Sigma Chi Suspended Indefinitely at Nebraska - Lincoln: Underage Alcohol

[exlurker]

U of Nebraska – Lincoln: Sigma Chi suspended indefinitely; see:

http://www.omaha.com/article/2012101...710139929/1685

Excerpt:
“Published Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 1:00 am / Updated at 1:30 am

Sigma Chi frat suspended indefinitely at UNL after party
By Leslie Reed

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — The Sigma Chi fraternity has been suspended indefinitely at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln after authorities learned of an off-campus party in which fraternity members allegedly provided alcohol to minors, officials said Friday.

Three fraternity members were ticketed on suspicion of misdemeanor procuring charges.

The party occurred less than two weeks after Sigma Chi members returned to their chapter house following a three-year suspension resulting from an infamous 2008 hazing incident.

J. Steve Davis, a spokesman for the fraternity's alumni advisory council, described the latest suspension as “a death sentence” for Sigma Chi on the UNL campus.

“We are both surprised and devastated by the citation, given the zero tolerance terms we agreed to — and consistently communicated to our undergraduates — under the terms of our prior probation,” he said.
“The fact is that 130 years of Sigma Chi presence, and the overwhelming good that has come from it, now ends as a result of these new prohibitive sanctions from the university.”

During the prior suspension, the fraternity spent $2.5 million to update the chapter house, “making it one of the most desirable modern student housing options at UNL,” Davis said.

Pledges and fraternity members returned to the chapter house this semester, which began Aug. 20, after UNL agreed to lift the final year of a four-year suspension arising from the 2008 incident. . . .”

[ComradesTrue]

Originally Posted by exlurker

...The party occurred less than two weeks after Sigma Chi members returned to their chapter house following a three-year suspension resulting from an infamous 2008 hazing incident....During the prior suspension, the fraternity spent $2.5 million to update the chapter house, “making it one of the most desirable modern student housing options at UNL,” Davis said.

Sometimes there are just no words. Absolutely unbelievable. I am guessing there are a bunch of pissed off alumni.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Blondie93

Sometimes there are just no words. Absolutely unbelievable. I am guessing there are a bunch of pissed off alumni.

Unbelievable.. and sad. I'm sure the alumni are pissed, and I hope the undergraduates understand what they've done (and feel horrible about it).

All of this, even after UNL was nice enough to cut their 4-year suspension down to 3 years.

[Kevin]

They should have just folded when the probation came down. If you recruit kids with alcohol, don't expect them to simply stop using it when you say pretty please.

For that reason, the terms of the probation were ridiculous. A college actually expecting a fraternity to end underage drinking? How can that even be supervised?

[33girl]

Are we just assuming the alumni paid for this new house? It doesn't mention alumni at all, it says "the fraternity."

At any rate, I think it just proves that you can't catch the best recruits with a nice house.

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Unbelievable.. and sad. I'm sure the alumni are pissed, and I hope the undergraduates understand what they've done (and feel horrible about it).

All of this, even after UNL was nice enough to cut their 4-year suspension down to 3 years.

The thing is, it's not that unbelievable at all. A GCer, who used to post often, mentioned his fraternity's experience with a chapter in Colorado where the undergrads trashed a magnificent, and expensive, house. More recently, IIRC, an alumnus of a fraternity personally funded a multimillion dollar house at a major Pennsylvania (I think) school. The fraternity HQ had to shut the house down relatively soon after students moved in.

I, too, am fairly sure the Sigma Chi alumni in this new instance are pissed, and rightly so.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by exlurker

The thing is, it's not that unbelievable at all. A GCer, who used to post often, mentioned his fraternity's experience with a chapter in Colorado where the undergrads trashed a magnificent, and expensive, house. More recently, IIRC, an alumnus of a fraternity personally funded a multimillion dollar house at a major Pennsylvania (I think) school. The fraternity HQ had to shut the house down relatively soon after students moved in.

Ok...

I never said things like this don't happen. I said it's hard to believe that anyone would allow this to happen. As in.. the undergrads messed up BIG TIME. And it's an unfortunate situation.

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Are we just assuming the alumni paid for this new house? It doesn't mention alumni at all, it says "the fraternity."

At any rate, I think it just proves that you can't catch the best recruits with a nice house.

To answer any questions about Sigma Chi housing, from our website:

"Housing Ownership

Generally speaking, Sigma Chi housing falls into one of three ownership categories:

1. House corporation owned: A group of alumni may form a not-for-profit corporation for the purpose of holding the title to the chapter house property. The house corporation serves as landlord and is responsible for management and upkeep of the property.

2. University owned: The college or university owns and maintains the property for the purpose of housing Greek-letter organizations.

3. Third-party owned: The chapter, typically through a house corporation, rents a property for use as a living/meeting place for the undergraduate brothers.

Currently, the Sigma Chi International Fraternity does not own or operate any of the undergraduate chapter house properties."

[LaneSig]

I went to the Nebraska Sigma Chi website to look around.

In addition to these guys screwing up and getting a 128-year-old chapter closed, someone else has been greatly affected: their house mother. She had been the house mother of the chapter for 19 years. Now, she's out of a job, out of a home, etc. I truly feel sorry for her.

[adpimiz]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

I went to the Nebraska Sigma Chi website to look around.

In addition to these guys screwing up and getting a 128-year-old chapter closed, someone else has been greatly affected: their house mother. She had been the house mother of the chapter for 19 years. Now, she's out of a job, out of a home, etc. I truly feel sorry for her.

Aw. This made me sad.

But, I do agree that the probation rule's were a little ridiculous. You cannot honestly expect a fraternity to have absolutely NO underage drinking. Of course, the undergrads were irresponsible, but I think the rules were a bit too unrealistic.

[excelblue]

Rules were tight, but the zero tolerance agreement was in place.

I'm imagining that some lucky chapter may get a 3yr lease of some sort.

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by excelblue

. . .
I'm imagining that some lucky chapter may get a 3yr lease of some sort.

Time will tell; sounds like the housing situation is unsettled at this point, if I'm reading this relatively new report correctly:

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/a...a4bcf6878.html