Non-member stabs non-student: SAE NIU suspended

[hoosier]

NIU suspends SAE, alcohol-related events for all Greeks

Article by:
Justin Smith - Assistant Campus Editor
• jsmith@northernstar.info

NIU has officially suspended the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and placed an indefinite moratorium on all Greek houses following an altercation Saturday morning at the SAE house in which one person was stabbed by an NIU student.

In an official statement released by the university Saturday, the moratorium was described as prohibiting all fraternities and sororities from hosting social events in their houses or at third-party venues.

"With these suspensions and the larger moratorium, we are working with the Greek community to help them ensure the safety and security of their houses and events, and also challenging them to take greater responsibility for both," vice president of student affairs Brian Hemphill said in the statement. The groups may continue to conduct regular meetings, participate in community service and organize philanthropic events, but may not host any events involving alcohol, according to the statement.

The moratorium was issued by Hemphill after working closely with provost Ivan Legg.

The NIU Judicial Office also issued a suspension for the student involved in the incident.

According to police reports, junior business major Matthew Bergquist, 21, of DeKalb is currently being held in DeKalb County Jail after being accused of stabbing a 20-year-old male after Bergquist was denied entry to a party being held at the SAE house.

The victim of the stabbing was not an NIU student. Neither the victim nor Bergquist were members of the SAE fraternity.

The moratorium will remain in place while the university completes a review of policies and practices regarding Greek events.

Saturday morning’s incident comes after Hemphill formed an alcohol task force earlier this semester to examine issues related to alcohol abuse.

In a phone interview Sunday afternoon, Hemphill said the task force will not be directly engaged in the process of reviewing the weekend’s incidents, but rather will assist and enhance the investigation.

Representatives for SAE were unavailable for comment.

[Kevin]

So they follow all of the rules, something happens that's only related to their party by proximity, and they still get punished.

Is that what I'm reading?

[texas*princess]

Originally posted by ktsnake
So they follow all of the rules, something happens that's only related to their party by proximity, and they still get punished.

Is that what I'm reading?

yep i think so ..

i wish the article gave more details on what happened. was the non-SAE who denied the other guy into the party part of a hired security guard team? or some random party-goer?

i'm not understanding why SAE was suspended?

[PsychTau2]

I don't know what the terms of the SAE suspension is, but I don't think the moratorium for all alcohol related events is necessarily a bad idea. I think it's prudent to say "Time Out until we figure out how to deal with this safety issue"....but I don't think the moratorium should last forever. 2-3 weeks should be long enough. I'm sure it feels like a punishment to the Greeks, but as an older (and hopefully wiser) alum/staff member/advisor, I don't see it as punishment. I would probably do the same thing.

Hopefully they figure out how to make party situations safer. There is always the danger of someone getting angry because they aren't on the guest list and denied entry, and often 18-25 year olds don't innately know how to handle angry, belligerent people. Maybe they will do some more education for people who work the door for situations like this.

PsychTau

[Tom Earp]

Da, how many UNI are there out there? Ind, Idaho, Ill?

This sounds like over kill at an extreme!

The article doesnt explain Crap does it? Reason for a Moratorum on Greeks!

Excuse Me but is BS from the get go!

What School is it and have there been many problems there before?

Have The SAEs been in trouble before?

If so, did they do what was requested by The School and followed all rules?

Please fill in some question marks!

[GeekyPenguin]

NIU, Earp.

Northern Illinois. It says it's in DeKalb.

[RedRoseSAI]

It's Northern Illinois University. I don't know if the SAEs have been in trouble before or not...they were kind of a rowdy bunch back when they first got started, but who knows how things have been lately.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
Northern Illinois. It says it's in DeKalb.

It says so in the body of the article, but not in the topic of the thread.

I agree with Tom on this one.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a thread about a tragedy at "KSU."

Turns out it was Kent State, but I wonder how many Kansas State people had a pause when they read the topic.

We need to get past just using just the letters because they mean different things in different parts of the country.

RE: the suspension/moratorium, the article isn't really very well written. It doesn't really say anywhere whether any rules were broken -- or if there have been massive problems in the past.

On the face of it, though, it certainly appears pretty heavy handed to punish the entire system for an incident at one house which didn't really involve any members there.

[boz130]

From personal experience, the Northern Illinois SAE's have been a decent bunch.

ZAX,
BF

[hooha]

Yeah so I'm a member of SAE at Northern Illinois. This is a bunch of crap. We had an open party. The party became too crowded. We stopped letting people in as a result. Something terrible happened outside of our house and we get the blame?! That's as much as I'm going to say. I'm a little upset.

[Tom Earp]

hooha,

can be understanding so.

If the SAE Chapter has had no problems then, there should not be a problem.

But, as We all know, if anything is done within reach of a Greek Organization, it is blamed on them.

Haveing not been there in person, I cannot speak about validity.

But a shot gun covers a large area.

Sounds like Party got out of control and now is being paid back for the situation that happened.

Safety is first priority isnt it.

Of course, no matter how We as Greeks try to contain and regulate partys, SH*T does happen and then it sticks to The Group of the moment. Well if not all of us.