Salisbury University campus. Image courtesy of Salisbury University.
Salisbury University students, some of which were involved in a fraternity, allegedly attacked, punched and spit on an individual while calling him homophobic slurs after luring him to their apartment off-campus on Oct. 15, according to police. The fraternity involved is the Salisbury Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter.
SU President Dr. Carolyn Ringer Lepre sent an email on Nov. 7 stating the SAE chapter on campus has been placed on suspension.
"The students arrested have been placed on suspension, in adherence with the University’s Code of Community Standards Policy," Lepre wrote. "This includes being restricted from campus and being unable to participate in academic coursework either in person or virtually. Additionally, the fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, has been placed on suspension in accordance with the University’s Code of Student Organization Standards."
SAE has been in the spotlight for years for many discriminatory incidents across America. Furthermore, the fraternity has been linked to at least 10 deaths involving drinking, substance use, and hazing between 2006 and 2013, according to TIME Magazine.
According to Inside Higher Ed, the SAE chapter of Texas A&M University hosted a “Jungle-Fever” themed party which featured black-face and slave hunts in 1992. They also state in 2000, Black athletes were attacked during a cross country meet by chapter members of Oglethorpe University SAE, who yelled racial slurs and threw bottles at them. In 2006, two SAE members of the chapter of University of Memphis harassed a member for dating a Black woman, according to Inside Higher Ed.
According to Inside Higher Ed, in 2009 the Valdosta State University chapter of the fraternity flew a Confederate flag on its own lawn. One of the fraternity’s most infamous incident of bigotry was in 2015 when SAE members of the Oklahoma chapter sang a racist chant with references to lynching, according to TIME Magazine. In 2016, the University of Wisconsin suspended its chapter of SAE after reports of anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic language, according to USA Today.
In 2011, the SAE chapter of Cornell University was sued $25 million dollars after a member died from alcohol poisoning, according to TIME. The mother of the member said that he was forced to drink to death by the chapter. According to Bloomberg, many pledges of SAE at Salisbury University were forced to dress in women’s clothing, drink until they passed out, wear diapers, and stand in their underwear in trashcans full of ice. The discriminatory incidents and the hazing of their members are not new and isolated.
In 2014, according to ABC7 news, an alleged rape took place at an SAE Halloween party at Layola Marymount University. Furthermore, in December 2014, the chapter of SAE at Stanford University were placed on a two-year suspension due to allegations of sexual harassment according to the Stanford Daily. In March 2015, John Hopkins University placed their SAE chapter on suspension until Spring 2016 due to the alleged sexual assault of a sixteen year old girl at one of their parties according to the John Hopkin's Newsletter.
In 2017, according to the Daily Northwestern, Northwestern University suspended its SAE chapter indefinitely after four women alleged that they were given date rape drugs and sexually assaulted. In January 2023, the SAE chapter of Tulane University suspended a member after allegations of sexual assault at a party according to the Tulane Hullabaloo, the university's weekly student-run newspaper.
As the campus reels from this tragedy and the criminal investigation continues, the Salisbury University chapter of SAE must be removed from campus. The creed of SAE is "true gentleman,'" and true gentleman would not be charged with first-degree assault and a homophobic hate crime. A fraternity with a history of hatred, bigotry, discrimination, and sexual assault allegations must never be allowed to operate on campus again. If any students need any additional support, there are resources for you. Please consider the Counseling Center and Timely Care.
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By JOSHUA WEEKS
Staff Writer
Featured image courtesy of Salisbury University
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