Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, better known as SAE, was kicked off of DU’s campus on Dec. 11, 2015. After a little more than three years, they are now asking to be welcomed back onto campus. SAE was suspended for a string of conduct violations that include sexism, substance abuse and disrespect. The cases of alleged sexual assault are not public, but if you ask any sorority on campus, you will find yourself a horror story. Their sexist nature, however, is quite public in the official reports leading up to their suspension. SAE was notorious for using sexist advertisements during rush and harassing females. Their infamous reputation led into their numerous alcohol probations along with distastefully themed parties. To top it off they showed a blatant disrespect for other campus organizations as shown by their vandalous nature. Those who support SAE’s return cite that they will be a new and better fraternity because the former members are gone. These people blatantly ignore SAE’s national reputation as the most deadly fraternity in the U.S., and its long history of sexual misconduct throughout the U.S. Can we trust them not to bring death and sexual violence back to DU?
Sexual violence and sexism are not something we stand for at DU, but SAE, on the other hand, is all too familiar with them. There are many sexual assault survivors on campus that would not be delighted to see that SAE is back on campus. This reputation carries over internationally as one brother at Northwestern exposes the rape culture in the fraternity to the university’s paper. On May 20, 2004, the DU’s chapter was found guilty of using sexist remarks on fraternity advertisements. On September 26, 2015, members of SAE at DU were cited for harassing a female campus security officer. It is not as if the chapter “simply had a few bad apples,” they were actually trying to present a sexist image to the community.
A positive image was something SAE never really cared for based off of their constant probations and disrespect they showed during their time at DU. On May 20, 2004, SAE was found guilty of cutting Pioneer Leadership Program (PLP) tent cords and burning the Theta Chi See-Saw. After their suspension in 2015, their house was rented out to Chi Omega. SAE members, however, in protest to their suspension decided to harass members of Chi Omega. The housing advisor recalls SAE brothers defecating on the property, throwing pumpkins at windows and forcing their way into the house—this being the same house SAE would like to move back into. After their actions, they most definitely do not deserve to move back in. Before their suspension in 2015, SAE threw a “drug cartel and southern belle” party in that same house, and they were unable to see how their theme was extremely distasteful. They thought the 20,000 people who died in Mexico the year before due to drug-related violence was funny.
Though I guess the U.S.’s most deadly fraternity might find a country in chaos funny. In March of 2013, brothers of SAE fraternity at Salisbury University forced 19-year-old freshman Justin Stuart to recite the fraternity’s creed in his underwear on a cold night from the inside of a trash can that was filled with ice as brothers poured buckets of water on his head. Stuart was also beaten with a paddle, forced to consume alcohol to the point of passing out, forced to wear women’s clothing and diapers and even locked in the basement without food for nine hours as German rock music played at “ear-splitting volume.” A lawsuit against the fraternity sighted “SAE’s flawed oversight and management of chapter and member activities.” DU does not need a rogue unregulated fraternity on campus that subjects undergraduates to this torture.
DU cannot trust SAE to keep its national problems away from Denver. First, their history of sexism and sexual assault both at DU and nationally is not something that belongs at DU. Second, their lack of respect for DU’s administration and student organizations in the past is not something we want back or deserves to come back to this campus. Third, their horrendous reputation is a national one, and it shows that if they came back to DU, they would likely bring it with them. SAE’s motto is “The True Gentleman Experience,” but at DU a gentleman is certainly not an SAE member. To help prevent SAE’s return to campus talk with IFC and the fraternities on campus as they will be having a vote on SAE’s return.
