Fun-loving Frat Finds University Isn't Laughing
By BRIAN KLADKO, Staff Writer
Sunday, November 17, 2002

This story is one of those cases of life imitating art - assuming that "National Lampoon's Animal House" qualifies as art.

Instead of Faber College, the plot unfolds at Montclair State University. The role of the ne'er-do-well fraternity, Delta Upsilon, is played by the guys at Phi Alpha Psi Senate - fun-loving, popular, but a bit too contrarian for their own good.

And, just like the 1978 film, the showdown between the fraternity and the university involves a crude, inflammatory performance at the annual homecoming parade.

But, this being real life, the officials at Montclair State aren't laughing. Phi Alpha Psi Senate, known simply as Senate, has gone far beyond "double secret probation" - they have been kicked off campus.

"Your degrading, demeaning, insulting, and disgusting portrayal of violence and intolerance on Saturday clearly demonstrated that your organization has no interest in being part of the values which this institution seeks to demonstrate and instill in its students," Montclair State Vice President Karen Pennington wrote in a letter to the fraternity after last month's homecoming.

The story, however, doesn't end there. The Student Government Association is considering stripping the fraternity of its charter - signaling an end to Senate's illustrious 73-year history.

Did anyone say "to-ga"?

Most university administrators quietly tolerate Greek life, recognizing that for some students, it's a crucial part of the college social scene. Although some fraternities are havens for underage drinking, and sometimes get into trouble for their hazing rituals, administrators rarely go so far as permanently banning a fraternity from campus.

At Montclair State, where less than 10 percent of full-time undergraduates belong to a fraternity or sorority, Senate is the second fraternity to run afoul of the administration this year. The university suspended Theta Xi last spring for a hazing incident in which pledges stole street signs, including "one-way" and directional signs, from surrounding neighborhoods.

Senate, the second-oldest student organization on campus, has evolved - or devolved, depending on your perspective - from its origins as an intellectual clique devoted to discussions of literature and theater. Back then, it included many officers of student government, hence its name. Several Senate alumni have campus buildings named in their honor.

Somewhere along the line, however, the fraternity took on a wholly different character. It adopted the symbol for anarchy - the letter "A" enclosed by a circle - and the motto, "Don't let education interfere with college."

"College is supposed to be the best time of your life," says Senate's vice president, Bryan Padula, a junior from Little Falls. "You might as well enjoy it."

Senate, like all fraternities at Montclair State, doesn't have an official house where all or most brothers live. A handful of Senate's 25 members rent an off-campus, ramshackle structure that serves as the fraternity's unofficial gathering place - and, of course, Party Central.

On Monday night, they celebrated the initiation of female pledges into one of Montclair State's sororities. The party broke up around 6 a.m., and several brothers were still sleeping it off by noon.

One newly inducted pledge was passed out on the couch, buried under large pillows. Red plastic cups littered the floor, and the place reeked of stale beer.

Brothers have been known to ride kegs down the staircase, and engage in spirited games of "beer pong," which involves a pingpong table, a pingpong ball, and many cups of beer. Senate is the reigning champion in an unofficial inter-fraternity competition called "Kill-A-Keg": a race to see which seven-man team will be the first to empty an eight-gallon keg.

"In 18 years, we've won it 16, and been uncontested twice," says Senate's president, John Zuccarello, who wants to be a history teacher.

Senate also has a record of pushing the boundaries of campus respectability. At a university-sponsored orientation session last year, they brought an empty keg - a trophy from the Kill-A-Keg competition - to their display table.

But homecoming has proven to be the biggest source of trouble for Senate.

A few years ago, when the theme was "Wide World of Sports," their performance focused on the seamier side of sports: O.J. Simpson, Marv Albert, and Mike Tyson. At the conclusion of the skit, they trashed their backdrop and damaged the gymnasium floor.

The fraternity was banned from last year's parade because of its performance the year before, in which someone set something on fire, says Dean of Students Helen Matusow-Ayres.

"They had informally promised us that this was going to be different, that they were really trying to come back and make a good impression," Matusow-Ayres says. "And it was really disappointing that they went to their old behavior."

The theme for this year's homecoming, on Oct. 19, was "Broadway," with each group performing a song-and-dance routine in front of the president's home.

Senate's skit involved a chorus line of guys in drag, a cheesy singer in a white tuxedo, and various villains: the Unabomber, O.J. Simpson (again), Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and the Washington, D.C.-area sniper. Each one tried and failed to kill the singer, instead killing members of the chorus line.

Ultimately, the mission is accomplished by the Senate's symbol, the Ape - a guy dressed in a gorilla suit. The skit was supposed to portray Senate saving the world from a horrible Broadway performance, but it also had a deeper message, Zuccarello says.

"They're asking us to sing and dance and put on a show about Broadway, and there's all these bad things happening in this country, to Americans," he says. "We're trying to make people talk about it. And if it means that people are going to yell at us, and they criticize us, good. We're starting a debate. Basically, we're starting the thought process."

Whether it was sophomoric humor or deceptively clever political theater, university administrators did not appreciate the skit's violent overtones, especially with the sniper killings still dominating the news. But the finale was what really did Senate in.

The brother in the ape suit, using a baseball bat, began pulverizing a computer monitor that was meant as a prop for the Unabomber. The ape made quick work of it, in what appeared to be an unscripted, unintended homage to John Belushi's guitar-smashing scene in "Animal House."

Then, to make matters worse, the ape led the brothers in the "Ape Cheer" - mostly grunts, with some profanity mixed in.

A shard of glass from the computer hit the foot of a student watching the performance, according to a report filed with the university police. But the student didn't file a criminal complaint, and probably didn't receive any medical attention, said Police Chief Paul Cell.

"If someone got hurt, it wasn't our intention," Zuccarello says.

Still, the Student Government Association's president, Chris Fitzpatrick, decided the possible injury to a spectator couldn't be ignored, because the SGA granted Senate's charter, as it does with all student organizations.

"We're liable for this person's injuries, and we have to take necessary corrective action to make sure, a) it doesn't happen again, and b) that we're not held responsible," Fitzpatrick said. Besides, he said, there is little point in preserving Senate's charter if the university administration won't let the group do anything on campus.

But Fitzpatrick also said the university went too far. Before the SGA holds its hearing Dec. 6, he hopes to persuade administrators to suspend Senate, but not ban it forever.

Senate remains defiant. The brother who smashed the computer and led the profanity-laden chant remains a member, although he will likely be excluded from certain Senate events, Zuccarello says. And Senate is still holding parties. Whatever the university and student government decide, they can't take that away.

"Everyone respects us," says Antonio Vassilatos, a junior from Secaucus. "We're on good terms with almost every fraternity. People don't have parties when they know we're having a party. They know where the fun is."

ETSU Student Files Lawsuit Against Fraternity
By Sam Watson, Press Education Writer

One of three East Tennessee State University students whose complaints of hazing resulted in a fraternity chapter’s suspension from campus last year has filed suit against the fraternity.

Joshua Duane Buchanan filed suit Oct. 3 in Washington County Sessions Court against Sigma Phi Epsilon, a national fraternity based in Richmond, Va., for negligence based on an incident Nov. 25-26 at the fraternity’s off-campus chapter house in Johnson City.

Buchanan sought less than ,000 for personal injuries, medical bills and expenses and damages for loss of funds, clothing and personal property, as well as court costs and attorney’s fees, according to the suit.

A hearing in the suit was scheduled for Friday in Sessions Court, but attorneys for both sides had submitted an agreement for continuance to the court. No date had been set.

Scott Thompson, Sigma Phi Epsilon’s national communications director, said Monday he could not comment on the suit since it was pending litigation.

Last December, ETSU announced that it had suspended its Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter until fall 2003 for hazing that could have resulted in students’ harm. The university also had disciplined four individual “Sig Ep” members.

The charges were based on the statements of three pledges — candidates for full fraternity membership — who alleged they were forced to participate in a hazing activity at the chapter house, 719 W. Maple St.

According to ETSU documents filed in the complaint, fraternity members forced the pledges to crawl through garbage that included broken glass during “Hell Week” activities. Fraternity members also harassed the pledges, prevented them from sleeping, pelted them with eggs and threw what pledges believed was urine on them, the documents said.

At least until the fall semester of 2003, Sigma Phi Epsilon will not be allowed to conduct or participate in any activities at ETSU, including membership recruitment, social events and intramural competition.

Once the suspension expires, the fraternity will be allowed to submit a written plan for the recruitment of new members and reorganization to be considered for probationary reinstatement. ETSU administrators have said the suspension could continue beyond the original period if plans are unacceptable.

CU Student's 'Kidnapping' Just a Frat Prank
Police Say Joke Wasted Resources, Cost City Money

By Matt Sebastian and Pam Regensberg, Camera Staff Writers
November 13, 2002

It certainly looked like a kidnapping: A half-dozen men grabbed a student at the University of Colorado on Tuesday, bound him with duct tape and stuffed him into a Jeep Cherokee.

Two bystanders called 911; police swarmed through Boulder, stopped the Cherokee and freed sophomore Hunter Deaver, whose hands, feet and head were wrapped with tape.

Turns out it was all a joke.

"It was essentially a frat prank," CU police Lt. Tim McGraw said after the dust settled. "On initial observation, this appears to violate the university's regulations on hazing."

The head of CU's Pi Kappa Alpha chapter confirmed that a group of his fraternity's pledges grabbed Deaver from campus but said the abduction was nothing more than a practical joke.

"It was definitely not a kidnapping," chapter president Jake Sloan said. "This was blown out of proportion. There was no car accident; no one was hurt. This wasn't hazing."

Police, though, aren't laughing.

Officials say the 10:55 a.m. report of a kidnapping near CU's Eaton Humanities Building was taken very seriously — and ultimately wasted the time of eight officers, who spent nearly an hour untangling the situation.

"They need to be punished — at least pay the city and CU back for the amount of time they wasted," said Boulder police Sgt. Bob Hendry. "CU's entire work shift was involved and half of the city of Boulder's."

None of the participants were arrested or cited because Deaver, who couldn't be reached Tuesday, declined to press charges, police said.

"We wasted a lot of resources chasing them around," Hendry said. "It would be nice if they used that energy for something productive. ... It takes away from us doing legitimate things."

Police instead plan to refer the case to CU's Office of Judicial Affairs, which can punish individual students, and the Interfraternity Council, which can sanction chapters.

"Whether or not this is hazing, I can't tell you right now," said Laura Strohminger, CU's director of Greek affairs. "But the university does take hazing very seriously."

CU has dealt with a pair of high-profile Greek incidents in the last year.

In September, Phi Delta Theta shut down its CU chapter following a car accident in Boulder Canyon that seriously injured a pledge. Many of the underage students involved in the accident had been drinking prior to the crash, police reported.

And last fall, two Kappa Alpha Theta members were briefly hospitalized with alcohol poisoning after a late-night drinking event. That chapter was suspended for a semester following a lengthy police investigation.

[My note: I'm seeing a great idea for a reality show..."Stupid Things Frat Boys Do"

Penn State Frat Charged After Woman Fell 8 Floors
Associated Press
Wednesday, October 16, 2002

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. --A Penn State University fraternity was charged with illegally providing alcohol to a 20-year-old female student who fell from her eighth-floor apartment window.

Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity was charged yesterday with selling or furnishing alcohol to minors, State College police detective Joe Grego said today.

Natalie Paglione, of Ambler in suburban Philadelphia, was drinking at a TKE party at an apartment near campus on Sept. 8 before she returned to her apartment, authorities said. It was unclear how she managed to fall out of her bedroom window, but police said Paglione had a blood-alcohol level of 0.135 percent, well above the legal limit for driving.

Paglione sustained injuries to her back, arms and legs and had to have a kidney removed at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey. She has since been discharged and was recovering at her home.

TKE president Brad Andrew Nelson, who Grego said was involved in providing the alcohol, did not immediately return a call seeking comment from The Associated Press.

If convicted, the fraternity would likely face a fine, authorities said.

Mo. Fraternity Suspended for Hazing
Sat, Oct. 19, 2002

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) --A fraternity at the University of Missouri-Columbia was suspended for four years for violating the school's anti-hazing policy.

Sigma Chi was already on probation for a previous hazing incident when pledges complained in early September about their treatment by active members.

The fraternity will be able to seek reinstatement in July 2004 under the punishment announced Friday by Cathy Scroggs, the university's interim vice chancellor for student affairs. Scroggs upheld a decision issued earlier by Greek Life coordinator Chris Linder.

"We simply cannot allow the kind of activity that Sigma Chi members were engaging in to go unpunished, and we want to send a clear message that the mental and physical well being of our students is our top priority," Scroggs said.

An investigation by Linder found that, among other things, pledges were made to sit for up to two hours with pillowcases over their heads while fraternity members yelled insults and poured alcohol on them.

Other fraternity members' actions included making pledges shave without shaving cream, keeping pledges awake by pounding on their doors, blowing horns and breaking beer bottles, and making pledges clean up bins of trash that had been tossed into halls.

The suspension bars Sigma Chi from taking part in certain events as a student organization, including Homecoming and Greek Week.

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 ,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?"

CHARGES POSSIBLE IN FRAT HAZING;DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO REVIEW POLICE REPORTS IN NEAR DEATH OF COLGATE STUDENT LAST FALL.
The Post-Standard
Syracuse, NY
February 21, 2003
By Glenn Coin, Staff writer

Criminal charges may be brought against members of a Colgate University fraternity after a student nearly died in a hazing incident last fall.

The Hamilton Police Department this week turned over reports in the case to the Madison County District Attorney's Office.

"I will be taking a look at it," said District Attorney Donald F. Cerio Jr. Cerio said he will probably review the file early next week and determine whether to bring charges. Colgate suspended the Beta Theta Pi fraternity after an 18-year-old student nearly died of alcohol poisoning during a hazing incident Oct. 29.

College officials said the student was coerced into drinking so much alcohol that he suffered alcohol poisoning and had to be rushed to Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton.

The incident happened during fall pledging on campus.

Hazing and providing alcohol to people younger than 21 are both crimes.

Beta Theta Pi fraternity members tried to cover up the hazing at the fraternity on Broad Street by giving conflicting stories to campus safety officers, said Jim Leach, college vice president for communication.

Under the provisions of the suspension imposed by Colgate, the 71-member fraternity "is prohibited from functioning as an organization in any way."

The fraternity is forbidden from holding meetings, participating in intramural sports or holding parties through the end of the spring 2004 semester.

It also cannot recruit new members until fall 2004 or serve alcohol until fall 2005.

It will also be on probation until 2014.

Fraternity members have declined to comment on the case.

Beta Theta Pi national headquarters has launched its own investigation, which could lead to the dissolution of the chapter.

Beta Theta Pi is the second Colgate fraternity in two years to be punished for alcohol violations.

In 2001, the college shut down Delta Kappa Epsilon for a year for serving alcohol to the driver in a crash that killed four people.

The driver, Robert Koester, of Troy, was 20 at the time. The legal drinking age in New York is 21.

Copyright 2003 Post-Standard.

STUDENT'S DEATH PROBED
The Buffalo News
February 19, 2003
STEPHEN WATSON, News Staff Reporter

A grand jury in Syracuse is investigating the circumstances that led to the death last year of an Alfred University fraternity member, and has issued subpoenas to former members of his fraternity, according to the Allegany County district attorney.

The investigation by the Onondaga County grand jury could for the first time lead to charges in the death of Benjamin P. Klein, 21, an Alfred business major from Putney, Vt.

Klein was allegedly beaten by members of his Zeta Beta Tau fraternity while the group drove back from a convention in Syracuse, according to police. His body was found three days later in a creek bed behind his fraternity house. The medical examiner ruled the injuries did not cause his death.

Allegany County District Attorney Terrence Parker said his office is cooperating with the grand jury and he hopes charges will be filed.

"This is one where I want to see those responsible brought to answer for their actions," Parker said Tuesday.

Klein's death shook the Alfred campus and prompted the university to phase out fraternities and sororities through 2005.

Police say Klein was allegedly beaten by fellow members of his fraternity during a Feb. 9, 2002, car ride from Syracuse to Alfred, in retaliation forcomments Klein made about hazing at the convention.

Klein died within several days of returning to Alfred. His body was found Feb. 12 in a creek bed behind his Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house on Main Street. It is known that Klein was drinking heavily and possibly suffered from hypothermia while lying in the creek.

The two students who are suspected of beating Klein during the car ride left town and later were suspended from the university. They've withdrawn from Alfred, said Michael E. Hyde, vice president for university relations.

The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was suspended by the university, and the fraternity's national organization withdrew its charter.

But authorities haven't brought charges against any fraternity members for Klein's beating or death. Parker said the evidence doesn't support homicide charges. Alfred officials said they're glad the grand jury is investigating the incident, and hope this helps bring closure to Klein's family.

"We hope justice is done," Hyde said.

Copyright 2003 The Buffalo News