West Virginia U ("WVU") Sigma Chi Pledges: Citations, Arrests (Alcohol, etc.)

[exlurker]

West Virginia U (WVU): Arrests and citations for alleged underage consumption and public intoxication involving 19 Sigma Chi pledges are reported:

http://www.charlestondailymail.com/a...141109463/1277

Seemingly the alleged violations / behavior were due to pledges who were unruly and in various stages of drunkenness. There are also allegations of lying to police -- reportedly, pledges initially claimed they were from a different fraternity. (Not necessarily the best way to build good interfraternity relations, om my opinion.)

[Kevin]

Really? Some nineteen year old kids are drinking and that makes the news? Must've been a slow day. The obstruction charges are BS and unless there's more to them, they should be dropped. If the only charges were underage consumption, I don't see how lying about your affiliation could deprive the officers of any relevant facts in their investigation. Whether these kids are TKEs or Sigma Chis was irrelevant.

[naraht]

And unless they can prove that the Fraternity told them they had to come back to the house drunk (or something similar) shouldn't get much more of an effect than an Alcohol awareness seminar.

[exlurker]

A Pittsburgh paper’s site has a slight update, with quotes from a chapter officer, who reportedly said the chapter takes responsibility for the incident. The police apparently got involved due to calls from residents of the area where the pledges were yelling, running around, and so on at 1:30 or so in the morning.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/re...s/201411080050

“Mr. Schaible [the vice president of the chapter] did not participate in the events Thursday, but said it was his understanding that Sigma Chi members dropped the pledges off in South Park, a residential neighborhood near Downtown, and tasked them with finding their way back to the fraternity house. The event, he said, was a team-building exercise.

‘We thought we had a good plan going, but I guess things got out of hand,’ he said.”

Edited to add: Can anyone familiar with Morgantown WV give some information about the South Park neighborhood? I've found that it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and that it has a substantial number of single-family dwellings built in the early 1900s. Are the residents generally protective of their neighborhood (not likely to appreciate a noisy group in the early morning hours)? Is it a fairly affluent area of the city that tends to get quick action on complaint calls to police?

[Kevin]

Again... 19 pledges got MIPs. This is a non-story and happens all of the time everywhere. I never had an MIP myself, but my younger brother (non greek) had several and never made the news.

[exlurker]

Update -- Citations for hazing

http://www.statejournal.com/story/27...ber-for-hazing

The story ^^ reports on a press release from the Morgantown police. Names and home towns of those receiving the citations for hazing are listed.

[Kevin]

The way the hazing statute is written, unless we learn a lot more, they'll have a hard time making hazing charges stick.

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/wvcode/...chap=18&art=16

Of course kidnappings are almost certainly verboten by Sigma Chi.

[WVU alpha phi]

Originally Posted by exlurker

A Pittsburgh paper’s site has a slight update, with quotes from a chapter officer, who reportedly said the chapter takes responsibility for the incident. The police apparently got involved due to calls from residents of the area where the pledges were yelling, running around, and so on at 1:30 or so in the morning.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/re...s/201411080050

“Mr. Schaible [the vice president of the chapter] did not participate in the events Thursday, but said it was his understanding that Sigma Chi members dropped the pledges off in South Park, a residential neighborhood near Downtown, and tasked them with finding their way back to the fraternity house. The event, he said, was a team-building exercise.

‘We thought we had a good plan going, but I guess things got out of hand,’ he said.”

Edited to add: Can anyone familiar with Morgantown WV give some information about the South Park neighborhood? I've found that it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and that it has a substantial number of single-family dwellings built in the early 1900s. Are the residents generally protective of their neighborhood (not likely to appreciate a noisy group in the early morning hours)? Is it a fairly affluent area of the city that tends to get quick action on complaint calls to police?

South Park is about 2 miles from Sigma Chi (and other Greek houses). It's over a small, walkable bridge from downtown Morgantown. It is not an affluent area, but there are some old, historic homes (students occupy several). It's a mix of Morgantown residents and students, probably 60/40 or 70/30. I dated someone who lived in the area and spent a lot of time there. The so called rowdy behavior of Sigma Chi pledges probably did stand out in that neighborhood more than it would in other parts of Morgantown. The bridge, while small, kind of separates the neighborhood from the campus, Greek houses, and the bars.