Articles for Module 2
Michigan Daily
December 6, 2004
U. Michigan fraternity prank ends in arrests
By Leslie Rott & Karl Stampfl, Michigan Daily; SOURCE: U. Michigan
In what some University of Michigan sorority members are calling the
damaging escalation of a friendly tradition, nine members of Theta Chi
fraternity were arrested early Saturday morning after police said they
gained illegal entry into the Delta Delta Delta sorority house. The
sorority will press charges, which could result in 15-year felony punishments.
The men reportedly climbed up a fire escape and entered through the
bathroom window of the sorority house, Ann Arbor Police Department Sgt. Pat
Ouellette said. Among other items, police said they stole two composite
pictures, which consist of photos of every member of the fraternity or
sorority and are often displayed in greek houses.
A member of the church next door called AAPD to the sorority house at about
4 a.m. Saturday. Police said they found three men inside a van and two on
the roof of the house and two others later came out of the house. While
police were questioning the group, two additional men came out of the house
and fled on foot. Police ran after the two and caught them, Ouellette said.
The practice of pranking other greek houses by stealing composite pictures
is a fairly widespread tradition in the fraternity and sorority system,
although most of these pranks do not result in arrests or, necessarily,
break-ins.
"Normally, frats will be let into a sorority house and usually a composite
is stolen, or an emblem of some kind. However, this event was taken to
another level, and other things happened that made this different than
previous situations," said junior Lindsey Fediuk, vice president of the
Panhellenic Association of sororities and a member of Delta Delta Delta.
The sorority was not ready to comment on these other circumstances, which
Fediuk said added to the severity of the incident.
"We need to set a boundary," said sophomore Maggie Master, vice president
of public relations for Delta Delta Delta. "It's a security issue for our
home."
The fraternity members were released, but an investigation is ongoing. The
men could face charges of home invasion, a felony that can carry a maximum
penalty of 15 years in prison. Fediuk said the sorority will press charges
in the hope of stopping the escalation.
"We are pressing charges so the men can be held accountable for their
actions as well as to set a precedent ... for future events," she said,
adding that the actions of the men were not representative of the greek system.
November 19, 2004
NMSU Student In Coma After Birthday Drinking
The Associated Press
LAS CRUCES A New Mexico State University fraternity member was in
a coma Friday after his 21st birthday celebration led to alcohol poisoning.
Steven Judd of El Paso, Texas, a junior criminal justice major, marked
his birthday with other Delta Chi fraternity members early Thursday at two
Las Cruces bars, said police Lt. Randy Lara.
Judd and his friends returned to the fraternity house after 2 a.m.
Fraternity members called police and emergency medical workers about 8:30
a.m. after finding Judd unconscious and not breathing.
He was taken to a Las Cruces hospital, then airlifted to Thomason
Hospital in El Paso, where he was listed in critical condition.
The young man had massive hemorrhaging in his brain and was in a coma,
said family friend Wirt Atmar, Judd's boss at an engineering firm where
Judd works on computer software.
Judd told his father he planned to go drinking with fraternity friends
as soon as Thursday his birthday arrived, Atmar said.
Lara said police have no evidence of foul play or hazing.
"It's a case of someone celebrating too much and drinking too much and
not taking care of himself," Lara said.
The fraternity's faculty adviser, marketing professor Pat Gavin, said
he knew nothing about the incident.
Alcohol was a factor in the deaths of at least four university
students in Colorado, Oklahoma and Arkansas this fall. Three of the deaths
were officially ruled alcohol poisoning.
Authorities say most of the estimated 1,400 alcohol-related deaths
each year among college students come in automobile accidents.
NMSU has begun an investigation and has informed the national Delta
Chi organization of the incident, university spokeswoman Maureen Howard said.
"They're taking this very seriously," Atmar said.
However, he said he holds the university partially responsible because
it has become more permissive of alcohol. He cited NMSU's recent
acquisition of a liquor license for a restaurant in the Stan Fulton
Athletics Center.
"It directly sends a signal to students," Atmar said.
New York Post
November 16, 2004
ST. JOHN'S HAZING PUT PLEDGE IN HOSPITAL
By ALEX GINSBERG
Three fraternity brothers told their St. John's pledges to "assume the
position" in a Queens park, then brutally beat one to the point of kidney
failure as part of a violent hazing ritual, prosecutors said yesterday.
Matthew Fraser, 24, Anthony Dabreu, 25, and Phillippe Moreau, 32, stand
accused of second-degree assault for allegedly paddling Brian Chambers last
summer while he was pledging the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.
"They have to bend forward at the waist, stick their backsides out with
their hands in front protecting their genitals, while the defendants took
the paddle and whacked them in the backside, over and over," said
prosecutor Kimberley Nielsen in her opening statement in Queens Supreme Court.
According to Nielsen, Chambers, 21, spent two weeks at Beth Israel Medical
Center in June and July of 2003 after being paddled in Kissena Park.
She said Moreau often drove the pledges to the park, where they were made
to perform calisthenics, recite historical facts and, as the summer went
on, endure beatings.
She said hospital records would show Chambers' buttocks were "a mass of
bruises" and that his kidneys had given out as a result of blunt force
trauma. Fraser's attorney, Frank Hancock, said Chambers' wounds could have
been sustained from boxing.
Detroit
Free Press
November 6, 2004
U-M fraternities suspended amid hazing allegations
BY MARYANNE GEORGE
FREE PRESS ANN ARBOR BUREAU
Three fraternities at the University of Michigan, including Zeta Beta Tau, have
been suspended by their national organizations after charges of hazing and other
violations, officials said Friday.
U-M officials began investigating five fraternities and two sororities after
reports last month that included drunken fraternity pledges being forced into a
car's trunk and drunken sorority pledges being touched by fraternity members
after their clothes were removed.
Jonathan Yulish, executive director of Zeta Beta Tau's national organization,
said Friday the U-M chapter has been suspended while the organization
investigates allegations of hazing.
U-M Dean of Students Susan Eklund declined to name the fraternities and
sororities involved in the university's investigation. A call to the Zeta Beta
Tau national office by the Free Press revealed that group's involvement. Eklund
did say that one of the other suspended fraternities was punished as part of the
hazing investigation and the third was suspended by its national organization
for violations not related to the hazing investigation. One of the five
fraternities the university looked at was dropped from the investigation, and
the fate of the two others is not known publicly.
The two sororities under investigation, although not suspended, are under
scrutiny by national and local advisers, Eklund said.
About 250 students, mostly from Greek organizations, have been interviewed by
staff at U-M's Office of Student Conflict Resolution, and another 100 are
scheduled for interviews, Eklund said. U-M's Interfraternity and Panhellenic
councils also are investigating.
Ann Arbor Police Lt. Chris Heatley said he is investigating the allegations. But
the threshold for substantiating criminal activity is higher than in a student
conduct code hearing, he said.
A new state law makes hazing a crime with penalties from 93 days in jail to 15
years in prison, and a $10,000 fine if a victim dies. Penalties for violation of
U-M's student conduct code range from a reprimand to expulsion.
"It's difficult to get college students who want to become members of an
organization to speak out against that organization," Heatley said.
Rocky Mountain News
November 1, 2004
CU frat member charged
A University of Colorado fraternity brother was arrested Friday night after a
sorority member accused him of sexual assault at a mixer at Broomfield hotel.
Broomfield police arrested Yakov Jake Galperin, 19, a member of Phi Kappa Tau.
The fraternity gathered with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at the Omni
Interlocken Hotel around 10:30 p.m. About 200 people attended.
Police said the 18-year-old woman said she'd been sexually assaulted in the
men's restroom. She identified Galperin as he was leaving the restroom, police
said. Three off-duty officers worked the event.
Both Galperin and the woman were under the influence of alcohol, police said.
The suspect told police he had been drinking from the Omni bar.
Police said the Omni served alcohol at a cash bar, but shut down the bar because
they believed drinking-age students were buying alcohol for students under 21.
The bar said it had procedures in place to prevent underage drinking, and police
said they were monitoring intoxicated students.
Galperin was charged with 1st Degree Sexual Assault, False Imprisonment and
Consumption of Alcohol Underage.
Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
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