Best of Busted!

10 CU Delta Chi Pledges Arrested After Motel Rooms Damaged

“Boulder’s Delta Chi Fraternity has been placed on suspension after 10 pledges were arrested over the weekend in Estes Park on suspicion of causing up to $10,000 in damage to two Super 8 Motel rooms. Estes Park police were called to the motel about 2:30 am Sunday and found large holes in the walls of two connected rooms, blood and vomit everywhere, destroyed furniture and a coffee pot filled with urine, according to a police report. Officers said that all the University of Colorado students were underage and suspected to have been drinking alcohol. There were arrested on suspicion of felony criminal mischief and underage drinking...Officers said they collected cell-phone cameras that the suspected vandals used to capture pictures and video of the trashed rooms.”

This is the second issue in a row that Busted has featured significant damage to a hotel room by fraternity men. Coincidentally, both incidents have occurred in the state of Colorado. What is going on in Colorado? Is trashing a hotel room a strange rite of passage for young men, or is someone pumping stupid into the water? Seriously folks, why is this ok?

Later damage estimates list the damage at $20,000. A quote from the hotel manager that states some of the students have expressed their remorse and that their parents are willing to pay the costs of the damage. Yes, your eyes did not deceive you, some, if not all of the parents are willing to pay for the damage that their sons did to this motel. What’s up with parents? These guys should be grounded! While this Busted goes out to the students involved, unfortunately, their parents must be included in this because of their willingness to pay for the damage.

As for those cell phones that were confiscated by the police, it seems that they may have had some photos of the damage. They are not attached to anyone’s Facebook profile, but instead, they are right next to the mug shots of 9 of these 10 new members. You can find them online without too much effort. We did.

References
Miller, V. (2008, February 20). Delta Chi could have to re-recruit after arrests. The Daily Camera. Retrieved March 5, 2008 from: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/feb/20/starting-over-delta-chi-could-have-to-re-recruit/

Miller V. (2008, February 19). 10 Delta Chi Pledges Arrested in Estes Park. Retrieved March 5, 2008 from: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/feb/19/cu-news-10-frat-pledges-arrested-in-estes/

(20, February, 2008). Destroyed motel room leads to frat pledges arrest. Retrieved March 5, 2008 from: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15342950/detail.html

Success Requires Support

This post is a guest blog post from Chad Pfister. Thanks Chad! We are always looking for guest bloggers. If you are interested, send a sample blog to tricia@aflv.org.

When I am thinking about examples to use for successful teams for organizations to model themselves after two teams come to mind, Manchester United and US Postal Service Cycling Team. These two teams are perfect at demonstrating how distinct individuals each with their own unique talents can come together for a common good. Even better is the fact that both teams include the stars of their respective sport but without the daily support of their teammates their greatness was almost unachievable. In fact, Lance Armstrong never could have won seven Tour de Frances without the support and effort that his teammates put in for him.

All too often in our organizations we forget about this basic premise that our leaders and stars need our support on a daily basis. Instead we tend to support our leaders at the beginning of their journey and then at some point along the way we make the determination that they are doing a good enough job and that they do not need our full attention and support anymore.

How wrong that assertion is. Regardless of how good of a job you might think a particular leader is doing, there is always room for improvement and improvement can only happen when the entire team is on the same page supporting their leader and each other.

Imagine what would happen if after the 3rd stage of the Tour de France Lance's team stopped helping him or if the Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes decided after 15 minutes that they didn't need to pass the ball to Wayne Rooney anymore. As a fan you would be livid and screaming at the television for everyone to work together. But how come when we see this same sort of situation in our own organizations we sit by the wayside. When we see this going on we should be standing up and pointing out the lack of teamwork, so as to not fail our organization and our fellow members and leaders.

We all join organizations for a reason and that normally is because we want to be part of something bigger that believes in the same ideals as our own. So each time we fail to support our leaders and stars of our organizations we fail our organization and ourselves. The only way that an organization can truly have success is for the members to support one another in everything that they do.

Best of Busted!

UNL Suspends Sigma Chi Fraternity for 4 Years

Sigma Chi fraternity, facing a pair of lawsuits and charges of repeated hazing in the last academic year, has been suspended from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus for four years.

But given the troubles plaguing Sigma Chi - two lawsuits alleging hazing, a police search that uncovered large quantities of alcohol in the fraternity house and hazing or alcohol charges against nine of its members - strict punishment is warranted, [the vice chancellor] said.

[The vice chancellor] said he hopes to send two messages with the suspension: "One, the university is very serious about the potential violations and will not tolerate them. And two, that we really do have a strong Greek system. The vast majority of our chapters are very, very good."

[The vice chancellor] said university leaders considered a wide range of punishments for Sigma Chi - including expulsion - but ultimately decided to give the fraternity another chance.

Plus, he said, not all fraternity members were violating university policies… "Unfortunately, a few ruined it for all."

UNL police began investigating Sigma Chi earlier this year after a former pledge came forward and claimed he had been subjected to repeated hazing from fall 2008 to early 2009.

The pledge said he had been verbally assaulted, paddled, forced to drink alcoholic concoctions until he vomited and made to participate in humiliating activities with other pledges, such as one in which they leap-frogged each other through the fraternity house while being pelted with ice and wet paper towels.

The pledge also alleged he had been sexually assaulted by a female stripper during an off-campus party. [Although] sexual assault charges won't be filed in the case.

In a search of the house in March, UNL police uncovered evidence to support hazing allegations as well as a large amount of alcohol, even though UNL is a dry campus.

The search led to hazing and procuring charges against nine Sigma Chi members. Six of them have been convicted; the others are working their way through the court system.

Now, a group of local fraternity alumni have stepped forward to help the fraternity get back on the right track. They will serve in an informal capacity, providing guidance, advice and support as needed.

Trust us, we are just as annoyed as you are. This is the same old story. When will people learn? When will people realize that leap-frogging while being pelted with ice cubes is hazing? And, if we may be so blunt, it’s silly and preposterous. We know that people tend to do stupid things when others are also doing them, but we were thinking more along the lines of wearing knit ponchos or legwarmers.

While this may seem obvious to most reasonable people, the article indicates that this suspension means Sigma Chi will not be recognized and no one will be allowed to live or hold activities in the fraternity house. UNL’s vice chancellor for student affairs said that the sanctions are the toughest imposed on a UNL fraternity in recent memory. We agree, it’s a tough one… but… it’s not so tough that it can’t be reversed. The suspension could be lifted after two years if the fraternity's Alumni Board successfully crafts a plan to ensure compliance with UNL's Student Code of Conduct and regular house inspections. We call shenanigans on this: so, what you’re saying is that crafting a plan to comply with the Code of Conduct (a.k.a DOING WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO) can get a hazing chapter off the hook?

Also, why do people feel as though they need to say things like ‘a few bad apples ruined it for the whole bunch’? This is obvious, and what happens all of the time; it’s part of being affiliated with a group. As far as we’re concerned a person should not affiliate with a group that has strict behavior guidelines if they don’t think they’re able to adhere to them… on the flip side, we shouldn’t invite members to join our organizations (or allow them to remain affiliated) if they’re going to act like jerks. Pointing out that ‘not all Sigma Chi’s are hazers’ is nice and all… but everyone already knows that. Plus, validating the fact that most Sigma Chi’s aren’t hazing jerks doesn’t fix the fact that this one in particular happens to be one.

Top 10 Party Schools

At the beginning of this week, the Princeton Review released their annual list of the top "Party Schools" in the nation. After doing a little bit of digging, I learned that "Major Frat and Sorority Scene" is one of the top qualifiers for this prestigious designation. Hmm.

Let's look at the list of schools:

1. University of Georgia

2. Ohio University

3. Pennsylvania State University

4. West Virginia University

5. University of Mississippi

6. University of Texas

7. University of Florida

8. University of California

9. University of Iowa

10. DePauw University

Do the fraternity/sorority systems on these campuses help to promote the party school image, or are they actively working against said image? Do we care? As a larger community, what does it say when our "scene" is one of the major factors in the Princeton Review's rankings? What if the top 10 party schools were schools without any fraternities or sororities on campus? What if?

What if the Princeton Review started ranking campuses with the best fraternity and sorority systems? My definition of best, by the way, would be values in action, high academic standards, service to the community, and making the world a better place. What if? What if those rankings also included the 10 worst campuses when it comes to a thriving and active fraternity/sorority system? What if?

What are your thoughts? I'd love to see your comments below, or on our Facebook Fan Page.