JHU Sigma Chi "Halloween in the Hood Party"

LaneSig · #1 11-01-2006, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reds6

It was in the facebook invitation. My thing is if they had to ask the one member to remove it once, then knew he posted it again, they should have taken measures to address the situation before the party.

Firstly, the Facebook advertisement of the party was one of the most horrific and prejudiced statements I have ever read. I was appalled that the statements were made and then defended by a member of the organization I spent 3 years building. The brother who posted the announcement did so without authorization from the school, the national fraternity, or the executive board of the Kappa Upsilon chapter. He also re-posted it after it was taken down, again without any form of authorization.

Let me state, this brother has been stripped of his status as a Sigma Chi, before any of the university’s proceedings even began. Sigma Chi has fought long and hard to be known as a diverse fraternity with brothers from all walks of life. Hatred is not a value we share among our brothers, and intolerance has no place within our ranks. His repeated offensive and un-apologetic behavior forced Sigma Chi’s hand and while an extreme punishment, we felt it was necessary due to the gravity of the incident.

Quote taken from earlier passage.

From my understanding, when it was first posted, the chapter told the (now ex) member to take it down. How do you know that when he put it up again, the chapter knew and did nothing? Should they have checked before the party - probably. Did they check, see it, and do nothing? That has not been stated. The member who put it up has been stripped of his membership. Should the others be punished because of one person? Particularly if they did not know of his repeat posting?

Reds6 · #2 11-01-2006, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaneSig

Firstly, the Facebook advertisement of the party was one of the most horrific and prejudiced statements I have ever read. I was appalled that the statements were made and then defended by a member of the organization I spent 3 years building. The brother who posted the announcement did so without authorization from the school, the national fraternity, or the executive board of the Kappa Upsilon chapter. He also re-posted it after it was taken down, again without any form of authorization.

Let me state, this brother has been stripped of his status as a Sigma Chi, before any of the university’s proceedings even began. Sigma Chi has fought long and hard to be known as a diverse fraternity with brothers from all walks of life. Hatred is not a value we share among our brothers, and intolerance has no place within our ranks. His repeated offensive and un-apologetic behavior forced Sigma Chi’s hand and while an extreme punishment, we felt it was necessary due to the gravity of the incident.

Quote taken from earlier passage.

From my understanding, when it was first posted, the chapter told the (now ex) member to take it down. How do you know that when he put it up again, the chapter knew and did nothing? Should they have checked before the party - probably. Did they check, see it, and do nothing? That has not been stated. The member who put it up has been stripped of his membership. Should the others be punished because of one person? Particularly if they did not know of his repeat posting?

Yes they should be punished. Banned from Hopkins forever? No. But there is no secret that there is a lot of racial tension between Hopkins students and the Baltimore Community. So knowing that this could be a potentially explosive situation, they should have monitored it more effectively.

LaneSig · #3 11-01-2006, 02:25 PM

Should they be punished? No argument here. Please see my earlier post after PhrozenGod's original post. I gave what I thought were several good ideas.

shinerbock · #4 11-01-2006, 03:02 PM

Punished for what?

macallan25 · #5 11-01-2006, 03:09 PM

I don't see why the entire fraternity should be punished becauase one guy posted a facebook invitation that was inappropriate. The fraternity took it down.......and then it was put back up by the same guy. Seems that the punishment should be given to the individual......who was apparently already kicked out.

PhrozenGod01 · #6 11-01-2006, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macallan25

I don't see why the entire fraternity should be punished becauase one guy posted a facebook invitation that was inappropriate. The fraternity took it down.......and then it was put back up by the same guy. Seems that the punishment should be given to the individual......who was apparently already kicked out.

That's unfortunate. When an individual accepts his bid card/invite into a GLO, he assumes a lot of the risk of other members. It's not that he has to pay for every wrongdoing by every individual member or alumni, but if the organization, as a whole, has an event or function, then every member of the organization is accountable for its success or failure. Had the sigma chi member in question just made a facebook page out of a personal beef with someone else, and did not include the name of his fraternity in the posting, then you're right. The entire fraternity shouldn't have to suffer. But the individual was representing an entire group in trying to get people to come to the party. It is a sacrifice of some individuality, but I know that if the party had been a huge success with nothing bad having happened, every member of the fraternity would take credit for the publicity.

Great fraternities act together. It's what sets them apart from every other student group at most schools.

RU OX Alum · #7 11-01-2006, 03:59 PM

hmm....I think that one individual should be removed from campus (more for his own safety, I would think, if the situation is as bad as it is made to sound) and I don't know about the chapter...closing won't do any good, but neither will not doing anything...from the U-Admin's point of view, they have to do something, even if its just a "manditory sensitivy training session" or some such nonsense. the real punishment will be to their reputation

Stef the Pef · #8 11-05-2006, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macallan25

I don't see why the entire fraternity should be punished becauase one guy posted a facebook invitation that was inappropriate. The fraternity took it down.......and then it was put back up by the same guy. Seems that the punishment should be given to the individual......who was apparently already kicked out.

I have a tendency to agree with this because it really seems like one dude's poor judgement here. However, he did represent the fraternity at the time, there still should be some action (think PR here) by the fraternity to show that they're not all racist. One of the fraternities here got in trouble over what one guest to their party wore, so they ended up hosting/attending a couple seminars and discussion panels about rascism on campus. The incident seems to have smoothed over now because they took the time to say "hey, we're not all mean" to the campus.

shinerbock · #9 11-05-2006, 08:03 PM

So the BSU should have certain authority to conduct investigations. They're just a student organization, or at least they should be.

Also, its college. You know, the place where you go to branch out, try new things, expand your whatever...blah blah blah. That is of course, so long as it doesn't ruffle anyone's feathers. I find it ironic that university paid professors can say God doesn't exist and compare Bush to Hitler, but some racist/semi-racist/not at all racist/whatever kids shouldn't be allowed to have a theme party.