Boston Officials Ban ALL MIT Fraternity And Sorority Parties, Indefinitely
About a month ago, an MIT student fell four stories from the roof of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house. You see, PSK had a plexiglass dome skylight on their “illegal rooftop deck,” and during a Wednesday night soiree, one student decided to jump up and down on top of it. He landed on his back and suffered some head injuries, but was conscious after the fall.
That student was stupid (as far as MIT students go, anyway). You don’t attempt to break glass by jumping on it, and then get upset when it breaks, but I suppose we all do stupid things when we’re drunk. Some of us text the guy we just met 32 times in a row. Some of us make out with vaginas on public sidewalks. Some of us order “one of every slice” at a local pizzeria. And some of us attempt to defy the laws of gravity and narrowly avoid plummeting to our deaths. It happens.
Officials in Boston, however, don’t seem to share my “Let’s let bygones be bygones” mentality when it comes to serious injuries. In response to the student’s accident, all parties and gatherings at off-campus fraternity houses, sorority houses, and independent living groups have been banned. Organized events involving more people than are permitted to live in each dwelling, by law, are hereby forbidden, indefinitely.
This ban is to last at least until each building has been issued a new inspection certificate by the city, but officials are “seriously considering” making this a permanent change.
While maintaining safe party facilities is important, I can’t imagine the detriment this will cause for the party scene. School officials are trying to provide on-campus facilities for social gatherings, but do you remember how fun the last school sponsored social event like BINGO in the student lounge was? Of course you don’t! You didn’t go to it. Nobody did!
Have a heart, Boston. Fix the safety issues, quickly, and let the students of MIT drink, make out, and socialize in peace. Those nerds suffered through four years of not going to parties in high school. Let’s let them rage.
[via Boston.com]
Image via MIT
In an odd series of events, I ended up at an MIT frat party about 4 years ago. I was shocked. Shit was actually wild, 200+ people going nuts. I’ll never forget it. Highly recommended, it was an unexpected sight.
11 years ago at 6:12 pmWell you have to drink a lot to make the female portion of our student body seem attractive.
11 years ago at 6:34 pmJohnFrat, which fraternity are you in there? just curious
11 years ago at 6:56 pm^^Seconded. But hey, that’s why we have BU and Northeastern right?
11 years ago at 7:00 pmJohnFrat, I do agree with that sentiment. When I am in Boston I am usually at BC, but this was a worthwhile experience.
11 years ago at 7:16 pmMIT Alum, Zeta Psi. And yes, for the most part, off campus is the way to go in the girl department.
11 years ago at 8:05 pmZeta Psi? No wonder you think MIT doesn’t have any attractive girls, none of us would be caught dead there. Hint: You also don’t get BU’s most attractive girls, just their most desperate ones.
11 years ago at 8:56 pm^Hey everyone point and laugh. An MIT girl who thinks she’s hot shit.
Also, three hints for you:
11 years ago at 10:16 pm1. The vast majority of fraternity males at MIT feels the same way I do.
2. BU has 30,000 students. I doubt you can account for the whereabouts of all of their hot girls.
3. You’re forgetting that Harvard, Tufts, Wellesley, Simmons, Boston College etc.. also exist.
Just as Wayne responded I’m impressed that a student able to get paid $4798 in four weeks on the internet. try here==== WWW.JOBS83.COM
11 years ago at 2:17 am^ There’s no Wayne here…BOWS AND TOES ADVERTISEMENT PLEDGE!
11 years ago at 12:30 pmWhat is a Zeta Psi..?
11 years ago at 2:02 pmI know some Lambdas at MIT, and they’re pretty normal dudes. As far as I can tell, a couple of MIT houses are where normal dudes that just happen to be really good at engineering all end up pledging.
11 years ago at 3:57 pmAllZete was the shit. That still happen? Zeta Psi at MIT was like a Chinese buffet when I went up there a couple of times.
11 years ago at 7:41 pmYeah right. Just shows you don’t have to be dumb to party. Smart does it better.
11 years ago at 3:39 amThis sucks so much. Believe it or not MIT actually has some of the best parties in Boston.
11 years ago at 6:42 pmAs an MIT pledge at a frat down the street, the article doesnt put enough blame on Phi Sig. I was briefly rushed there and they explicitly told kids to jump on the skylight as some part of the pledge process. They bragged about how they had violated code and gotten away with it. Im not surprised the second that someone was actually seriously hurt Phi Sig pinned it on the individual, ignoring the fact that they had been pushing countless kids to do the same thing. Everyone here is pissed that we’ve been shut down. But nothing gets us angrier than Phi Sig’s blatant ignorance regarding building code have campus wide repercussions. Fuck Phi Sig.
11 years ago at 6:51 pmPS Those guys are a bunch of weenies, it doesnt take falling through a skylight too realize that
PPS I heard Phi Sig’s new theme song is “Drop it Like its Hot”
also the same frat that got ATO kicked off campus for ratting them out that they were taking kids to bars during rush
11 years ago at 6:58 pmThis is really surprising to me. I’ve been on the phi sig roof many times and never saw anyone jumping on the skylight. I also find it pretty hard to believe it would be something they’d make pledges do simply because of the astounding risk involved.
11 years ago at 8:16 pmSounds like mitman didn’t get a bid
11 years ago at 2:15 pm@PedanticPrick, i stopped rushing day 2. i wanted a frat not an apartment full of guys
11 years ago at 9:41 pmNERDS!! http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UeyN-r_lEz4/UQAgvgoF_qI/AAAAAAAAG3c/uQltVx0jBwE/s1600/ogre-nerds.gif
11 years ago at 7:18 pmBanning things because a small percentage of the population makes something dangerous. TLiberalM.
11 years ago at 8:30 pmFor all of those commenting on the constitutionality of this, let me explain how this state of fascism is constructed. Although I’m a few years removed, this was the case when I served on IFC Exec:
With very exceptions, every MIT fraternity has an alumni association that owns and manages their multi-million-dollar off-campus brownstone. MIT requires that, for a fraternity to be officially recognized by the school, they must be licensed as a dormitory. And of course, most fraternity national organizations require their chapters to be recognized and in good standing with their school. In being licensed as a dormitory, the Boston-side houses fall under jurisdiction of the Boston Licensing Board. That subjects the Boston-side fraternities to the whims of the over-reaching and reactionary liberal local government.
With respect to law enforcement jurisdiction, other commenters are correct in saying that MIT Police can enter these houses without a warrant and Boston Police cannot, except for one small caveat. The Boston Police can function as dormitory inspectors and enter fraternities warrantless under that authority (which they often do).
Side note: not long ago, Boston Police ran a series of covert operations where they used young plain-clothed officers with fake school ID’s to infiltrate fraternity parties in Boston and then call in stings.
TL;DR: The school’s shitty bloated administration is just as much to blame for this as local government. MIT forces privately-owned residences that could function autonomously to register as dormitories, subjecting them to the very special flavor of fascism perpetrated by local licensing boards.
Lesson Learned: If you go to school in The People’s Republic of Cambridge, you’re gonna have a bad time.
11 years ago at 10:07 pmYou’d think that’d make more of the bigger, established fraternities go local and screw recognition from the school.
11 years ago at 11:28 pmIt’s appalling how dedicated to stopping fun Boston is. Regards from one of our Texas Chapters.
Stellis Aequus Durando
11 years ago at 3:06 am^^ BetterInTexas – Both Boston and Cambridge require school recognition. It all hinges around living in the house – Harvard finals clubs do whatever they want because they don’t live in their houses.
11 years ago at 12:06 pmHoly shit brother that sucks
Stellis Aequus Durando
11 years ago at 5:57 pmDoesn’t the Boston Police Department have anything better to do?
11 years ago at 12:15 pm#BostonStrong #PrayForBoston
11 years ago at 1:18 amWait, they banned parties? Yeah that works so well.
11 years ago at 1:36 amBoston is extremely expensive, I understand that fact but why don’t your alumni buy party houses outside of Boston. I know most of you can afford it, unless you have to go like an hour out to get good property.
11 years ago at 10:28 amIf the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn’t this an indictment of our educational institutions in general?
11 years ago at 6:00 pm