Furman’s 147-Year-Old SAE Chapter Suspended For Multiple Violations
It sucks to have to write two of these stories in one day. It’s never enjoyable to write about the loss of yet another chapter, but these stories seem to arrive in waves. Just as I finished writing about Sigma Phi Epsilon’s suspension at Clemson, this story fell into my queue. Furman University suspended its Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter for the next three years. All members of the chapter have been suspended until they graduate.
The chapter, founded in 1868, was suspended for health and safety violations that seemed to center around the classic Bid Night activities. Of course, the university and national office weren’t too thrilled with the prospect of forced alcohol consumption, and down came the hammer.
From WYFF:
Many of South Carolina Phi’s brothers violated health-and-safety policies, which includes allegations of hazing through forced alcohol consumption during bid-night activities. Those members’ actions are completely unacceptable and have no place in our Fraternity nor in our membership-education program known as the True Gentleman Experience. In addition, they violated a university-imposed sanction, and a panel of alumni and staff conducted a membership review this past fall term following other health-and-safety incidents. The men were given multiple opportunities to resolve their infractions on several occasions, but we regret they failed to work through these issues after repeated attempts to assist them.
There may be one chapter in the country that follows its nationals’ “True Gentleman Experience” to the letter. Regardless, being caught and then refusing to fix your shit is a recipe for suspension.
The chapter is ineligible to be active on campus until at least the Fall 2017 semester. According to a letter written by Furman’s vice president – division of student life, the decision to close the chapter was decided by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Supreme Council.
All parties stated they hope to reestablish the chapter as soon as possible..
[via WYFF]
Image via Furman University
What a shame. 50 years from now who knows what the Greek system will be like.
11 years ago at 5:04 pmSurvival of the fittest says adapt or die, but a lot of chapters don’t want to adapt. I’ve had to pick up ritual equipment from two nearby chapters that managed to get suspended. Or, we can simply go underground and keep doing our thing. Last, but not least, we can get better at hiding what we do (i.e. quit posting about it on social media).
tl;dr: Adapt or die.
11 years ago at 9:44 pmHeart breaking to see this shit. Phi Alpha boys<3
11 years ago at 5:06 pmShut up bitch
9 years ago at 10:15 pmYou can’t say phi alpha
9 years ago at 10:15 pm“Bid night activities.” Don’t they mean “initiation?”
11 years ago at 5:17 pmAt the very least it sounds like the school and national office tried to help them correct their mistakes. All too often, we hear about nationals coming down on chapters without giving them any chance to rehabilitate and change their ways, which only serves to piss people off and hurt the image of fraternities everywhere. In some extreme cases, that’s fine, but most of the time I think it’s better to give guys a chance to correct themselves. From the article, it looks like these guys got that, and then blew it anyway.
11 years ago at 5:18 pmCant help but feel like nationals doesnt have our backs anymore. Would rather cut ties than help improve or fix things. Very sad day. ΦΑ
11 years ago at 5:22 pmNationals has never had any chapter’s back ever. They do whatever will make them the most money. If it makes money to support the chapter, then they will. If not, they cut ties and suspend them immediately without a second thought.
Fuck nationals.
11 years ago at 5:49 pmThe “fuck nationals” argument is a lazy, immature excuse. No one in the national organization of any fraternity wants to shut down chapters. Idiots that can’t control their behavior, their mouths on facebook, or use a modicum of common sense while doing pledge training are the ones forcing national’s hand.
11 years ago at 10:13 pmAmen. I’m a national board member of my fraternity, and this is the 100% truth.
11 years ago at 10:38 amI agree that if your chapter isn’t a bunch of idiots, it won’t get shut down. Nationals isn’t actively trying to shut down chapters obviously – it’s how they make their money, like I said. But if it came down to having a chapter’s back or losing money and looking bad, 100% of the time they will choose the latter. And while it’s understandable, it goes against the whole brotherhood and kinship thing that they act like they have for the local chapters. I rarely see nationals fight for a local chapter that messed up.
I’ve seen it firsthand many times. Maybe “fuck nationals” is incorrect, but “When push comes to shove, nationals doesn’t give a shit about you in the big picture” is not. Which is fine, a lot of the world is like that. But if a chapter thinks that nationals is their friend, and that nationals isn’t looking out for themselves, then it could fuck them if some trouble ends up happening.
11 years ago at 11:46 amIt all comes down to legality. Basically every fraternity’s nationals has some sort of no-hazing policy, as does every college in the country. If your chapter is keeping their shit quiet, nationals is perfectly happy to turn a blind eye. But that’s as far as the brotherhood and kinship can go, legally speaking. Nationals simply cannot go to bat for a chapter that has been proven to be in direct violation of both the fraternity’s and the university’s stated principles. It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s that they can’t for fear of ruining relations with the university, skyrocketing insurance costs, and setting a dangerous precedent throughout the organization that idiocy will go unpunished.
Nationals is supposed to do things like organize conventions, conduct leadership training, and foster inter-chapter relations. Calling their brotherhood into question because they can’t be a chapter’s “get out of jail free” card is just poor form.
11 years ago at 12:31 pmMy entire province has gotten throttled by nationals. To the brothers at South Carolina Phi, “our bonds celebrating til death seperating”.
11 years ago at 5:26 pmPhi Alpha
11 years ago at 6:36 pmSo glad Cohen shanghaied national into banning pledging so this wouldn’t happen. Guess if your not apart of his plan then you have to be eliminated. These are the dark ages for SAE. Fuck Nationals.
11 years ago at 7:17 pmAtleast we still have out Alpha chapter. (*cough pike*)
11 years ago at 7:19 pmnot for long, nationals only likes the California chapters these days.
11 years ago at 11:10 pmAs an SAE in my final year, I’ve seen the fraternity change a lot. I’ve also heard my fair share of jokes about rules that nationals have imposed upon us from my friends in other fraternities and here in the TFM community. All I’ll say to you all is this: enjoy this time while you can, because it won’t be long before other fraternities’ nationals start following suit.
11 years ago at 7:57 pm