Quote:
Originally Posted by exlurker
A Pittsburgh paper’s site has a slight update, with quotes from a chapter officer, who reportedly said the chapter takes responsibility for the incident. The police apparently got involved due to calls from residents of the area where the pledges were yelling, running around, and so on at 1:30 or so in the morning.
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/re...s/201411080050
“Mr. Schaible [the vice president of the chapter] did not participate in the events Thursday, but said it was his understanding that Sigma Chi members dropped the pledges off in South Park, a residential neighborhood near Downtown, and tasked them with finding their way back to the fraternity house. The event, he said, was a team-building exercise.
‘We thought we had a good plan going, but I guess things got out of hand,’ he said.”
Edited to add: Can anyone familiar with Morgantown WV give some information about the South Park neighborhood? I've found that it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and that it has a substantial number of single-family dwellings built in the early 1900s. Are the residents generally protective of their neighborhood (not likely to appreciate a noisy group in the early morning hours)? Is it a fairly affluent area of the city that tends to get quick action on complaint calls to police? |
South Park is about 2 miles from Sigma Chi (and other Greek houses). It's over a small, walkable bridge from downtown Morgantown. It is not an affluent area, but there are some old, historic homes (students occupy several). It's a mix of Morgantown residents and students, probably 60/40 or 70/30. I dated someone who lived in the area and spent a lot of time there. The so called rowdy behavior of Sigma Chi pledges probably did stand out in that neighborhood more than it would in other parts of Morgantown. The bridge, while small, kind of separates the neighborhood from the campus, Greek houses, and the bars.