University of Miami--AEPi Mess

[manmahg]

Posted on Tue, Oct. 15, 2002

Student: UM silent on harassment
Campus paper editor: Abuse has continued
BY SOFIA SANTANA
ssantana@herald.com

When 9,000 copies of the University of Miami's school newspaper were stolen last year, UM determined that three members of the Lambda Deuteron chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity were responsible and punished them.

But Jordan Rodack, editor of The Hurricane and a former Alpha Epsilon member, says there's more to the story that UM doesn't want anyone to know about: that several fraternity members harassed him for much of the past year because he allowed controversial articles about the group to be printed in the paper.

The fraternity did take out a half-page ad in the Sept. 17 issue of The Hurricane, apologizing to Rodack. The ad also said, ``We will use our best efforts to assure nothing similar will happen again.''

The ad was part of an agreement between the school and the fraternity, the details of which neither party will comment on.

But Rodack says the fraternity members have yet to be punished by the school for the harassment or for the theft of the papers, which he calls a violation of freedom of the press, and that the school is acting as if none of it happened.

Rodack and his family want to know why.

The Rodacks say UM officials urged them not to report the harassment, which they say included threatening phone calls and e-mails, to police and that the situation would be handled ``in-house.''

A year later, the fraternity remains in good standing with the university and within its own fraternity organization.

UM officials and the fraternity chapter declined to discuss the case with The Herald.

The Rodacks say they're planning their next move in what could become a legal battle with UM over what they consider to be a violation of freedom of the press and the school's failure to protect Jordan when officials were made aware of the harassment.

''The school prides itself on being football champions, but they're losers when it comes to protecting my son,'' Jeff Rodack said. 'These weren't some `boys will be boys' kind of incidents. The fraternity should be kicked off campus.''

The problems started shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks when a group of UM students, mostly Alpha Epsilon pledges, went around campus with a camera and asked students: ``What would you do about these goddamn Arabs?''

The school would not release the names of the students involved.

One student complained to the school about the incident, which led to a front page story in The Hurricane on Oct. 5, 2001. But all 9,000 copies were stolen when they hit the stands.

The papers were returned days later, and most of the articles in that issue were reprinted in the following one.

The Herald reported in November that two fraternity members were suspended and a third was placed on probation for the theft.

But the Rodacks say that days later, the students' punishments were reduced.

Jordan believes more than three people were behind the theft of the papers and the harassment.

The papers, which are printed weekly, are available on campus and are free, but production is not free. The 9,000 issues stolen were valued at $5,000.

The chapter was suspended for a month last year by its parent office in Indianapolis.

Sidney Dunn, executive vice president of the parent office, says the UM group is now in good standing.

''We took action against the chapter for a period of time,'' he said. ``We also suspended the chapter pending the investigation.''

Even though the chapter was being investigated and was reportedly under the watchful eye of UM officials and its parent office, Rodack says that didn't stop the group from continuing to harass him.

Rodack says his room in the Alpha Epsilon house was broken into and ransacked and that he was threatened by Alpha Epsilon members warning him of possible consequences if he continued coverage of the fraternity in The Hurricane.

He also said he was stalked by a fraternity member, who was allegedly ordered to do it by a senior member of the fraternity.

Rodack says that when his room was broken into, someone smeared a used condom on the wall and spilled a bucket of vomit. He says someone also left behind a burned American flag and a dirty mattress.

After that incident, Rodack said he knew it was time to move out of the house, at 6000 San Amaro Dr..

''They were doing this because I was editor of the paper and they didn't understand I had a job to do,'' said Rodack, 21, who now lives off-campus. ``It was an attack on freedom of the press, and it's gone unpunished.''

Rodack wrote two columns for The Hurricane after the theft saying that he would not be involved in the coverage of the incident because he used to be a member of the fraternity, which created a conflict of interest.

He is still editor of the paper and plans to graduate in May.

The Rodacks hired attorney Mark Neuberger to help with their mission, but he says he's met the same roadblocks the family has.

''The biggest frustration is the apparent unwillingness of UM to take action in what we believe were serious violations of the student conduct code,'' Neuberger said. ``They seem unwilling to take any action against the fraternity. Why?''