SMU students turn themselves in for alleged assault at Sig Ep house

Is "Temporary Deferred Suspension" anything like "Double Secret Probation"?

SMU students turn themselves in for alleged assault at Sig Ep house | www.pegasusnews.com | Dallas/Fort Worth:

Sigma Phi Epsilon has been placed on
“temporary deferred suspension” following
a reported hazing incident and assault.

"DALLAS — Four male students turned themselves in to SMU Police on February 28 in connection with the February 10 alleged assault of another student at the Sigma Phi Epsilon House.

The students turned themselves in after warrants were issued for their arrest on Friday, February 22.

On February 10 a male SMU student reported that he had been held against his will and struck numerous times.

Kent Best said in a statement, “The students have been temporarily suspended from SMU pending the outcome of the legal process and any student conduct review proceedings.”

SMU Police sent their findings from their investigation to the Dallas County District Attorney’s office.

The SMU Police Department has not updated the daily crime report log."

'via Blog this'

Northwest Missouri SigEp Dies After Assault

It is tragic when a young man loses his life. Especially so when he is attacked after defending his friends. Usually when we see a death it involves hazing, or gross overuse of alcohol. Regardless of what the article says, we see this as more than just "a simple fight with deadly consequences." This was an honorable young man who paid dearly for being honorable.

Student from Jennings at NW Missouri State dies after attack; two suspects charged : Stltoday

More details surface on death of Northwest student - Northwest Missourian: News

Tomarken Smith 

A Northwest student died last night after an altercation in front of Molly's Party Club early Friday morning.

Senior Tomarken Smith, 21, was pronounced dead as the result of an alleged assault at 2:21 a.m. Friday at St. Francis Hospital and Health Services. Smith was from St. Louis.

Senior Colby Morris, a friend of Smith’s who was with him at the club, said the altercation began when Smith tried to stop one of the accused men from dancing with one of Smith’s female friends. Maryville Public Safety reported the two accused waited for Smith outside of the bar.

"You guys lost a good kid," Keith Wood, director of Maryville Public Safety said. "It was a simple fight that had deadly consequences. Our thoughts and prayers are with you as a student body."

Kevin D. Mooney has been charged with a class A felony murder in the second degree and a class A felony assault in the first degree. Tony M. Overlin has also been charged with a class A felony murder in the second degree and a class A felony assault in the first degree, according to the Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney's office. Bond is set at $100,000 for each defendant.

Smith was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Sigma Phi Epsilon Chapter President Chase Adams said the chapter is deeply affected by the news.

"The Missouri Lambda Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon is deeply saddened by the loss of our brother..." Adams said. "The chapter extends its heartfelt condolences to his family. This is a very tough time for all of us. Please offer your thoughts and prayers for family, friends, brothers and the campus community as we struggle to cope with this tragic loss.”

University President John Jasinski shares Sig Ep sympathies and wants people to remember Smith for who he was as an individual.

“We have to celebrate life here and celebrate Tomarken’s life,” Jasinski said. “He did all the things we would like Bearcats to do. Be engaged, be involved, be successful and be challenged. As I saw him, like many students, he wouldn’t let me walk by without saying ‘hello,’ but more importantly than that, if you talk to a variety of individuals on campus, throughout the Student Union when I was here earlier this morning, to a person he was always smiling, in a great mood and loved life.”

AU Student Injured at Sig Ep House Files Suit

Felony Assault Warrant Filed in AU Fraternity Fight; Family Files Civil Suit
COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) - As Auburn University student Taylor Jones returned home to Montgomery after being released from the hospital this weekend, the Lee County District Attorney and the Auburn Police Department issued a warrant Monday morning for the fraternity member accused of assaulting him.

18-year-old Zachary Quillen, a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, is being charged with Felony Assault in the 2nd Degree, stemming from the alleged incident back on January 11th.

This news from District Attorney Nick Abbot comes right on the heels of a civil suit filed in the Circuit Court of Lee County, Alabama by the Jones' family against Quillen and the fraternity.
The complaint states the fraternity failed to provide proper and adequate security to ensure safety at a party at the fraternity house.

Family of injured AU freshman sues fraternity, student
Katie Stallcup Opelika-Auburn New

The family of an Auburn University student who was injured at a fraternity house earlier this month filed suit Monday afternoon against the national fraternity, the local chapter and a fraternity member.

The suit was filed in Lee County Circuit Court by Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles of Montgomery. The suit, on behalf of student Taylor G. Jones, was filed in the name of his father, Michael G. Jones.

Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the local chapter of the fraternity are named as defendants, as well as a student the law firm says is a fraternity member.The suit claims the fraternity failed to provide security and safety at a party at the house late Jan. 10. It does not ask for specific amounts of damages.

Jones, 18, was injured in the early morning hours of Jan. 11 at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on West Magnolia Avenue, police have said. Jones was taken to The Medical Center in Columbus, where he spent more than a week in the intensive care unit.

Jones was discharged from the hospital Saturday. Police, the university and fraternity officials have said they are investigating the case.

No arrest had been made as of Monday afternoon, but Auburn police have said they expect to present the case to the Lee County district attorney for review Monday.A response to the suit has not yet been filed.

USC Sig Ep Stabbed - Dies After Fight

USC student fatally stabbed near campus
Bryan Richard Frost, 23, a graduate student in the School of Cinematic Arts, died after an argument, police say.
By Larry Gordon and Jia-Rui Chong, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

A USC film student died of stab wounds suffered in a fight several blocks north of the campus early Thursday, just two weeks after a pair of sexual assaults prompted police to issue a university-wide public safety warning.

Bryan Richard Frost, 23, an Idaho native and a student in the School of Cinematic Arts, was walking with two other students past a gated apartment complex near 28th Street and Orchard Avenue about 2:30 a.m. when the struggle occurred, authorities said.

The students may have rattled a gate, triggering an argument with a man in the complex, officials said. "The argument escalated into a physical fight," said Los Angeles Police Officer Kate Lopez. "The victim ended up getting stabbed."The attacker fled.

Frost was pronounced dead at California Hospital Medical Center. No arrests have been made.The death, coming so soon after the start of the academic year, touched off a wave of grief and anxiety. Students are demanding improved security along off-campus streets that are home to fraternities and student apartments.

"We spend a lot of money to go here, we think it should be safe," said Celeste McWhorter, a 21-year-old senior who lives north of campus. "You'd think at night they'd have something where there are people on every corner, doing something besides running around on campus... keeping students from crossing crosswalks on their bikes."

By Thursday evening, police had searched the Orchard Avenue apartment complex where the stabbing occurred and interviewed residents. Investigators said it did not appear that the attacker knew Frost, or that the fight was gang-related, authorities said.

Frost, who friends said transferred to USC after two years at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., was getting a second bachelor's degree in the cinema school after earning one in economics. Jens Midthun, president of USC's undergraduate student body and Frost's Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity brother, described Frost as a "fun guy" and a "free spirit" who was not the type of person to get into fights.

"We are all concerned. This is a terrible incident, and we never want something like this to happen again," Midthun said. The fraternity row and residential areas north of campus are generally safe and well-patrolled, he said, but student leaders want the university to see how security measures can be improved.

USC's 190-officer Department of Public Safety will increase off-campus patrols and take other steps to meet students' and parents' concerns, said Chief Carey Drayton. But he doubted such steps could have prevented the stabbing.

"When people get engaged in a fight, unfortunately some people don't fight fair," he said. "This was a fight on the street that turned into a tragic incident."

The death comes about a week and a half after two female USC students were sexually assaulted in separate early morning incidents near their university-owned, off-campus housing, within blocks of where Frost was stabbed. No arrests have been made in those assaults.

Authorities say there is no connection between the sexual assaults and Thursday's stabbing, except that they all occurred in the early morning.

On Thursday night, about 120 USC students joined in a candlelight vigil in front of the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on 28th Street. (Frost lived a few blocks away.) A large photo of Frost, smiling and rosy-cheeked, was on display. Students hugged and some wept.

Among the speakers at the half-hour ceremony was Rishab Mehra, one of Frost's roommates. Mehra -- a business and film major from New Delhi -- urged the crowd to salvage something from the death.

"Life can be taken away from us, so live for the most of it. Don't waste it," he said.The Rev. Jim Burklo, USC's associate dean of religious life, said that "many lives have been shattered by what happened today, and many hearts were broken." But he asked the students to "do something very hard -- to forgive." And he raised high a lighted candle and asked the crowd to join him in declaring, "we forgive."

Michael L. Jackson, USC's vice president for student affairs, told students that he understood their worries about crime and stressed that the school would do its best to increase safety."USC is by and large a pretty safe place," he said in an interview.

"That said, sometimes bad things happen. Our goal is to reduce them and to respond to the individuals affected."Friends described Frost as a reserved person who was extremely loyal and decent to his friends. "It was common acceptance that he was one of the most controlled and poised individuals among us," said fraternity president Idris Jatoi.

Friends said Frost could have used his economics degree to get a lucrative job in the business world but instead followed his passion for film. "He was doing what he wanted to do, and I really admire him for that life attitude," Midthun said.

Frost graduated from Eagle High School in Eagle, Idaho, a suburb of Boise, in 2003 and spent four years playing football at the school, said Principal Terry Beck.

School officials remembered Frost as an outgoing, hardworking student, who tended to get A's and Bs."He was dead honest, and he would give you 100%," said David Gural, who taught Frost pre-calculus and calculus in his junior and senior years.

On the football team, where he played strong safety, Frost often out-thought his opponents, said coach Robert Montgomery. As a result, he made a lot of important tackles and proved to be a critical part of the 2001 team that became undefeated state champions.

"You just don't think of a former student meeting a violent end, especially one who is young like that," Gural said. "A car crash is one thing, or plane wrecks, but it's just the violence that's so hard to handle."

Los Angeles and USC police said the recent violence was upsetting, but they said it did not represent a major crime wave in USC's off-campus neighborhoods -- where a third of USC's 33,000 students live. However, they urged students to take precautions at night. They advise against walking alone and recommend that students use the university's free ride service.

Emergency telephones and video cameras are installed at the university-owned properties in the area, although many streets are lined with privately owned homes and apartment buildings.
Lt. John Romero, an LAPD spokesman, stressed that violent crimes were down about 20% so far this year from last year in the areas where most USC students live off campus, from Adams to Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards on the north and south, and from Grand to Normandie avenues on the east and west.

"Violent crime against a USC student is very rare. This is an unusual occurrence for us," Romero said.

Anyone with information on the Frost attack is asked to contact detectives with the LAPD's Robbery Homicide Division at (213) 485-2155. They can also send a text message to 274637, which spells CRIMES, followed by LAPD.larry.gordon@latimes.comjia-rui.chong@latimes.com

Northern Illinois U. Sig Eps under fire

(Mini-comment: the best way to avoid news stories like this is to avoid behavior that attracts "unwelcome attention" from the college.)

Nasty allegations at NIU. It has gotten to the point where NIU is corresponding with Craig Templeton, SigEp's national executive director, about whether the chapter there will be closed.

The Northern Illinois University chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon is facing potentially strict judicial punishment for a number of incidents over the past several years.

According to documents acquired by the Northern Star from NIU Judicial Affairs via a Freedom of Information Act request, the fraternity's violations include underage alcohol consumption, racially motivated harassment of another fraternity and several violent incidents, among other infractions.
[...]
NIU Judicial Affairs director Larry Bolles, in correspondence obtained between he and Craig Templeton of the Sigma Phi Epsilon national office, recommended the fraternity's NIU chapter be shut down.

"Recent actions taken by ... Sigma Phi Epsilon have created a dangerous environment for the NIU Greek System as well as the NIU community as a whole. The Chapter's actions pose a clear and present danger causing concern for the safety and welfare of our students," Bolles said in the letter. "Those incidents, combined with past incidents, have led to the conclusion that the NIU chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon must be closed down. The environment created by their most recent actions is dangerous to the safety and welfare of those who reside on Greek Row."

Maybe the alleged events at Bradley didn't warrant a "frat-boy" label, but these do...

According to the correspondence between Bolles and Templeton, Sigma Phi Epsilon, ("Sig Eps") on Aug. 26,, 2007, held a social event in violation of Greek Affairs and Intrafraternity Council (IFC) regulations. As a result of the violations, the IFC restricted the fraternity's ability to hold social and recruiting events. Sigma Alpha Mu ("Sammies") was the complainant in the incident, as its house is located close to the Sig Eps house, according to the letter.

After the Sammies reported the incident, Sig Eps retaliated by, on several occasions, harassing Sammies members with racial slurs, Bolles said in the letter. The incidents led to "increased tensions among the chapters on Greek Row," and "created an atmosphere that is no way conducive to the Greek lifestyle and has created the potential for violence," Bolles said.
[...]
On April 21, 2007, one month after a deferred suspension, Sigma Phi Epsilon was issued citations for allowing underage alcohol consumption to occur at its house, Bolles said in the letter. Four individuals were cited for underage consumption that evening, all of whom stated they were drinking at the Sig Eps house.
[...]
According to the correspondence between Bolles and Templeton, a Sig Eps member threw beer bottles at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house on April 26, 2007. When the chapter was confronted by Greek Row security, the security officers were treated disrespectfully by Sig Eps members, which security workers state has been a recurring problem with the fraternity. Sig Eps members reportedly would tell security workers "you work for us" and "you don't tell us what to do," Bolles said in the letter.

The Bradley SigEps were quick to defend their actions in the comments section. Does the NIU chapter have excuses too?

Northern Illinois U. Sig Eps under fire

Ole Miss Dekes Get Suspension and Fines

Faculty Senate at Ole Miss backs fraternity's suspension
Resolution urges look into on-campus social segregation

The Faculty Senate of the University of Mississippi approved a resolution supporting the university's nine-month suspension of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

In August, a black student accused the fraternity of calling him by a racial slur, pushing him and telling him to leave.

The Faculty Senate announced the decision on Friday.

The senate also recommended that the Chancellor's Committee on Sensitivity and Respect look into the reasons behind the behavior.

"We are concerned about persistent patterns of social segregation by race at the University of Mississippi, particularly among student organizations," the senate wrote in its resolution.
The fraternity had appealed its original one-year suspension to Chancellor Robert Khayat's office.

The fraternity is not allowed to meet or recruit during the suspension.

The shortened suspension will allow the group to participate in informal recruiting parties some historically white Greek organizations host next summer.

After two days of Judicial Council hearings, the university announced on Sept. 14 that the fraternity had violated the school's student code of conduct and was responsible for harassment, disorderly conduct, possession of alcohol, hosting an unauthorized party and assault.

But not inducting a class this year could cost the DKEs $50,000 in local and national dues over the next four years, David Easlick Jr., executive director of the fraternity's national office in Ann Arbor, Mich., has previously said.

He said the suspension violates the constitutional rights to gather and have free speech for the entire fraternity. He said the fraternity's more than 65 members are being punished for a party that only 15 to 20 attended.

"At most, one or two people said something inappropriate, including the claimant," he said in a previous article. "The penalty is way out of whack

Suspect arrested in sorority assault case

Pullman Police arrested one suspect Friday afternoon in connection to a sexual assault at Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

WSU student Kyle M. Schott, 23, is facing one count of first degree rape, one count of burglary in the first degree, two counts of residential burglary and one count of attempted burglary, according to a Pullman Police news release. Police are actively pursuing leads to identify two other suspects in the string of Thursday morning burglaries.

The second suspect is described as around six feet tall with a muscular build and short blond hair, according to a Pullman Police news release. He is said to have a tattoo of a solid triangle on the back of his neck and an ammunition belt tattooed around his right thigh. Police believe there may also have been a third subject involved, who stood guard outside the houses.

Police began looking for suspects after a receiving a report of an attempted rape at 4:48 a.m. Thursday morning.

A woman in her early 20s was asleep in the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority on Monroe Street at about 4:30 a.m. when two men reportedly entered the house and began assaulting her. The men are also suspects in break-ins at Delta Gamma and Pi Beta Phi sororities at about the same time frame.

Pullman police credited two Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity members with information leading to Schott’s arrest.

Fraternity president Ryan Lantz, a finance major, and member Branden Rainer, an architecture major, said they were studying downstairs in their fraternity when two men tried to open their front door between 3 and 3:30 a.m Thursday.

They said Schott was standing at the door giggling to himself while the other man did the talking, and both appeared to be under the influence.

Rainer said the second man asked him for alcohol, and when told there wasn’t any, began asking for water instead. Rainer said he told the man they couldn’t get into the house’s kitchen for cups, but the man said he wanted water anyway. At that point, Rainer said the man started offering money.

“He pulled out all of his money out of his wallet, it was probably 30 bucks, for water,” Rainer said. “And he goes ‘Here, here’s about a thousand dollars I’ll give you for water.’ “ Rainer said when he questioned the man about the money, he admitted it was more like “two or three hundred.” Rainer said the man then spotted a bottle with chewing tobacco spit on a table and said he would just “have that tea” instead.

Rainer said he was eventually able to close the door on the two men, and saw them walk away from the house.

Lantz and Rainer said the men were acting strange, and they didn’t seem surprised when confronted at the door. They said the second man was shorter than Schott, about 5-foot-8-inches, but looked like a normal college student.

Rainer said he had seen Schott in a local bar with a mutual acquaintance, whom he later learned was Schott’s roommate. Rainer and Lantz recognized Schott from a photo posted on the roommate’s Facebook page and then called police.

Schott had a fresh bandage around part of his right hand that helped identify him, Rainer said.
Lantz said it’s a good feeling to know he helped apprehend one of the suspects, but wishes they had done more that night before the assault. He said he doesn’t know who the victim is, but feels like it could have been anyone.

“I kind of feel like it could have been any one of my close friends, you know,” Lantz said. “My girlfriend, my sister, any of my close friends that are in sororities ... We just assumed they were just two drunk guys, walking around, lost, being stupid so we just let it go.”

T.A.K.E. That!

Fraternity Announces Alliance with Ali Kemp Foundation

Nearly 600 women attended the June 21 TAKE Defense class. The class filled up within hours of its announcement, following the abduction and murder of Kelsey Smith.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.  --  The executive director of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity announced that the organization will partner with the Ali Kemp Educational Foundation's "T.A.K.E. Defense Training Program" on Friday.

The program will now be one of the fraternity's two national philanthropies. Many SigEp chapters across the country are expected to hold events to raise awareness and money in support of the program.

Roger Kemp, Ali Kemp's father and a member of the fraternity, was present at the announcement. Tyler Kemp, Ali's brother, and Phil Howes, Ali's long-time boyfriend, are also members of SigEp.

SigEp's other national philanthropy is Youth Aids. The fraternity has more than 262,000 lifetime members nation wide, including 13,500 undergraduates on 260 campuses.

Ali Kemp was 19 when she was murdered at a neighborhood pool in Johnson County, Kan. in 2002. Ali's family established the Ali Kemp Educational Foundation and the T.A.K.E. Defense Training Program in her memory.

The T.A.K.E. Defense Training Program provides young girls and women with hands-on self-defense training.

Update:
Link to the Ali Kemp Educational Foundation

Ole Miss student stabbed in dispute

"Alcohol may have been involved."

An off-campus dispute between two the University of Mississippi roommates resulted in one being charged with assault and the other being rushed to the hospital with multiple stab wounds early Friday morning.

Carter Hobby Beckworth, 20, of Houston, Texas, was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford shortly after 1 a.m. He was treated for stab wounds to his stomach, lower abdomen, behind an ear and under the left eye.

Laughlin "Trip" Fountain III was arrested at the Oxford residence he shares with Beckworth.
[...]
Beckworth is an English major and an active member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Fountain, 20, was a business marketing and communications major but did not enroll for the spring semester.

The Memphis native is a former member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Ole Miss student stabbed in dispute - The Clarion-Ledger

Chapter of the Week?

(Here is the picture again. We lost it for a while, but "it got better.")


With all the news lately of hazing accusations, gunshot wounds, and fighting, we thought this picture best represents the way Sig Ep has been portrayed in the media lately. I sure hope the guys at the CLAs are learning better than that.

As they used to say on Hill Street Blues - "Let's be careful out there!"

From an undisclosed location...
I am Diogenes and I approved this message

Assault at Westminster Sig Ep House

Man says he was beaten up at frat party
New Castle News

An assault at a Westminster College fraternity sent a man to the hospital, according to New Wilmington police.

Police said Jeffrey S. Thomas, 23, of New Castle, was knocked unconscious and was treated at Jameson Hospital for a lacerated eyelid and fractured facial bone near his eye.

Thomas, who is not a student at the college, was attending an “open party” at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house at 440 S. New Castle St. when the incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, police said.

Witnesses told police that Thomas was struck in the face with a closed fist by a male at the party, while other males were restraining Thomas.

Police said Thomas will require further medical evaluation and treatment. Meanwhile, they intend to file charges against the man responsible for his injuries, pending further investigation.

Mark Meighan, a college spokesman, said the school typically does not comment on incidents involving the students.

ncnewsonline.com - NEW LOCAL: Man says he was beaten up at frat party