ACLU, alumni, save SAE at Maine
 

(Orig. dist. by Doug Case, Fraternal News)


Maine Campus
September 15, 2005
UM police, fraternity dispute SAE incident
By Lindsay Stevens
The early morning of March 19 brought Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity the end of Saint Patrick's Day festivities and the start of a spiraling legal dispute with the University of Maine. The event led to the suspension and probation of the fraternity and many unanswered questions.
At 1:48 a.m., UMaine Public Safety and Orono Ambulance were alerted of a cell phone call received by the Maine State Police requesting medical assistance for a highly intoxicated female in medical distress who was reported to be on the premises of SAE.
When police arrived at the residence of SAE, they accused the brothers of having a party and started to demand where "the girl" was, according to James Sexton, regional president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon for New England. The SAE members, two of whom were intoxicated, responded with confusion saying that there was no party or girl. They told police that if they wanted to enter the house, they would have to present a search warrant, to which the officers replied that they had one, but had left it at the station. Upon the arrival of SAE president Jesse Ouellette, approximately 15 minutes later, the police were permitted to enter the house. They found no evidence of a party and no inebriated woman.
Police Chief Noel March maintains that the immediate action of the officers was to inform the brothers that they had received a medical emergency phone call, yet were barred from entering the residence by two particular individuals.
"I am grateful for Jesse Ouellette's intervention that night, his maturity and his leadership," said March. "He calmed things down. Without him, there would have been more arrests and the likelihood of increased force."
The two brothers responsible for preventing police entrance were suspended from the University, expelled from SAE and criminally charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing government administration, to which they plead guilty.
UMaine sanctioned SAE for "conduct, which threatens or endangers the health or safety of any individual," as a result of denying police and medical personnel admission during an emergency. The presence, or lack thereof, of the allegedly intoxicated female appeared irrelevant to the issue. The police speculated that the girl may have exited the house during the 15 minutes of denied entry.
"The two brothers could have handled the situation better, but the police could have, too," said Ouellette.
The Maine SAE chapter was suspended and put on probation for two years and lost fraternity privileges. In the original sanctions, UMaine also prohibited the members from wearing their letters, directed them to vacate their house and instructed them not to have any association with one another or "continue to operate as Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, however loosely defined." The University demanded that the fraternity "undergo a comprehensive membership review that must be shared, in its entirety, with the director of Greek life and dean of students."
"That was a violation of their constitutional rights," said Sexton. "The University cannot tell them what to wear, they cannot kick them out of a house they own, and they cannot tell them who they may associate with."
In a letter to Inter Fraternity Council members, Ouellette wrote, "SAE never offered to do a membership review, and we certainly would never agree to share highly confidential internal membership information with the administration. Bottom line: the administration does not have the legal authority to request this of any fraternity or sorority."
SAE appealed the sanctions twice and was denied both times. The fraternity went on further to enlist the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union. Ouellette is not aware of what the ACLU may have said or done, but the university reissued the sanctions with changes. They no longer prohibited SAE from wearing their letters, advised them to vacate their property, not reorganize the fraternity and stated that it would be helpful if the membership review was shared with them.
"I'm not trying to slam the university," said Ouellette. "I like this campus, the professors are great and I have had great experiences here. I just want to stand up for what's right."
The 911 caller who originated the chain of events wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. Chief March supports that the call has been identified as "legitimate and genuine." The cell phone call records were subpoenaed in court, and Ouellette received a map of where the call had originated from, and it originated from Old Town, not on SAE's property.
"We know for certain that there was no drunken girl there that night," said Ouellette. "The University has decided to sanction Maine Alpha for endangering a person who was never actually in any danger."
When asked if he thought that there had been an intoxicated girl on the premises that night, March said, "We believe that the caller was being honest."
When a fraternity chapter loses its recognition from a university, the chapter is shut down by the national fraternity. After an investigation and risk assessment, the SAE national fraternity made an exception for the Maine Chapter of SAE because they believed the university had over-stepped its bounds and were concerned that the punishment of the fraternity did not fit the crime.
"In sports, if two athletes acted up, they would be punished individually, the whole team certainly wouldn't be suspended by the university," said Sexton. "Why is it any different than two brothers and a fraternity?"
According to Sexton, SAE is concerned that current UMaine Public Safety behavior is borderline harassment. They allegedly shine flashlights into cars at the fraternity and visit the house with no probable cause.
March says 117 College Ave is not being singled out.
"Any address that is known to have high-risk behavior that can lead to violations of the law will be monitored by police whether it is a dorm, frat house or apartment building. As I tell every frat and sorority that I visit, there are far too many students and far too few police officers for us to sit in the bushes and wait for somebody to walk by with a plastic cup. If you're a lightning rod for attention, you're going to get police attention."
The SAE national chapter holds the position that "SAE is committed to working with the University of Maine to foster a robust Greek community." SAE has offered to pay for a professional mediation firm from Boston to help relations.
"We've called several times to meet with SAE, maybe over dinner. With SAE, we don't need a mediator," said March. "We need an invitation. I'm hungry."
"We just want to know who the caller is so that we can set our reputation straight," said Oullette.
"SAE is not a threat," he said. "We have a great fraternity. We do over 800 hours of community service every year. We just want to stop the rumors."

If this article is accurate, I would say that it definately looks as though the university overstepped their authority.

It seems like the holes in the police and administration's story are big enough to walk through.

I would be interested in hearing more about this. Anyone on GC go to school in Maine?

How can someone be forbidden to wear their letters? :confused:

They can't. But a lot of people will just accept whatever the school tells them as gospel which is STOO PID.

Exactly. Good for those guys for recognizing their rights and standing up for them.

There is a side walk on each side of the Road isnt there?:D

Many Adms try to make a decission which chafes many people especially Greeks.

It might have been a lot easier if they worked with the SAE Chapter instead of Gestopo Tactics.

I was reading this and thinking, what the hell were these COPs doing? DAH!:rolleyes:

1. They received an anonymous phone call.

2. Oh, We left the seach warrent at the station.

Sorry, call BS on this deal!

It looks the like the two guys that denied the police entry got shafted by the law, the administration and the SAE fraternity.

they did the right thing by requiring the police to produce a warrant to search the premises. Otherwise the police only have to claim they heard there was an emergency to search anyone's house.

Did the university own the house?

"The University cannot tell them what to wear, they cannot kick them out of a house they own, and they cannot tell them who they may associate with."

Yes, but cant the Un. hold recognition or any school funds and use of school facilities? Just being Devil Advocate with this statement.

Neither here or there, the Police do not have the right to go into a Private Owned Home without a search warrent unless allowed access.

I also loved the part where they said that the so called victum was taken out of the house for the period of time (15 Min) it took them to get the warrent! Give Me a friggen break! Why didnt they have The Warrent with them? To get a warrent, there has to be a Judge sign off on it. 15 Min. My butt. You have to get a Judge up, tell Him the situation, ask him if He will be willing to sign it and get to the scene.

Name of Chief sounds about Right "March", March right in!

Depending on what the Attitude is of the Adm. with Greeks, this may have a lot to do with it.

It's significant that SAE National is not suspending their chapter. In my opinion, SAE is the easily the weakest of all the major nationals when it comes to backing up their chapters when they're being unfairly bullied by administrators. If SAE National is standing strong, then the actions of the administration and the campus police must have been outrageously unfair, maybe illegal.
One school of thought holds that most administrators on that middle level have no idea that thay can't just do whatever they want and thet they can be held personally liable for damages to the organizations they bully. That thinking holds that chapters should be super-aggressive with their attorneys. But there's always a price to pay in any dispute with the university.
I wish the SAEs well, and I hope they draw blood (figuratively) with their response.

When the police said they left the warrant at the 'station' the cops should have been told to go phuck themselves and sent back to their station to get it.

Cops are notorious for shit like that when thay have NO PROOF.

I have heard Greek life administrators say that they prefer having the larger national organizations on their campus because the fraternity or sorority won't hesistate to get rid of their own chapter at the slightest problem.

If you have over a hundred plus chapters losing one isn't important to them.

Some of the smaller organizations will fight harder on their chapter's behalf and cause the administration headaches.

I have actually seen girls talked out of starting a chapter of one of the smaller groups in favor of a larger national for that reason.

Hrrm that could be a good expansion topic.