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Subject: WKU suspends SAE


Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was tagged Monday with
a one-year suspension after an investigation by
Western officials uncovered hazing violations and
other infractions.
Student Organizations Coordinator Charley Pride said
Monday that SAE will not be recognized by the
university as a student organization again until Jan.
1, 2003.

Western’s investigation revealed that members of SAE,
which established a chapter at Western in 1965, had
committed a number of violations including hazing
pledges and damaging property owned by “a member of
the university community,” Pride said. He declined to
name whose property was damaged.

He said the fraternity had “created a dangerous
environment that led to inappropriate behavior and the
injury of a pledge” and that the chapter had required
pledges to dedicate too much time to the fraternity.

Western began looking into the activities of SAE after
receiving word of an October incident where a pledge
was hit in the head with a wooden paddle during a
fraternity ritual where pledges attempt to “kidnap” an
active member, Pride said.

A campus police report filed Oct. 15 said Robert S.
Ryan, a pledge, suffered a light concussion and
injuries to his arm after being hit with the paddle.
He was taken to UrgentCare for treatment. Lee Ann
Phelps, a nurse at UrgentCare, notified campus police
about the incident.

SAE must adhere to a number of stipulations during its
suspension. Pride said SAE is barred from using any
building at Western for fraternity functions,
participating in university-sponsored activities as
SAE or taking part in activities with the
Interfraternity Council.

SAE President Matt Larson said Tuesday chapter members
were “extremely disappointed” in the university’s
decision to levee the one-year suspension.

“... But we have every confidence that we’ll come back
a year from now an even stronger and better chapter,”
said Larson, who graduates in December.

Larson said SAE has been ordered by Western to improve
its pledge program before it is reinstated next
January.

Despite the penalties against the fraternity, current
pledges to the chapter will be initiated soon, he
said.

The SAE national office in Evanston, Ill., has yet to
issue a decision regarding the violations according to
Alex Redmond, coordinator of publications for the
national office.

“The university does not condone that type of
behavior,” Pride said. “That is what (the penalty)
shows.”

Redmond said his office fully supports penalties
brought by Western officials. However, it has not
established a timeline for deciding about its own
possible penalties.

He said any decision would be made by local SAE alumni
in Bowling Green.

“Typically, we like to let alumni come up with
solutions because they are those closest involved with
the chapter in that location,” Redmond said.

Gene Tice, vice president of Student Affairs and
Campus Services, said Tuesday a group of SAE alumni
have requested to meet with university officials.

Tice said he does not know what the group plans to
discuss when the meeting might take place.

“We just need to start a discussion and go from
there,” Tice said.

Redmond said SAE members will be allowed to stay in
their house at 1410 College St. during the one-year
suspension and display the SAE letters out front.
However, they will not be allowed to take part in any
university social events under the SAE name or accept
any new members.

Larson said he was told by a representative from the
fraternity’s national office that the body does not
plan to issue further penalties beyond the
university’s.

SAE is the second fraternity at Western within the
past year to be penalized for hazing violations. Kappa
Alpha Psi fraternity was hit with a three-year
suspension from the university last semester after an
investigation found the chapter had hazed pledges.

Pride said KA Psi was given a stiffer penalty than SAE
because they set up fraternity events with the intent
to harm pledges.

“The SAE event or events were not set up to bring
harm, but due to the nature of the events, someone got
hurt,” Pride said.



Ps. at other university's do you think they would have
gotten more the pres of our university is an alum of
the chapter.
and it sounded from the article that the local alumni
will hand down sanctions instead of nationals but why
would they be harsh if this was going on when they
were there which it probably was.

Note: It is true that this type of thing was probably going on when the President was an active member of the chapter. It is also true that people tend to learn and mature as they grow older. Perhaps the president and local alumni simply realize now that hazing has no place in the modern Greek System if the system is to survive.