometimes. That is a part of being human. A choice this girl made obviously cost her life.

I saw a video clip on the web that said she had gone to various parties throughout the evening, drinking at each one.

I know you did not mean it was any less sad...I too feel very sorry for the family of this poor girl. What a terrible way to lose someone (although no way is easy).

the equivalent of 40 beers in a 10 hour period??? Sorry, I just heard this story on the news tonight. What a terrible event. I just agree with the sentiment here that there is more to this story than we'll ever know. It seems like these deaths come in cycles, a horrible wakeup call to college students.

RUgreek

This is what it has come to!:(



The Denver Post
September 19, 2004

CU Greek events halted

By Felisa Cardona and Will Shanley
Denver Post Staff Writers

Boulder - All social activities at Greek houses were suspended indefinitely
by the University of Colorado's Inter-Fraternity Council on Saturday after
the death of an 18-year-old Chi Psi pledge.

The body of Lynn "Gordie" Bailey, a business major from Dallas, was found
by fraternity members Friday morning in the frat house after a night in
which some members said a party was held there.

Police confirmed Saturday that ink smudges were found on Bailey's face,
indicating that someone might have used pens or markers to doodle on his
face after he went to sleep.

Authorities could not say whether alcohol was a factor in Bailey's death.
Preliminary results from the coroner's office won't be available until at
least Monday.

If alcohol was found to have been a factor in the student's death,
CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny said, the school will take "decisive
action."

Byyny also announced Saturday that CU administrators will begin reviewing
the university's relationship with the Greek system in meetings with
fraternity leaders this week.

Police are investigating whether alcohol played a role in the student's death.

On Saturday, members of a few sorority houses placed small memorials with
red roses and other flowers on the fraternity's doorstep, with notes
reading, "Our thoughts and prayers are with you" and other words of
encouragement.

A handful of fraternity members filtered in and out of the house during the
day. Empty Gatorade bottles and at least one beer can were strewn across
the front yard.

The death came less than two weeks after Colorado State University student
Samantha Spady, 19, died of alcohol poisoning. Her blood-alcohol level was
0.436, more than five times the legal limit for driving.

"In light of recent events in Colorado and around the nation, we are, of
course, concerned about any possibility of the involvement of alcohol in
this tragedy," Byyny said Friday.

Chi Psi, which had operated continuously on Boulder's campus since 1921,
was suspended Friday by its national chapter pending the investigation's
outcome, said Sam Bessey, the fraternity's national executive director who
was in Boulder on Saturday.

Despite that, members will be allowed to live in the house, although many
have opted to stay with friends or in dorms provided by the university,
Bessey said.

"They are scared and they are sad," Bessey said of the fraternity's 79
members, 36 of whom live at the house. "Our next step is to continue the
grieving process."

Byyny met Saturday with members of Bailey's family to express his condolences.

A candlelight vigil for Bailey is scheduled for 9 p.m. Monday at the Dalton
Trumbo Fountain Court on the north side of the University Memorial Center
at 14th and Euclid streets.

A moment of silence for Bailey and Spady was to be held Saturday during
CU's football game at Folsom Stadium against North Texas.

Students who attended the pledge party at the fraternity house Thursday
night said heavy drinking was going on.

CU sophomore Brandon Pattison said he walked by the fraternity about
midnight Thursday and saw the party.

Kate Ronalds, an 18-year-old freshman, said Bailey was a tall and stocky
kid. She said she knew Bailey and some of the other Chi Psi members from
visiting the house.

The Chi Psi members liked to drink alcohol, she said.

(c) 2004. The Denver Post.


It is so sad to lose a young life in stupidity!:(

Re: Re: unfortunately...
 

I don't think anyone is saying her former sisters shouldn't be sad about her death - Erik is referring to "formal mourning" which is basically what they were doing with the ribbons. It isn't appropriate, any more than it would be appropriate for a woman who divorced her husband 30 years ago to wear formal mourning for him. I know that their hearts were in the right place but if they wanted to do something like that it should have been campus wide rather than implying an association that has ceased to exist.

Re: Re: Re: unfortunately...
 

Since the majority of the chapter knew and I am assuming liked her, it is appropriate to do what they did. I think we should not second guess the chapter for this. They were being nice. ANd just because someone gets divorced doesn't mean the people who loved them in the past will not be sad at their passing. Maybe naming an award after her or something wouldn't really be appropriate, but I think wearing ribbons is just a sign of support for the family and friends of this youg lady and that is always in good taste. If she had been a former cheerleader and they did it, no one would think twice. Any way-I think it was sweet of the girls in the chapter.