Chapter Closings/Hazing and Alcohol

[IowaHawkeye]

Published Thursday, November 8, 2001


UM freshman's drowning wasn't hazing, police say
BY SARA OLKON
solkon@herald.com

An 18-year-old University of Miami freshman and fraternity pledge who drowned Monday morning had been drinking but did not die as a result of hazing, Miami-Dade County police say.

Chad Meredith, 18, from Indianapolis, went swimming in the campus' Lake Osceola at about 5:30 a.m. Monday with UM Kappa Sigma president Travis Montgomery and fraternity brother Timothy Williamson.

Meredith went under water and never resurfaced; his body was later found by police divers.

``They said they were drinking,'' Miami-Dade Homicide Det. Charles ``Buck'' McCully said, referring to statements from survivors and other witnesses. ``There was no hazing or initiation going on.''

The lead investigator's statement jibes with reports from university officials and the fraternity president, who said the swim was not a fraternity-sanctioned event.

``We do not haze,'' said Montgomery, 20. ``This has nothing to do with our fraternity.''

Before the swim, McCully said, the men had been at an off-campus party where some people were playing a drinking game called ``hockey.''

Meredith did not take part, McCully said. ``He wasn't doing heavy drinking,'' the detective said. He said three Budweisers were found near the spot where they left their clothing.

His father, William, recalled a man of quiet confidence. He, too, said his youngest son was not the victim of a hazing ritual. ``He wasn't influenced easily,'' William Meredith said.

His father described his son's last night: After attending part of the on-campus, outdoor concert by rapper Ludacris, he returned to his dorm to catch some of the final game of the World Series. His loyalties were torn: The former high school pitcher was rooting for the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens.

In his last call home at about 10 p.m. Sunday, Chad talked to his father about his grades -- he said he was getting all A's -- and said he had just finished a paper about his dad's military service in Vietnam.

He told his father he didn't have classes Monday because of the tropical storm warning and was planning to go out for some food later that night. William Meredith said his son's credit card showed he bought something at a Wendy's.

Montgomery would not comment further on what happened. He said the fraternity would issue a statement in the coming days.

McCully said the department was awaiting toxicology reports before officially classifying the death as accidental.

Still, ``nothing has popped up to make us suspicious of anything,'' he said.

The drowning is the second at the lake since 1980, when another UM student died. Swimming in the lake has since been prohibited.

On Wednesday, UM president Donna Shalala and vice president of student affairs Pat Whitely met with about 30 fraternity leaders to discuss ``making positive choices.'' The meeting had been scheduled before Monday's tragedy.

Family members said a funeral was planned for Saturday.

[DeltAlum]

I strongly urge that you all read this entire story from Digest 99 of Fraternal News because it also covers a number of good points about the Greek system including high GPA's, philanthropy and future benefits of Greek membership. While it centers on the University of Michigan, it also touches on other schools in the Big Ten.

Unfortunately, the crux of the story is about the following from the Detroit Free Press:


"In the last 10 years, 10 U-M fraternities have closed because of violations related to alcohol and hazing, and 10 more have closed because of low membership. Four sororities have closed because of low membership, and two have closed as a result of hazing violations in the same period, according to U-M data.

"We need to re-evaluate where our social environment is going," said Hustvedt, president of U-M's Interfraternity Council and a member of Theta Chi fraternity, which will become the fifth alcohol-free chapter on campus in January.

But Hustvedt, 22, of Concord, Mass., knows it's not easy to change a decades-old tradition.

A 1999 study by U-M's Substance Abuse Research Center found that 76 percent of U-M students living in fraternity or sorority houses had engaged in binge drinking within a two-week period, compared with 62 percent of students living in residence halls."

Some other comments:

The number of chapters closed because of alcohol and hazing is staggering. The overall closing figure is worse -- twenty-six in ten years.

The Michigan study on binge drinking roughly parallels other studies on the subject I've seen -- confirming that this isn't just a Greek probem, but that it is substantially more serious in the Greek Community.

Delt Alum

[Tom Earp]

Pardon me, but DUM DAM DUMB DA!!!!

These are suppose to be the Future Of Our Country?

Hell put a big fu----- gun to my head as we are in trouble if this is becoming the more normal thing to do!

DUMB, DAMN DUMB

[33girl]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
The overall closing figure is worse -- twenty-six in ten years.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Michigan a pretty "liberal" school? Liberal in the anti-establisment sense. That never helps Greeks. All I remember is it was the school they went to in "The Big Chill."

[DeltAlum]

Having grown up in that part of the Midwest, I guess I never think of Michigan (or any of the other state supported schools for that matter) as particularly liberal -- or conservative either for that matter.

Places like Antioch at Yellow Springs, Ohio were way off the chart, but I never thought Michigan was anything but pretty normal.

[33girl]

Isn't Antioch the one where they have that bizarre social policy, where you have to ask "do you mind if I hold your hand, do you mind if I kiss you, etc" so it's not considered rape? If so...that would not only be off the chart...the chart would be in another building.

[IowaHawkeye]

The Daily Campus
University of Connecticut
November 16, 2001

4 pledges arrested for hazing at U. Connecticut say it was a misunderstanding

By Matthew Monks, The Daily Campus

On Nov. 7, four pledges to Sigma Chi fraternity were arrested for
hazing. According to University of Connecticut police captain Warren
Gilmour, Thomas Valeri, Daniel Lapolla, Adam Goff and Jeffrey Weeden
were pulled over in Goff's Ford Explorer after driving the wrong way
into the driveway to the information booth on the south side of
Mirror Lake. After interviewing the students, the officer discovered
that a brother of Sigma Chi, who wished to remain unnamed for the
purposes of this story, was bound with duct tape in the vehicle.

The officer arrested the four pledges for hazing and immediately
released them on a written promise to appear in court. According to
the student handbook, hazing means "any action which recklessly or
intentionally endangers the health or safety of a person for the
purpose of initiation."

According to Goff, all five people involved in the incident are
friends and that what they were doing was in good fun and at no time
was anyone in danger.

Valeri, Lapolla, Goff and the brother all live on the first floor of
Litchfield Hall in North Campus and Valeri and the brother are
roommates.

"We are all friends and still are friends and were not trying to hurt
each other," Goff said. "But I understand that the police officer was
just trying to reinforce that."

The brother said that the four pledges were going to throw him into
Mirror Lake but everything, including being duct-taped around his
calves, was done with his consent.

"At no point in time did I feel my safety was in jeopardy," the brother said.

Lapolla said that the arresting officers knew that the four pledges
were no real threat to the brother because the pledges were not
detained after the incident.

"If it was a clear and present danger to his safety. Š Then why did
they send him home with us?" he said.

The brother said that his fraternity commonly performed activities
like "kidnapping," but that pledges did not have to participate in
order to get into the fraternity.

"It's like a fun activity for the pledges. Š That's why the
university's pissed, because we condone something like this," he said.

Ross Siegel, president of the UConn chapter of Sigma Chi, said that
the four pledges are the only pledges to the fraternity this
semester. He said the incident is currently being investigated by
Greek Life and that all pledge events will be postponed until after
the investigation.

When asked if he knew beforehand whether the pledges were going to
detain a brother and throw him in Mirror Lake Siegel said, "We didn't
know they were going to take him from the library."

According to Judy Preston, coordinator of student organizations and
Greek Life, the victim was in the library when he was apprehended by
the four pledges.

Preston said the incident will be reviewed by a judication board at
an unspecified date. The board will determine first if hazing
occurred and then whether Sigma Chi as a whole or only the
individuals involved are responsible.

"What needs to be determined in this case - was there any suggestion
from the chapter that this could be a good act [or] was this
something they concocted on their own?" Preston said.

If it is determined that Sigma Chi is responsible she said that
possible penalties may include Sigma Chi having to sponsor a speaker
who will discuss hazing, the redesigning of the chapter's current
pledge program and lastly, loss of registration.

She said that if Sigma Chi loses its registration as a university-
recognized student organization, the national organization of Sigma
Chi may take the UConn chapter's charter away.

Preston said that this incident does not appear to be hazing because
it was four pledges apprehending a brother. Usually, she said, hazing
is something that brothers inflict on pledges, not the other way
around.

"That's your traditional [view] and that's what has a lot of folks
perplexed," she said.

Lapolla said that media coverage of the arrest has been overblown and
inaccurate.

"I saw it on channel 4 and Channel 8," Lapolla said, "It was in the
Willimantic Chronicle and they said we were brothers."

Lapolla specified that they were not brothers but pledges.

Lapolla said that it was really a small incident. They all went home
together and at no time was anybody in danger.

"The way they worded it is, if the police didn't intervene [we] would
have left him duct-taped and thrown him in the lake. We would have
left him to drown," Lapolla said.

Ted O'Brian, secretary of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, said that
"kidnapping" is a game that some fraternities often play. He said
that that his fraternity does not permit "kidnapping" because they
realize the possible legal ramifications of doing so.

He said he was familiar with the Sigma Chi incident and that his
fraternity was looking to avoid any similar problems.

"We had the big fight this semester," he said. "We don't need an
extra headache with the police."

[DeltAlum]

More from FraternalNews:

Subject: WKU suspends SAE


Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was tagged Monday with
a one-year suspension after an investigation by
Western officials uncovered hazing violations and
other infractions.
Student Organizations Coordinator Charley Pride said
Monday that SAE will not be recognized by the
university as a student organization again until Jan.
1, 2003.

Western’s investigation revealed that members of SAE,
which established a chapter at Western in 1965, had
committed a number of violations including hazing
pledges and damaging property owned by “a member of
the university community,” Pride said. He declined to
name whose property was damaged.

He said the fraternity had “created a dangerous
environment that led to inappropriate behavior and the
injury of a pledge” and that the chapter had required
pledges to dedicate too much time to the fraternity.

Western began looking into the activities of SAE after
receiving word of an October incident where a pledge
was hit in the head with a wooden paddle during a
fraternity ritual where pledges attempt to “kidnap” an
active member, Pride said.

A campus police report filed Oct. 15 said Robert S.
Ryan, a pledge, suffered a light concussion and
injuries to his arm after being hit with the paddle.
He was taken to UrgentCare for treatment. Lee Ann
Phelps, a nurse at UrgentCare, notified campus police
about the incident.

SAE must adhere to a number of stipulations during its
suspension. Pride said SAE is barred from using any
building at Western for fraternity functions,
participating in university-sponsored activities as
SAE or taking part in activities with the
Interfraternity Council.

SAE President Matt Larson said Tuesday chapter members
were “extremely disappointed” in the university’s
decision to levee the one-year suspension.

“... But we have every confidence that we’ll come back
a year from now an even stronger and better chapter,”
said Larson, who graduates in December.

Larson said SAE has been ordered by Western to improve
its pledge program before it is reinstated next
January.

Despite the penalties against the fraternity, current
pledges to the chapter will be initiated soon, he
said.

The SAE national office in Evanston, Ill., has yet to
issue a decision regarding the violations according to
Alex Redmond, coordinator of publications for the
national office.

“The university does not condone that type of
behavior,” Pride said. “That is what (the penalty)
shows.”

Redmond said his office fully supports penalties
brought by Western officials. However, it has not
established a timeline for deciding about its own
possible penalties.

He said any decision would be made by local SAE alumni
in Bowling Green.

“Typically, we like to let alumni come up with
solutions because they are those closest involved with
the chapter in that location,” Redmond said.

Gene Tice, vice president of Student Affairs and
Campus Services, said Tuesday a group of SAE alumni
have requested to meet with university officials.

Tice said he does not know what the group plans to
discuss when the meeting might take place.

“We just need to start a discussion and go from
there,” Tice said.

Redmond said SAE members will be allowed to stay in
their house at 1410 College St. during the one-year
suspension and display the SAE letters out front.
However, they will not be allowed to take part in any
university social events under the SAE name or accept
any new members.

Larson said he was told by a representative from the
fraternity’s national office that the body does not
plan to issue further penalties beyond the
university’s.

SAE is the second fraternity at Western within the
past year to be penalized for hazing violations. Kappa
Alpha Psi fraternity was hit with a three-year
suspension from the university last semester after an
investigation found the chapter had hazed pledges.

Pride said KA Psi was given a stiffer penalty than SAE
because they set up fraternity events with the intent
to harm pledges.

“The SAE event or events were not set up to bring
harm, but due to the nature of the events, someone got
hurt,” Pride said.



Ps. at other university's do you think they would have
gotten more the pres of our university is an alum of
the chapter.
and it sounded from the article that the local alumni
will hand down sanctions instead of nationals but why
would they be harsh if this was going on when they
were there which it probably was.

Note: It is true that this type of thing was probably going on when the President was an active member of the chapter. It is also true that people tend to learn and mature as they grow older. Perhaps the president and local alumni simply realize now that hazing has no place in the modern Greek System if the system is to survive.

[LexiKD]

Well the more I hear about these stories the less faith I have.

Do you all think a National Organization should automaticallly close a chapter in cases of hazing(found by the school or just by the organization) or should they try to reorganize with new members?

[The1calledTKE]

Originally posted by LexiKD
Well the more I hear about these stories the less faith I have.

Do you all think a National Organization should automaticallly close a chapter in cases of hazing(found by the school or just by the organization) or should they try to reorganize with new members?

Reorganization soon after the fact would be a good idea but as long as former members (who more that likely would be made alumni after a chapter closes) still attend the University they would try to influence the newly formed chapter which could lead them down the wrong track again.

[DeltAlum]

I don't believe in automatic closure. I think that is the tendency, though. It's difficult to fight the negative publicity battle and also the liability and insurance fight. In some cases, (where the violation is questionable or very slight, I would like to see the national organization stand up for its' members and chapter. If the violation is clear and/or serious, there is little or no choice except closing.

What seems to happen most often is the GLO suspends the chapter and then recolonizes in anywhere from two to four years after the chapter leaders have graduated.

Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. We have recolonized at the Unviersity of Colorado a couple of times, and the same problems persisted. We may have done a bad job of recruiting, or the Greek culture and/or university administration on the campus may have doomed the efforts in advance. Who knows?

A lot of things would have to change there before we try again.

[DeltAlum]

EVERYONE should read the last part of this story.

The Orange County Register
December 15, 2001

Collegian says hazing left him hospitalized

UCI pledge is suing fraternity and 13 members over allegations including
assault and battery.

By EMILY BITTNER
The Orange County Register

A UCI student who hoped to join a fraternity is accusing his prospective
brothers of hazing him so badly during an initiation ritual last year that
he had to be hospitalized and alleging that fellow initiates had to beg
members to call an ambulance.

Jeff Warden, 20, is suing 13 members of Beta Theta Pi and the fraternity's
national organization. He is seeking damages on allegations of assault,
battery, emotional distress and negligence.

"These guys were to me people that I could see myself being friends with
for life," Warden said in his lawyer's office in Lake Forest. "That
weekend, I was scared for my life. I thought I was going to die."

Both the fraternity's national organization and the University of
California, Irvine, are investigating the allegations. Warden's lawyer said
police were not notified, so a criminal investigation was never pursued.

One fraternity member named in the lawsuit denied that any hazing occurred
that weekend or before.

"That has never happened," said Cory Halbardier, a senior
mechanical-engineering major who said he was in Big Bear that weekend. "If
it did, I wouldn't have joined."

Other fraternity members named in the suit, filed last month in Orange
County Superior Court, did not return telephone calls.

The national fraternity has published guidelines against hazing, but
Warden's lawyer, David J. Salvin, said: "They seemingly took the guidelines
against hazing as a blueprint for what to do."

Warden, two other pledges and several Beta Theta Pi members left the UCI
campus for a retreat at Big Bear on Friday, Dec. 8, 2000, Salvin said.

During the next 28 hours, the members forced Warden and the other initiates
to drink alcohol, denied them water, deprived them of sleep and made them
simulate sexual acts with each other, Warden said.

Warden, who celebrated his 19th birthday during the initiation weekend,
said friends told him that he lost consciousness and was twitching on the
ground after exposure to low temperatures, excessive exercise and alcohol.

One pledge said he had to "beg" fraternity members to call an ambulance and
that they left Warden unconscious on the ground for at least half an hour.

Medical reports from Bear Valley Community Hospital, where he stayed
overnight, said he suffered "continuous seizures" that Saturday night.

Warden said he lost his driver's license because doctors are required to
report any seizure victims to the Department of Motor Vehicles. For the
past year, he has spent about $10,000 getting medicine, MRIs, EKGs and CT
scans from neurologists to prove that he could drive again. Warden said he
has no prior history of seizures and has suffered none since the initiation.

"I was put through terror that night and those days," said Warden, a
sophomore film-studies major.

"It took me a long time to talk to anyone about it. ... Now it's hard for
me to let people get involved in my life."

If the allegations are true, the UCI chapter could be sanctioned or closed
and individual members expelled from the fraternity, said Stephen Becker,
administrative secretary for the national fraternity.

Beta Theta Pi has yanked about 15 chapters from U.S. universities in the
past three or four years because of hazing incidents and alcohol
violations, Becker said.

Forty to 50 hazing incidents a year are reported to Hank Nuwer, author of
four books on the subject. He learns about the cases mostly from campus
security or news reports because school officials often handle the
incidents privately, he said.

Since 1971, 65 people have been reported killed in hazing incidents. Of
those, 41 were related to alcohol and the vast majority involved
fraternities.

"It's all group-think. They deceive themselves and the people around them
and they're not aware of the consequences," Nuwer said. "This (hazing) is
terrible behavior, but they thought it was ordinary. No one should think
this is ordinary."

Warden said he hopes to help put an end to similar hazing incidents.

"Someone should never have to go through that," he said. "I could've died,
and I almost did die."

[James]

What a wimp, not only must it suck to go through such a bad experience, but it must suck to have to admit to everyon that you were such a little bitch you let people do this type of stuff to you. . .

Wow, what ever happened to self-esteem and confidence? If they had tried that type of stuff with me there would have been some broken and bleeding fraternity men on the floor.

[33girl]

Yeah James I see your point...a pledge had to "beg" brothers to call an ambulance? Hello, it's called grab the cell phone and call 911, or if they are withholding it from you, overpower them with the rest of the pledges. That's not groupthink, it's @$#%ing stupidity.

[CalThetaPhi536]

im a phi delt at UCI, and the guy who filed the suit was a rushee of ours too before he decided to go beta. To James how can you call that guy a wimp. There were 3 pledges to 13 actives, some how i dont see them overpowering all those guys. Its like blaming him for what happened. That's the biggest load of crap ive ever heard. I hope if it turns out to be true the guys who did it get what they have coming.