Student killed in shooting near Ohio university

Sadly, it seems like "Omega Psi Phi 'til the day I die" is more than just a slogan.

(CNN) -- A senior at Ohio's Youngstown State University was killed and 11 other people were wounded in an off-campus shooting early Sunday, authorities said.

All but three of the wounded were treated and released, said Tina Creighton, a spokeswoman for St. Elizabeth's Health Center in Youngstown. Six of the injured were students.
[...]
Police identified the dead man as 25-year-old Jamail Johnson of nearby Girard, Ohio. Johnson was shot once in the back of the head and several times in the lower body, Dr. Joseph Ohr, a forensic pathologist at the Mahoning County Coroner's Office, told CNN.
[...]
The shooting happened at an off-campus house where members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity were holding a party, Hughes said.

Police, called at 3:39 a.m., said shots were fired "indiscriminately" from outside the house. Authorities found multiple shell casings from two semiautomatic handguns, one a .40-caliber and the other a .45-caliber, Hughes said.

Fraternity Membership in Black and White

Gregg Presbury (MD Zeta) sent us this thought provoking entry.

A Post for SigEp Blog:

My wife and I were finalizing our plans for inviting a mutual friend to educate Maryland Zeta Chapter (Salisbury U) on the history of the Black Greek Letter Organization (BGLO) Alpha Phi Alpha and the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC). During our discussion we began to talk about the glass wall between historically Black and White Greeks. This discussion got me curious as to the state of the Fraternity world in the Era of Obama. I searched the Internet and found some interesting things are afoot: President Clinton recently became a member of Phi Beta Sigma (NPHC Fraternity), Erica Schlemmer became the first white member of Vanderbilt's Delta Sigma Theta (NPHC Sorority), Darek Jackson as of September 2009 was LSU's only active member of Iota Phi Theta (NPHC Fraternity) he also is the first white member of the chapter and Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) was the first NIC Fraternity at Howard University (2006).

In the late 1950's Sigma Phi Epsilon was a trailblazer in the NIC world by stepping across the Jim Crow line and initiating former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Vermont Beta Brother (Middlebury College) Ronald Brown (8/1/41 – 4/3/96). Brother Brown was our first Afro-American member. Brother Brown's acceptance into SigEp was an extremely controversial and brave move on the part of our leadership and members as this occurred only about five years after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat and nearly a full decade before Martin Luther King presented his “I Have A Dream” speech. At past Conclaves and Carlsons stories have been told of how our last surviving founding father had to be escorted from the room to allow a non-discrimination clause being added to Article I Section 1A of the National Bylaws in 1959.

I like to think our current membership is as at least as open minded as our Brothers of the 1950s and early 60s. Yet the question remains what has happened since then? More members of color have joined but not an overwhelming number. Chapters have been added to nationally prominent campuses but not prominent Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Pi Kappa Alpha is still the only NIC Fraternity at Howard University. Of note since PIKE entered Howard we have established at east two chapters in the same community without mention of Howard U as a goal for a third SEC in DC.

When I attended the Centennial Conclave as a young alum I was encouraged that I was not the only minority present but was also discouraged that nearly fifty years after the diversity statement we only had a handful of non-white members present for such a momentous occasion. Years have passed and I have seen more minority members at Carlsons but still no HBCU representation.

SigEp offers a great program and enormous opportunities for those who truly take on the challenges of the Balanced Man education. There are thousands of young men of color on our campuses and at HBCUs that are not being offered the opportunity to benefit from our organization's opportunities. Do we have a plan to address this? In this era of tightening budgets, competition and globalization can SigEp afford to sit on the sidelines watching an untapped resource such as HBCUs go by? Do we need to introduce more diversity educators to SigEp's leadership training and Regional Director echelons? If so how? Is SigEp no longer a leader in diversity awareness and appreciation? Should we change our creed? What are your thoughts?

More food for thought: The nation will be more racially and ethnically diverse, as well as much older, by mid-century. Minorities, now roughly one-third of the U.S. population, are expected to become the majority in 2042, with the nation projected to be 54 percent minority in 2050. By 2023, minorities will comprise more than half of all children. - U.S. Census August 14, 2008

Brother Gregg Presbury
Salisbury University Maryland Zeta 1996

Michelle Obama Becomes a Greek

Michelle Obama Joins Alpha Kappa Alpha, a Historically Black Sorority
The Chronicle of Higher Education

Michelle Obama has accepted an invitation to become an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, ending weeks of speculation on historically black college campuses about which, if any, sorority she would join.

Ms. Obama did not join a sorority while a undergraduate at Princeton, and Alpha Kappa Alpha, which was founded at Howard University in 1908, did not have a chapter on the campus at the time.

The sorority, which also counts Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons among its honorary members, told the New York Times that once Mrs. Obama is inducted into the sorority, she cannot join any of the other “divine nine,” as black sororities and fraternities are often called.

But a spokeswoman for Ms. Obama said that her membership was non-exclusive.
“She looks forward to working with all of them to help bring change to their communities,” the spokeswoman told the Times.

Hazing Rituals Bring Out the "Gangsta" Mentality

The Need to Haze
By J. Samuel Cook-Dormoh
Black College Wire

The word excites people on both sides of the debate, those who see it as a sacred rite of passage and those who view it as a barbaric form of torture.

Hazing incidents have occurred recently at Jackson State, Florida A&M and Southeast Missouri State universities, all involving black students. The incidents have placed the spotlight on initiation practices among the historically black fraternities and sororities that comprise the "Divine Nine" as well as some of the marching bands.

A study published in College Student Journal in 2001 found African American students have "more positive beliefs about the purpose of pledging" and are more likely to support and conform to pledging practices. According to the study, African Americans also held a significant belief that hazing processes should be intense, difficult and lengthy. The study also reported that African-American students had more positive perceptions of Greek organizations compared to white and Hispanic students.

Dr. Alvin T. Simpson, a professor of psychology at Alcorn State University and member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., agreed that African-Americans are more likely to engage in or accept hazing as a means of joining fraternities or sororities because they are looking for an identity. He also said that brutal or intense hazing rituals are rooted in the tradition of slavery.

"Based on some of the historical events that happened during slavery, one expression that a lot of black males use to demonstrate their level of empowerment or level of masculinity is to present it during this type of initiation or process leading to initiation into a fraternity," he said. "I strongly believe that it, too, represents something that heightens the esteem of males making them feel as if they are 'better than' and they also have dominion over someone else temporarily."

Both hazing and pledging were abolished in 2000 in a joint effort by the National Pan-Hellenic Council . Though prohibited among the national offices of each black fraternity and sorority, hazing is viewed by some members of the African American Greek community as a rite of passage for prospective members.

Merwin Brown, 28, of Hattiesburg, Miss., a member of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., said that he believes hazing will always exist in fraternities and sororities. While many Greeks claim that "hazing" and "pledging" are synonymous, Brown disagrees.

"I feel like if you pledge an organization then there is a membership intake process," he said. "But it's a membership intake process designed as a learning process more than it is with hazing being about physical punishment for not learning the things that are essential to the organization."

While Brown doesn't believe the intake programs have failed, he does believe that the membership has.

"I don't think that [membership intake programs] have failed, but I think some of the members of the organizations have failed to uphold them," he said. "I feel like there is always going to be some degree of hazing. That's almost something that you almost can't get around. For every good person in the organization trying to uphold it, there are going to be people who are going to try to slide certain things through the cracks."

Hamilton's organization is known for its service projects, as are many other Greek-letter organizations.

"Community service is a very big thing with fraternities and sororities and helping out not only black communities, but helping out the nation. We're behind elections, we're behind small-town communities, we're behind companies, so I think that's a positive thing about fraternities and sororities," said Phaon Spurlock, a senior at Southeastern Louisiana University.

The 22-year-old member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., points to the camaraderie of brotherhood and sisterhood within the organizations, as well as their work in the community.
But Spurlock says that camaraderie is not extended to individuals who are considered to be "paper," a term used for individuals who are not hazed to become members of their respective organizations.

"It's something that needs to be changed. Everyone goes through a different process," he said. "People call people [paper] for certain reasons, but I think that after you become a member and you have that card or whatever, you are a member. I have seen people not allow them to have certain things or participate in certain events, but when it comes to networking in response to what they did and what they didn't do, they are still a part of this organization and should receive something from it."

Kimbrough addressed that issue in the Black Issues article, which was titled "Are You Paper?"
"Paper has become a fighting word," Kimbrough wrote. It is similar to a gay student being labeled a "fag" and then facing taunts, slurs or even physical assault. In fact, one student told me that being called paper was just like a white person calling them a "nigger."

Brown and Spurlock disagree with the Survey of Attitudes About Fraternities and Sororities' findings regarding African Americans in relation to their non-black counterparts.

"I'm not trying to be on one side of the fence, but the media is going to make the African American culture look bad. I know plenty of white fraternities and sororities that haze," said Spurlock."They have paddles, they do all that in their actual fraternity and sorority houses. Just because you hear one study about African-American fraternities and sororities hazing, it becomes a big issue, but it's happening all the time with white fraternities and sororities."
Hamilton agreed: "I think it's a problem, period, and I think it's the same between the races."
Simpson offered a different view.

"I think [African Americans] are more accepting because they subscribe to tradition with the pledging process," he said. "During the 1960's and 1970's there was an era wherein pledging was legal and the test of one's manhood for a fraternity was based on his ability to withstand many physical challenges, and it became a norm. And in today's society, there are those who want to have a story to tell in terms of what their pledge period was like. They want to be hazed to validate themselves as members of the organizations and to show themselves worthy of getting in."

Underground hazing was thrust once again into the national spotlight in 2001 when Kenitha Saafir and Kristin High were both drowned while pledging the California State University at Los Angeles chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Since that time, black Greek organizations have gotten tough on hazing. Still, two members of FAMU's chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. were convicted in 2006 of hazing and each sentenced to 24 months in jail for an incident in which a prospective member was hospitalized after being caned. Three members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. were charged with third-degree assault and hazing after forcing a pledge to eat a mixture of food from a garbage can, spraying her with liquid from a bottle, and striking her with a closed fist.

Hazing rituals are not limited to Greek-letter organizations. Earlier this month, Jackson State University's band, the Sonic Boom of the South made headlines when administrators briefly suspended its activities, following accusations of "mental hazing" by parents. An investigation resulted in the band's reinstatement before the next game. Although some thought the initial punishment was severe, the administration had grounds for exercising caution.

In 2004, a former Florida A&M University Marching 100 member won a $1.8 million verdict in a civil battery case. Marcus Parker was beaten so badly with a paddling board during a band initiation that one of his kidneys temporarily shut down, and his attorney said he required four surgeries and probably would need a kidney transplant. And in 2001, Doug E. Fierburg, an attorney who won a $375,000 lawsuit against Omega Psi Phi Fraternity in 1997, told Black Issues in Higher Education that the fraternity was unable to obtain liability insurance because of the high number of lost court cases resulting from hazing incidents.

Kimbrough said the makeup of the organizations must change if pledging and hazing are going to end. He added that a "thug element" has infiltrated the organizations. "This 'gangsta' mentality holds promising students hostage, causing them to sacrifice their morals and values in order to be accepted."

J. Samuel Cook-Dormoh is a recent graduate of Alcorn State University and a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. To comment, please e-mail Black College Wire.