Fraternity Life

[Kevin]

The Buffalo News
March 20, 2003

Fraternity featured on MTV suspected in hazing

By STEPHEN WATSON
News Staff Reporter

Sigma Chi Omega, a University at Buffalo fraternity, is receiving a lot of
national exposure as the star of a weekly reality-TV program on MTV.

Now that exposure is coming back to bite the fraternity. The university has
suspended it because officials say some of the activities caught on film
might be hazing.

UB acted after watching the first episodes of MTV's "Fraternity Life"
series and receiving complaints from viewers, said Dennis R. Black, UB's
vice president for student affairs.

The show, which began airing Feb. 26, is based on footage the network shot
in Buffalo in fall as MTV cameras followed a group of Sigma Chi pledges -
students trying to win fraternity membership.

"Everybody who watches expresses concern about the forced calisthenics or
some of the apparent treatment, which could constitute embarrassment,
harassment or ridicule," said Dennis R. Black, UB's vice president for
student affairs.

He was referring to scenes that showed Sigma Chi brothers interrogating
students under the glare of bright lights and, later, requiring pledges to
do push-ups as punishment.

Colin Healy, Sigma Chi's president, said fraternity members don't think
they've done anything wrong and want to work with UB officials to get the
suspension overturned.

"In the grand scheme of things, we definitely don't think that what we did
was hazing, but we need to find out what the school thought they saw,"
Healy said. The network doesn't want to get involved.

"This is really between the fraternity and the university," said Eileen
Quast, an MTV spokeswoman.

"Fraternity Life" and a companion MTV series, "Sorority Life 2," have
brought national attention to UB and Buffalo, portraying the area's
waterfront, architecture and other features in an attractive light.

The MTV Web site, in promoting the fraternity series, plays up the alleged
excessive drinking of Sigma Chi members. But none of the "Fraternity Life"
episodes has shown pledges enduring the type of severe hazing - such as
forced consumption of alcohol - that led to the deaths of students at other
colleges.

Delta Xi Omega, the UB sorority featured on "Sorority Life 2," has not been
disciplined.

UB defines hazing as "any action that produces mental or physical
discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, ridicule or impairment of academic
efforts," according to a statement on the Student Affairs Web site.

Black said none of the students featured on "Fraternity Life" had
complained about their treatment on the show, but the school's policy is to
immediately suspend any organization suspected of hazing, to protect
students from potential harm.

A different set of students is trying to join Sigma Chi this semester, and
the temporary ban on official fraternity activities applies to pledging
activities, Black said.

The decision to suspend the fraternity was made last week, while students
were on spring break, but fraternity members weren't notified until early
this week.

Fraternity members remain in good standing, pending the investigation by
university police and officials from UB's Greek Affairs and Judicial
Affairs offices.

(c) 2003 The Buffalo News.

[ladyj39]

The funniest part of the episode was when all the pledges were acting out a typical phone conversation between Alex and his girlfriend intercut with Alex on the phone. It was hilarious! They were dead on! "Baby, I love you. You say it..."

[DELTAQTE]

dang you guys didn't see it? I saw both sorority and fraternity life, no wonder no one posted, lol




QTE

[greeklawgirl]

Originally posted by ladyj39
The funniest part of the episode was when all the pledges were acting out a typical phone conversation between Alex and his girlfriend intercut with Alex on the phone. It was hilarious! They were dead on! "Baby, I love you. You say it..."

OMG, greeklawboy and I were ROLLING on the floor laughing during that little montage!

I'm so glad we caught both episodes last night, because they added some levity to an otherwise somber evening!

[NoShame_Gamma]

Originally posted by DELTAQTE
dang you guys didn't see it? I saw both sorority and fraternity life, no wonder no one posted, lol

QTE

My thoughts exactly. I was wondering why nobody had posted anything about the episodes. I always come online and read the comments posted after watching the show, but last night I didn't see any.

Well, Alex is now single! Yay! He's too cute to be with somebody who isn't supportive of him. I wonder if they're still broken up???

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Okay, they are supposed to be replaying it right now, but it is STILL not on.

[AOII*Azra-elle]

*stomps foot--*hehe** I didn't get to see it, mtv switched over to their Iraq War coverage just as it was about to start...and I haven't seen the rerun of it today yet...it was supposed to be but not yet. If he's single---GOOD! The boy got some balls...

[alphaiota]

i know this is a thread about fraternity life, but i have to comment on the article. are you kidding me?!! DZO didn't haze?!!! that's a crock of shit! they so hazed those girls and should also be suspended if SXO is being suspended.

okay, i'm done. i'm hoping to catch the reruns sometime this week.

shelley j
sigma k

[RUgreek]

Originally posted by ktsnake
UB defines hazing as "any action that produces mental or physical
discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, ridicule or impairment of academic
efforts," according to a statement on the Student Affairs Web site.

Black said none of the students featured on "Fraternity Life" had
complained about their treatment on the show, but the school's policy is to
immediately suspend any organization suspected of hazing, to protect
students from potential harm.

Nice policy UB, guilty until proven innocent. Suspend them, permanently scar their reputation on campus, and forbid them from pledging when they haven't done anything wrong. And if you ask me, that policy seems to have a connection with academic efforts. Unless they can show it has impaired the academic efforts of the allegedly hazed, then they may be off the hook. But of course, we all know how this one will turn out...

[Mari-103]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DELTAQTE
[B]Um...did anyone peep the next episode? "If you're early, you're on time...?"

Ain't that the truth!! But seriously, why would you want to have your process shown on TV?

[camelsrule510]

Originally posted by RUgreek
Nice policy UB, guilty until proven innocent. Suspend them, permanently scar their reputation on campus, and forbid them from pledging when they haven't done anything wrong. And if you ask me, that policy seems to have a connection with academic efforts. Unless they can show it has impaired the academic efforts of the allegedly hazed, then they may be off the hook. But of course, we all know how this one will turn out...

That's the way UB operates. They have a very anti-greek administration. They have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. Last year they suspended the entire Greek System for a week, because someone, who didn't even go to UB, might have been drinking at a rush event, and later a bar, and drove his car off a bridge into the Niagara River. The Key-Word being might. They ended up charging the fraternity that was supposedly responsible with a mess of charges, including a BS hazing charge. When they found him, toxicology reports proved that he was sober... and they quietly exonerated them, and put them on probation, a full four months after the fact, the whole thing cost them a semester, they were unable to take a Spring Class, and couldn't participate in the Annual IFC Pledge Football Tournament, which to win is a tremendous honor. Since the tournament is tommorrow morning, Sigma Chi Omega will not be participating, which cheapens the tournament even further.

It's UB Politics at it's finest.

[stargirl725]

Originally posted by camelsrule510
That's the way UB operates. They have a very anti-greek administration. They have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later.

Perhaps, but do they really need to ask questions when the answers are all over national television?

[AOII*Azra-elle]

Originally posted by stargirl725
Perhaps, but do they really need to ask questions when the answers are all over national television?

Well, if you were being taped answering a question or responding to something that happened and then while the film crew was editing, put that response or answer to something else would you say it's true and would you want someone to question it? From where we sit they haze, and maybe they do I'm not saying they don't, but maybe during editing it's what it's supposed to look like.

[KDShannon]

So Sigma Chi Omega.... is a local Frat at both UB and USCB... except neither are affiliated with each other..

Hmm.. interesting.

[texas*princess]

My thoughts on tonight's episode:

* I thought it was just downright HILARIOUS when the Pledge Brothers were imitating a call between Alex & his gf

* IMHO, I thought it was extremely rude of the Sigma Chi Omega guys to intentionally interupt the Anniversary after Alex already got permission by picking him up....

* I actually felt really bad for Alex w/ his ordeal. He obviously felt pretty bad for awhile. And in defense of his girlfriend, I wouldn't want my boyfriend hanging out with a bunch guys who seem to have low IQ's (it actually took the guys awhile to figure out - 'hey, stealing a zoo animal probably isn't a good idea'), who curse at least 10 times in every sentence, who very noticably haze their pledges, and who want the guys entire life to consist of their fraternity & nothing else... but that's just my opinion...