A Pi Kappa Alpha pledge, who accused the fraternity of hazing last week, said Monday he lied to police when he was arrested.

“In the course of my arrest, I lied about being hazed and forced to drink alcohol,” said Ry Thomas Mercado, in a letter to The Red & Black, which appears in its entirety on page four….

full story – http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2009/09/22/News/Pledge.Now.Says.Fraternity.Did.Not.Haze.Him-3778426.shtml

Daily Aztec
San Diego State University
September 14, 2009
http://www.thedailyaztec.com/city/drugs-found-in-fraternity-1.1875684

Drugs found in fraternity

By Kristina Blake, Senior Staff Writer

Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity has been expelled from San Diego State.

In agreement with SDSU President Stephen L. Weber, SDSU Vice President for Student Affairs, James R. Kitchen, decided to expel the chapter from the campus community following a Chapter Review Panel hearing conducted by Student Affairs on Aug. 20. …

A Cornell University student died Friday at Cayuga Medical Center from complications relating to H1N1 influenza, according to the Ithaca, N.Y., university.

Warren Schor, a 20-year-old junior, is the first H1N1 influenza-related fatality in Tompkins County, the Health Department said….

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549565,00.html

Courtland Smith, a junior biology major from Texas and president of the UNC chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, was shot to death by police early Sunday morning….

He was shot by police in Archdale, about 15 miles south of Greensboro, during a confrontation with an officer.

A news release from the Archdale Police Department states a Caucasian male in his early 20s was shot during a confrontation with police early Sunday morning on Interstate 85.

According to the news release, police stopped the individual’s car after he called officers to say he needed help and was suicidal…..

http://www.dailytarheel.com/content/dke-president-shot-death
http://www.dailytarheel.com/content/officer-named-smith-shooting

During finals week of last semester, the Omega Delta fraternity suffered a loss that will never be forgotten by its members.

“Everyone’s room that was near the front of the house lost everything,” said Gerardo Torres, senior English and journalism major and president of Omega Delta

At about 5:40 a.m. on May 6, a fire began to erupt on the roof of the fraternity house at 835 Greenbrier Road

“The fire spread so fast,” said Hugo Jacobo junior political science major. …

Full Story – http://www.northernstar.info/article/7665/

Excerpted from onlineathens.com

An insurance underwriter has sued the Sigma Chi fraternity chapter at the University of Georgia in federal court, saying the underwriter should not have to defend the fraternity against a Gainesville woman’s injury lawsuit.

The Liberty Capital Corp., an underwriter of the Sigma Chi insurance policy at Lloyd’s of London, also says the company should not have to pay damages if she wins a separate lawsuit against the UGA fraternity.

The woman is seeking damages from the fraternity in a suit filed three months ago in Clarke Superior Court over injuries she suffered at a party at the frat house last September. The Banner-Herald is withholding her name because UGA police investigated the case as a possible rape, though no charges were filed.

for more – http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/072409/uga_468867885.shtml

Excepted The Jerusalem Post

Israel’s first college fraternity opens

The Hebrew state is in for something new on Tuesday: Alpha Epsilon Pi, an international Jewish fraternity, is opening a branch at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.

It will be the first college fraternity in the State of Israel.

Although a group of young men attending IDC have been participating in fraternity events throughout the year, their official initiation – making them full members of the international organization – will only take place on Tuesday.

They are going to become Brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi in a ceremony at the Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel. AEPi undergraduates, alumni and international board members will attend the ceremony.

The Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity has been operating since 1913 and is “one of the oldest Jewish organizations in the world,” Steven Kaplan, director of expansion for Alpha Epsilon Pi, said on Monday.

According to its mission statement, the fraternity began as a “brotherhood of young men who came from similar religious backgrounds” and had experienced prejudices against their religious beliefs.”

It has grown to encompass more than 83,000 young men. Only recently has it set its sight on expanding to the Middle East.

Steven Kaplan traveled to Israel a few months ago to search out students interested in becoming part of a new fraternity in Israel. He found a group interested in joining, and they became the fraternity’s “Aleph Colony.”

Kaplan said the students were fantastic members, and that they “have gone above and beyond the standards that we set for them.”

He was met with “much hesitation and uncertainty” during his efforts to bring the American fraternity tradition to Israel.

Part of that hesitation stems from the images of fraternities and sororities in the media – drinking, sex and more drinking.

Many fraternities and sororities in the United States are trying to change their party-hard image.

Intercollegiate Knights, for example, is a fraternity founded for community service. Last April, the Alpha Psi Lambda sorority at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign participated in a march to “support all-important research offering preventions and solutions for babies born too soon or with birth defects.”

Alpha Epsilon Pi raised $135,000 for the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington and $100,000 for Magen David Adom. At IDC, the members of the AEPi fraternity have participated in social, philanthropic and athletic events.

David Cohen, a former member of the Zeta Phi fraternity at New York University, considers fraternities to be a way to create a community within a college. “It was a good way to absorb into school,” he said. “It provides a mini community for you.”

Community service is a significant part of Greek life in the United States, but Cohen said fraternities were “mostly social organizations.”

Members go to bars, throw parties and raise money for the fraternity, he said.

James Gardner, a student at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, said fraternities were a “double-sided sword.” They allow for “wide social connections,” but at the same time “limit the number of people one can associate with because of rivalries and cliques,” he said.

As for the party life illustrated in films, Gardner said “there is some truth to the movies, though I think they are exaggerated a bit.”

Israeli universities tend to have much less campus life than their American equivalents. Students are older and more independent here. Most of them have served in the army and they often have fulltime jobs. They place more emphasis on their studies, and less on extracurricular activities.

The introduction of fraternities and sororities to these universities might change this, increasing the social aspect of study and providing a sort of home away from home. On the other end of the spectrum, they might just be an excuse for students to neglect their studies.

From abc4.com

LOGAN, Utah (ABC 4 News) – The Utah State University student who admitted giving the alcohol to Michael Starks is going to jail.

Starks was found dead of alcohol poisoning after an initiation ritual into the sigma nu fraternity with their sister sorority chi omega.

Whitney Miller admitted to supplying the alcohol for the ritual. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the hazing charge against her.

Monday in court, a judge sentenced her to miller to 30 days in jail, three years of probation and 2-hundred hours of community service where she will have to talk to high school students about the dangers of alcohol.

This week, Sigma Phi Epsilon Headquarters learned about an incident that occurred in March and resulted in the injury of one SigEp member of our California State Polytechnic University-Pomona chapter. In response, our chapter at Cal Poly-Pomona has been suspended until all fraternity and university investigations are complete. At that time, an appropriate and full reaction and remedy will be made.

Initial findings show that a SigEp member at Cal Poly-Pomona was injured during a routine outdoor ceremony when gasoline was thrown on a fire, which is not a part of that or any ceremony of the Fraternity.

The safety of all our members is of the utmost importance, and this matter is being given the full attention of staff and volunteers in order to assist our injured member, deal with anyone responsible and prevent future problems. The specific incident and associated factors will be reviewed and addressed.

This is an unfortunate situation for everyone involved, first and foremost the injured member. His health and well-being are our priority. This is also an unusual and disappointing situation for the Cal Poly-Pomona chapter, a campus leader with the highest GPA among fraternities and a commitment to community service.

http://www.sigep.org/news/release.asp?release=230

From Statesman Journal

Hazing would be barred at schools and universities, and student participants and organizations subject to fines.

Senate Bill 444 passed the Oregon House without change on a 49-0 vote Wednesday.

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, introduced the bill after a
hazing incident at Western Oregon University, where he works.

State university rules ban hazing, but state law exempts athletic teams from the hazing ban WTF!?!?!. The bill would change the law, extend the ban to public schools and update definitions. Hazing covers physical brutality, activity adversely affecting physical health or safety, compelled consumption and inducement of illegal activity.

A student organization would be subject to a maximum fine of $720; a participant, $360.

Fun fact: college sports teams make a lot of money for host institutions. Greeks; not so much.