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San Jose fighting frats analyzed
Sun, Jan. 26, 2003
Is violence inevitable with rival fraternities?
COMPETITIVE CULTURE MAY LEAD TO FEUDS
By John Woolfolk and Tracey Kaplan
Mercury News
College fraternities have a rich history of colorful competition. And while rivals occasionally stoop to vulgar name-calling and creative spray-painting, weapons usually aren't part of the contest.
But last week's deadly fight between two San Jose State University fraternities was hardly the first time Greek rivalry turned violent.
• White Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers at the University of California-Davis two years ago attacked Asian-American members of Sigma Kappa Rho, stomping and hitting them before being beaten back by a bat and a samurai sword. They clashed again two months later in a brawl involving 80 people at the Yolo Causeway levee.
• A simmering feud over vandalism between Delta Tau Delta and Phi Delta Theta at Washington State University erupted in a brawl two years ago involving some 50 members armed with golf clubs, flashlights and sticks. Several members were hospitalized.
• More than 100 members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Phi Delta Theta at the University of Michigan came to blows four years ago after a longstanding rivalry over the annual Mud Bowl football game. The fight followed an earlier incident over a racial slur.
• UC-Davis disciplined Lambda Phi Epsilon after members broke into rival Pi Alpha Phi's house in March 2002 and vandalized personal property and sacred emblems. The tension was so bad that the school's student judicial affairs staff was forced to mediate the dispute.
San Jose State officials suspended the same two Asian-American fraternities last week after Alam Kim, a 23-year-old Lambda, was stabbed to death early Wednesday in an off-campus brawl. Police linked the fight to a longstanding feud.
Such violence is rare, but rivalry is central to fraternity life.
From the first days of pledge week, initiates engage in pranks -- or worse -- against competing fraternities. As brothers, they fight for bragging rights in everything from grades to sports to women. But incidents like the San Jose State tragedy beg a tough question: Given fraternities' intense focus on loyalty and winning, is it inevitable that this friendly competition will sometimes turn ugly?
Alcohol, group identity and macho one-upmanship can drive rivalries out of control, said Hank Nuwer, an Indiana University journalism professor who has written about fraternities.
``It's a constant state of showing your identity, showing your letters and denigrating the other person's letters,'' he said. And showing off for women: ``You see fights tied to possessiveness and Neanderthal male attitudes.''
Greeks and campus officials, however, say such violence does not reflect fraternity life.
``The fraternity's purpose is really to create solid citizenship so that we are positively influencing the communities in which we live,'' said Peter Smithhisler, vice president of the North-American Interfraternity Conference, which represents major college fraternities. ``That's why the behavior of these two groups at San Jose State is so inconsistent with who we say we are and why that behavior is so unacceptable.''
Fraternity rivalry is as old as fraternities themselves. At Yale University in the 1840s, Alpha Sigma Phi and Kappa Sigma Theta competed fiercely through the pages of their respective newspapers, the Tomahawk and the Banger.
Fraternity rivalries tend to occur between local chapters rather than being national in scope. San Jose State University's 37 Greek organizations are typical, competing vigorously to be tops in grades, sports and, of course, attracting members of the opposite sex. Some San Jose State fraternities paint their Greek insignia on the sidewalks or steps of their favorite sororities.
``It somewhat puts a claim on that sorority,'' said Walker Kellogg, president of the Interfraternal Council, which represents 10 long-established fraternities on campus. ``Then another fraternity will come by at night and paint the letters over.''
Local Greeks deny any ill will on an organized level.
``Any competition is usually left at the field,'' said Jessica Jeronimus, president of San Jose State's Panhellenic Council, which represents five national sororities. ``Not everyone gets along with everyone, but they keep it to themselves.''
Members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, which represents five African-American sororities and fraternities at San Jose State, hold twice-annual competitions called ``step shows,'' presentations that involve tap dancing, said Wallace Davenport, the council's adviser. The best presenters compete in New Orleans every November in the national meet.
The most well-known rivalry at San Jose State is between Theta Chi and Delta Upsilon over athletic prowess in basketball and football.
``I wouldn't say they like each other, but there's no fighting,'' said Gino Pucillo, 23, who is earning a master's degree in pedagogy and has attended the intramural competitions.
Rodney Blaco, a member of Delta Upsilon, characterized the competition as friendly.
``You play sports and it's always friendly and you get together afterward,'' said Blaco, 28, who is earning a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.
But officials conceded that occasionally competition threatens to turn ugly.
Recently, members of one San Jose State fraternity taunted another fraternity at a party in a show of unsportsmanlike behavior, Kellogg said. The group that was being taunted left the party, and the aggressors were reprimanded by the council in late November, he said.
``The person who was responsible lost status,'' said Kellogg. He said the leader was not re-elected to his fraternity post.
San Jose State Police Chief Ric Abeyta said he's unaware of any hostilities between fraternities, and that last week's fight was a surprise. Police usually deal with fraternities only over parties, he said.
Twenty of the campus's 37 Greek groups are regulated by councils, but the rest are independent, including the two involved in last week's fatal brawl.
Older and more established fraternities tend to be very aggressive in disciplining wayward chapters, said Angela Harper, San Jose State's director of Greek life.
Many of the newer Greek groups are organized around cultural or ethnic interests. They may not be affiliated with a national organization or the traditional Greek umbrella organizations such as the North-American Interfraternity Conference or the National Panhellenic Conference.
Greeks at San Jose State worry that last week's melee hurt all fraternities just as they were enjoying an upswing in registration.
``This incident will probably have a negative effect on recruitment,'' Kellogg said. ``People are quick to lump everyone in one category.''
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