Vandal strike five local Greek houses

[TSteven]

*Just came across this...*
(CSUN = California State University, Northridge)


Vandal strike five local Greek houses
Summer Sundial
Ryan Denham
June 20, 2005

Five CSUN fraternity and sorority houses suffered thousands of dollars worth of damage in what one fraternity president said was an "obviously Greek-related" act of "unmotivated" vandalism that took place early June 3.

Five Greek houses -- Sigma Phi Epsilon, Zeta Beta Tau, Sigma Chi, Alpha Omicron Pi and Alpha Xi Delta -- were affected by the vandalism. Greek officials said the five incidents are linked because of the type of spray paint and "tagging" used by the vandals. In several cases, high-quality framed photographs of entire fraternities -- "composites" -- that can individually cost thousands of dollars were damaged or destroyed.

The vandals, who have not been identified, broke into the Sigma Chi house garage and spray-painted over a fraternity composite sometime between 3:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., according to David Cheng, Sigma Chi president.

Cheng said the vandals also poured a can of paint inside the house's air conditioning unit and spray-painted the inside walls of the garage and other areas with obscenities. The cost of the damage at the Sigma Chi house is estimated to be nearly $3,000, perhaps even more if the air conditioning unit is found to be beyond repair, Cheng said.

Sigma Phi Epsilon, located blocks from campus and less than a mile from Sigma Chi, was also vandalized during the same time period, according to the fraternity's president, Ruben Sanchez. The house was marked by spray paint on fences bordering the front and side of the house, he said.

Additionally, Sanchez said vandals entered the backyard of the house and poured a bucket of paint against the side of the house.

Sigma Phi Epsilon was tagged with spray-painted nonsense, obscenities and what Sanchez said were the Greek symbols of Pi Kappa Alpha, another CSUN fraternity. Sanchez said he did not believe Pi Kappa Alpha was involved in the tagging and that someone else spray-painted the fraternity's letters on the fences.

Jacob Kantor, president of Pi Kappa Alpha, said in an e-mail that his fraternity was not involved in the vandalism.

He said as soon as he was notified of the incident by a friend whose car was vandalized outside her sorority house, he spoke with fraternity and sorority presidents, as well as Jamison Keller, activities coordinator for Greek Life in the Matador Involvement Center, to try and "kill any speculation they had about us doing this crime."

"When I contacted them, I offered them my fraternity's help to clean up and do everything in our power to find out who did this ridiculous crime," he said.

CSUN InterFraternity Council President Jacob Stockfish said two sorority houses -- Alpha Xi Delta and Alpha Omicron Pi -- were also hit by the vandals, along with one other fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau.

"As of right now, we can't really do anything," Stockfish said. "We don't really know who it is."

Sanchez said he had an idea of who he thought the vandals were.

Several of the affected Greek houses, including Sigma Phi Epsilon and Sigma Chi, called the police after they discovered the vandalism. Sanchez and Cheng said officers from the Los Angeles Police Department took down the report, but added they have yet to hear back about the incident. Cheng said officers from the LAPD Devonshire Division responded to the call.

Cheng said he does not think the LAPD can do much about the vandalism until the fraternities and sororities find out more information about what he thinks was almost certainly a case of Greek-on-Greek vandalism.

"(The LAPD) probably just has it on file," Cheng said. "It if it happens again, they'll take that into account."

Christina Villalobos, spokesperson for the CSUN police, said the LAPD is not required to contact CSUN police regarding incidents such as vandalism, even if it involves CSUN clubs or organizations. Villalobos said the fraternities and sororities could have reported the incidents to CSUN police as well, as both the LAPD and CSUN police have jurisdiction in the areas where the vandalism took place.

Stockfish said the IFC could not do much until it finds out more information about the vandalism.

"We're waiting for someone to be stupid," Stockfish said. "(We're waiting) for someone to tell us who did it."

Stockfish said that if the vandals were associated with a fraternity or sorority, the IFC would bring them to a judicial court board hearing, where a panel made up of representatives from 11 IFC organizations would determine possible sanction recommendations, including the possibility of a fraternity or sorority being removed from campus.

Cheng said incidents of vandalism are not common at fraternity and sorority houses, but that vandalism has happened a couple of times since he has been here. He said what was unique about these incidents was that they were seemingly unmotivated.

"It's usually someone with a motive," Cheng said.

Sanchez said his house had suffered around $4,000 in damage from vandalism this year alone and that the cost of replacing the composite photographs is especially high.

Keller could not be reached for comment.

© 2005 CSUN Daily Sundial

[Tom Earp]

I am saddened to Hear of this and Hope that The Police find these ass wipes!

I also hope that the Local COPs dont just blow this off and get them and Prosecute to the N th Degree!

God Damn, I could really go on a tiread and use a lot of Dirty Names to call them what I think!

[AOIIalum]

Now this just makes me grumpy!

[AGDee]

I really hope it doesn't turn out to be Greeks who did this. This is really despicable.

[ms_gwyn]

This is so close to my home (ok, maybe not, but near) and this is hit me as very, very sad.

I hope that they find who did this. My heart goes out to these young people.

[mmcat]

how sad that there are people in this world who are that stupid. what a waste!

[asigslifeforme]

I go to Csun and this happened to my house ... my brothers and I all know who did it, but we have no concrete proof ... we finally cleaned up the chapter room and hope to replace the composites soon ... we could easily retaliate and we would find a way to come out on top .... however we choose the high road and focus on building our brotherhood and continuing to be the envy of the campus .... thats right .... IN HOC.... bitches ... you know who u are

[cheesy]

This isn't as bad...but the other day a homeless person walked into our house and started taking a shower in our showers! No joke!

This is horrible! What the crap was the morons thinking?? I soo hope the idiots that did this are found & hopefully are not other greeks! Geezz! I hope these groups use this experience as a steping stone & move on!

[asigslifeforme]

sorry to burst everones bubble on this but its quite obviously greeks ... the greek houses here are quite ordinary looking and have very few signs that they house a glo ... one would have to be in the greek system to even know were they were .. trust me we all know which glo did it too ...

[PM_Mama00]

That's really sad. Jealousy at its best perhaps?