Sigma Pi at Rutgers...

[AXORissa]

This is awful... this happened at my college last Sat Night between Sigma Pi and Squam (who were Chi Phi before they got their charter revoked by their national, but their alumni were powerful enough to keep them as a local in their house).

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/latestst...9074126141.xml



Two N.J. college students hurt in fight

By TOM BELL
The Associated Press
10/13/2003, 10:01 p.m. ET


NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Two Rutgers University students were critically injured in a brawl that involved some members of a fraternity, a social club and the school's wrestling team.


The fight broke out early Sunday at an off-campus party following an argument, officials said. Seven people were charged.

From 30 to 35 people were on each side of the street fight, with some swinging poles or wooden sticks, said witness Mark Strampfer, 21, a Rutgers senior.

John P. Morin, and Robert Morgan, both 20, received head injuries when they were struck with a baseball bat, authorities said. Both were hospitalized in critical condition.

Bill Lamb, a Middlesex County prosecutor, said the fight involved members of the Sigma Pi fraternity, the wrestling team and Squam, a social club not recognized by the school. The attack happened outside a house where the social club was having a mixer. Both injured students allegedly belong to the social club.

"The mixer was closed and it's alleged Sigma Pi came over and they were denied admittance and that triggered the fight," Lamb said.

Jonathan Rodriguez, 23, who allegedly wielded the bat, was a member of the wrestling team last year, but had taken this semester off. He faces weapons offenses, assault and rioting charges, and was being held on $350,000 bail.

His twin brother, Kenneth Rodriguez, a senior wrestler, was charged with conspiracy to commit riot, hindering the investigation and a weapons offense. He was being held on $150,000 bail.

Five others faced rioting charges. Four attended Rutgers; the fifth was visiting from another college.

___

[ztabchbum]

OMG! That is awful! What was going through their heads when they went over there? I mean really! What a shame this had to happen. I really hope those students that were injured come out of everything ok.

[AOTTAdvisor]

Here is another article on it from CNN.com, with a little more information on SQUAM.


Fraternity brawl results in critical injuries
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 Posted: 4:51 AM EDT (0851 GMT)



An unidentified Squam fraternity member stands on the front steps of the social club where the brawl occurred.

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An off-campus brawl that involved members of a Rutgers fraternity, a social club and the wrestling team left two students critically injured. News 12 New Jersey's Cynthia Scott reports (October 14)

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NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (AP) -- Two Rutgers University students were critically injured in an off-campus brawl that involved members of a Rutgers fraternity, a social club and some members of the school's wrestling team.

The fight broke out around 3:30 a.m. Sunday at an off-campus party following an argument, officials said. Seven people were charged.

From 30 to 35 people were on each side of the street fight, with some swinging poles or wooden sticks, said Mark Strampfer, 21, a Rutgers senior and witness.

John P. Morin, and Robert Morgan, both 20, received serious head injuries when they were struck with a baseball bat, authorities said.

Morin was listed in critical condition Monday at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, spokesman John Patella said. The hospital released no information about Morgan at the request of his family, Patella said.

Police and university officials deferred all questions to the Middlesex County prosecutor's office on Monday.

Bill Lamb, an assistant prosecutor, said the fight involved some members of the Sigma Pi fraternity, the wrestling team and Squam, a social club that is not recognized by the school. The attack happened outside a house where the social club was having a party, and both injured students allegedly belong to Squam.

Jonathan Rodriguez, 23, who allegedly wielded the bat, was a Rutgers student and member of the wrestling team last year, but had taken this semester off. He faces weapons offenses, assault and rioting charges, and was being held without bail.

His twin brother, Kenneth Rodriguez, a senior and member of the wrestling team, was charged with conspiracy to commit riot, hindering the investigation and a weapons offense. He was being held on $150,000 bail.

Five others faced rioting charges. Four attended Rutgers; the fifth was visiting from another college.

Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick said in a statement that the school "will pursue all appropriate actions against any Rutgers students who took part in the incident."

Squam, the social club where the fight took place, is owned by a private corporation and was a fraternity house until 1999, according to university records. It was once a fraternity that had its chapter revoked for safety violations and is now considered an off-campus housing unit and not covered by university regulations for fraternities.

At the Squam house, candles left over from a Sunday night vigil lined the porch. There was also a sign that read: "John and Rob, our prayers are with you."

[AXORissa]

Its horrible... its all people are talking about. Our Greek system is already in horrible condition: what the papers ARENT saying about Squam is why they lost their Chi Phi charter-- in 1999 an illegal freshman pledge "fell" out of a window at his dorm after a night of forced drinking. The year before that, either a brother or pledge (i dont remember) was so drunk that he fell down the stairs at Theta Chi and was killed. SAMMY was accused of burning down their house after they lost their charter (although they are rebuilding it and are back on campus). Chi Psi had "fire violations" and was shut down. All in all, our fraternity system is a mess. This is why, if anyone had read my previous posts, why recruitment numbers are down, and the school would like nothing more than to shut down the entire greek system.

its so sad that the Greek system is getting a bad rep because of bad seeds, but its becoming so commonplace on our campus...

[gypsiilee]

I was there the night Chi Psi was closed down i thin it was a few years ago when i was a sophmore, the cops got in becasue of fire hazards but they were Definitily (sp?) not shut down because of them.(other factors caused there shut down not gonna say) Also im pretty sure it was a brother who died and if u have ever been down their steps it is not hard to fall down and after a night of drinking they are pretty dangerous. The pledge apparently had other things going on as well, i knew a friend of his who also knew his story (involved a girlfriend and her ex) It is pretty said. However, if Sig Pi at rutgers is soo small and they are made up of , I think , Only wrestlers form the and they are new to the greek system. thankfully we have Sigma Chi and Sig Ep as well as few others that will hopefully stand up and show the positive sides of the greek life at rutgers. It is sad when only the bad shows through and none of the good. I hope everyone is praying for John and Rob.

[madmax]

Originally posted by AXORissa
Its horrible... its all people are talking about. Our Greek system is already in horrible condition: what the papers ARENT saying about Squam is why they lost their Chi Phi charter-- in 1999 an illegal freshman pledge "fell" out of a window at his dorm after a night of forced drinking. The year before that, either a brother or pledge (i dont remember) was so drunk that he fell down the stairs at Theta Chi and was killed. SAMMY was accused of burning down their house after they lost their charter (although they are rebuilding it and are back on campus). Chi Psi had "fire violations" and was shut down. All in all, our fraternity system is a mess. This is why, if anyone had read my previous posts, why recruitment numbers are down, and the school would like nothing more than to shut down the entire greek system.

its so sad that the Greek system is getting a bad rep because of bad seeds, but its becoming so commonplace on our campus...

What the papers ARENT saying about Squam? How about telling us what the papers aren't saying about Sigma Pi and the wrestling team. They are the ones that started the fight. Squam was having a private party at a private house and Sigma Pi wasn't invited. Sigma Pi was denied admission so they recruited some of their friends from the wrestling team and went back to Squam with baseball bats.

[AXORissa]

Originally posted by gypsiilee
I was there the night Chi Psi was closed down i thin it was a few years ago when i was a sophmore, the cops got in becasue of fire hazards but they were Definitily (sp?) not shut down because of them.(other factors caused there shut down not gonna say)

yeah I know, thats why "fire violations" was in quotes-- I wasnt there that night, but my roommate was. she was stuck there most of the night and had to leave through a window!! I was a soph also, I think, or a freshman.

However, if Sig Pi at rutgers is soo small and they are made up of , I think , Only wrestlers form the and they are new to the greek system.

they came back on campus in 2001 I think. and yup, the majority of them are wrestlers-- the two "brothers" who were arrested arent even recognized by Sig Pi national!

thankfully we have Sigma Chi and Sig Ep as well as few others that will hopefully stand up and show the positive sides of the greek life at rutgers.

I <3 Sigma Chi. If I was male, I would have gone there, Sig Ep or Phi Tau.

[AXORissa]

Originally posted by madmax
What the papers ARENT saying about Squam? How about telling us what the papers aren't saying about Sigma Pi and the wrestling team. They are the ones that started the fight. Squam was having a private party at a private house and Sigma Pi wasn't invited. Sigma Pi was denied admission so the recruited some of their friends from the wrestling team and went back to Squam with baseball bats.

um.. the papers I read said that....

and actually Squam was having a (probably illegal) mixer with a sorority I wont name (but it wasn't mine).

[gypsiilee]

Yea, i was stuck at Chi Psi for a while that night as well there for a while as well. Just so all know mixers ususally end around midnight and are than open to the public, atleast that is what i always saw when i was there. And any sorority haveing a mixer with an unofficial frat is shouldnt even be called a mixer since they are not ercognized by the national. I htink i said that right. Im thinking that this fight may have had something to do with a beef the two frats may have had with each other, i just dont know what it would have been, although with drunk guys who knows. i h ope it wasnt my sorority that was having the "mixer". i'll have to check around.

[gypsiilee]

And on the way chi psi was closed down i didnt mean to repeat what u said, i was just trying to put the "why" in a nice way. I htink in that year we lost a few of the frats. Chi Psi, Chi Phi (now Squam) and Sammy, and St. Elmos (sig ep now has their old mansion). Iwas at St. Elmos the summer they were shut down, that was sad and i never figured out why. And it stinks cause they had all been around Rutgers for so long. TKE has almost been shut a few times too. Most were cited because they didnt update their fire sprinklers quick enough. Or so the officials say. I wish ppl tried to work with each other a little more. But everyone has their own expectations about how things should be and no one wants to change with the system.

[AXORissa]

Originally posted by gypsiilee
And on the way chi psi was closed down i didnt mean to repeat what u said, i was just trying to put the "why" in a nice way. I htink in that year we lost a few of the frats. Chi Psi, Chi Phi (now Squam) and Sammy, and St. Elmos (sig ep now has their old mansion). Iwas at St. Elmos the summer they were shut down, that was sad and i never figured out why.

hehe, thats ok yeah, I never found out why either St Elmos got shut down, I never got to go in the house when they lived there. The sig Ep house now is gorgeous.


and yeah, i remember when they had the fire violations, the TKEs and Phi Taus were homeless for a while- remember those T-shirts, hehe RU Evicted?

[exlurker]

Originally posted by gypsiilee
. . . . i hope it wasnt my sorority that was having the "mixer". i'll have to check around.

FWIW, according to the article about the incident in the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Google News search), the sorority in question was Gamma Phi Beta. There's absolutely NO indication in that story that the sorority members at the party were involved in the brawl.

[gypsiilee]

My friend slept on thetas fro steps (he was a brother of course) when they were closed for a couple of days. On St.Elmos they used to have a hundred year old hand painted wallpaper that was really pretty, i think it got taken down during teh renovations. my best friend dates an alum of sig ep and he has promised to tak e me to the house to see it next time i am up there. i just found out through a friend that both boys are still in critical condition and as far as she knows it was over them not being allowed in to the house. It is just so sick how can any human hit another over teh head with a bat let alone two. And over not being allowed into a silly party that they werent invited too? i doubt teh Sig pis would have let a bunch of drunk boys (assuming they were drunk) into one of their parties. Sick, thats the only way to describe it. Also my frind is in my soro and knew the guys and their friends and she also let me know it wasnt sig kap. thank god(we need no more probs after how well they have been doing).

[AXORissa]

another article.... this one explains that the boys actually WEREN'T Sig Pi's... they had de-pledged for not paying fees, and in another article I read, Sig Pi national said they werent initated brothers.

The sorority Squam was mixing with is Gamma Phi Beta. I was hesitant to mention which one because mixers are basically taboo.. you can only have dry mixers or have mixers with alcohol at third party vendors where they check IDs for those under 21... therefore, most mixers arent reported to the school and are illegal. I wonder if Gamma Phi is going to get in any trouble... hopefully the school wont be hard on them in light of the situation.

http://www.app.com/app2001/story/0,21133,831160,00.html

7 nabbed in Rutgers fight



Published in the Asbury Park Press 10/14/03
By KEN SERRANO
GANNETT NEW JERSEY
NEW BRUNSWICK -- It started as a mixer, a get-together between the Gamma Phi Beta sorority and Squamish, an ununofficial fraternity, authorities said.



ALEXANDRA PAIS photo

Women pass by a makeshift shrine yesterday dedicated to the victims of a brawl at Squam fraternity Sunday morning, Robert J. Morgan and John P. Morin. Both men remain in intensive care at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
But in the early hours of Sunday, the social function spun out of control. It ended with a melee that left two Squamish members in the surgical intensive care unit at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick after each was struck in the head with a baseball bat.

Last night, Robert J. Morgan of Pine Beach and John P. Morin of Cliffside Park, both 20 and juniors at Rutgers University, remained in critical condition, said William Lamb, first assistant Middlesex County prosecutor. Neither Lamb nor anyone contacted at the hospital would comment on their exact conditions.

So far, seven men -- including 19-year-old Christopher Gornik of Oceanport and David Mallow, age unavailable, of Brick -- have been arrested and charged. Mallow is a 2001 graduate of Brick Memorial High School.

Three men are still being sought.

Morgan, the victim from Pine Beach, graduated from Toms River South in 2001. Ron Signorino Jr., a football coach at Toms River South when Morgan was a senior, remembered him as a hard-working, quiet young man.

"He was a great kid to have on your team. He was always at practice, never complained and always did what he was asked," said Signorino.

The coach said that Morgan was not the type of teen he would expect to be in fights.

"In fact, he was just the opposite. That wasn't part of his character."

Russell K. Corby, mayor of Pine Beach, is a neighbor of the Morgan family.

"I've known the family for about 15 years," Corby said. "He is a regular kid from the neighborhood. He did well in school. I have never heard of him being in trouble for anything."

Scott Campbell, another coach at South, also remembered him as a hard worker.

"He didn't have great talent. He was a program kid -- the kind of guy you need for a team to have success," said Campbell.

Reconstructing events

Lamb said authorities were still trying to piece together the brawl that occurred in front of the Squamish, or "Squam," fraternity house at 95 College Ave. at 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

"The mixer was closed and apparently people from Sigma Pi came over to get in and were denied entry. That triggered the fight," Lamb said.

The fight involved members of Squamish, Sigma Pi and the Rutgers wrestling team, au-thorities said.

Lamb said 23-year-old Jonathan Rodriguez of Bound Brook, a former member of the Rutgers wrestling team, hit Morin and Morgan in the head with a baseball bat. Rodriguez, a for-mer Rutgers student who in-tended to re-enroll this winter, faces weapons charges, two counts of aggravated assault and conspiracy to riot. He was freed yesterday on a $350,000 bond.

His twin brother, Rutgers se-nior and wrestling team mem-ber Kenneth Rodriguez, was charged with conspiracy, weap-ons possession and hindering apprehension. He was freed yesterday on a $150,000 bond.

The other five men arrested re-mained last night at the Mid-dlesex County Adult Correction Center, North Brunswick, in lieu of $150,000 bail each.

Matthew Strampfer, 21, a Rut-gers senior who lives in a fra-ternity house across the street from Squam, witnessed the fight.

There were about 30 to 35 peo-ple on each side of the street fight, with some swinging poles or wooden sticks, he said.

Lamb identified Kenneth Ro-driguez and Gornik as mem-bers of Sigma Pi, whose house is on Union Street.

But fraternity members denied that yesterday.

Gornik pledged in the spring but was de-pledged on Sept. 15 for failing to pay fees, said Mike Catapano, secretary of the Rutgers chapter.

"Neither of the Rodriguez brothers or anyone else in cus-tody is a member of Sigma Pi," he said.

Two women who answered the door at the Gamma Beta Phi sorority house yesterday de-clined comment.

Members of Squamish issued a statement that read in part: "Our primary concern remains with our brothers who were attacked and injured that eve-ning. We hope and pray for a full and speedy recovery for both of them."

As far as the investigation goes, "We have pledged our full support and are ready to pro-vide any assistance that is re-quested of us," the statement read.

Other charges filed

The following men were charged with conspiracy to riot: Gornik, a Cook College sophomore and wrestler; Mal-low, enrolled at the universi-ty's Newark campus; Justin Smigelsky, 20, of Old Bridge, a Rutgers College junior who is a criminal-justice major and a member of the Rutgers wres-tling team; Bound Brook resi-dent Derek Michalowski, 22, a former Franklin and Marshall College wrestler; 19-year-old Roy Sous, a Livingston College sophomore.

Sous and Mallow also are charged with hindering an in-vestigation.

Three complaints also were is-sued against other participants in the fight, although they are known only by nicknames, Lamb said.

University President Richard L. McCormick issued a state-ment yesterday, saying, "The university deplores the sense-less violence that occurred and will pursue all appropriate ac-tions against any Rutgers stu-dents who took part."

[gypsiilee]

looks like rutgers is going to loose a wrestling team And just so all know sig pi is basically mad up of members of the wrestling team, when it was brought back it was that team that brought it back.