True Gentlemen

by John Hechinger

  a member of SAE was expelled: Nicholas Syrett, The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009), p. 177.

  “considerable merriment in the fraternity”: William C. Levere, The History of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity (Chicago: R. R. Donnelley and Sons, 1911), vol. 2, p. 88.

  double standard… “easy lays”… eight naked fraternity men: Syrett, The Company He Keeps, pp. 264, 280–281.

  a woman on leave: Andy Merton, “Hanging on (by a Jockstrap) to Tradition at Dartmouth,” Esquire, June 19, 1979.

  fifty such campus attacks: Julie K. Ehrhart and Bernice R. Sandler, “Campus Gang Rape: Party Games” (Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges, Project on the Status and Education of Women, November 1985), p. 2.

  eight members of the Alpha Tau Omega chapter: Peggy Reeves Sanday, Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on Campus (New York: New York University Press, 1990), pp. 38–89. Sanday, following the conventions of social-science research, doesn’t name the fraternity or college, but its identity is clear from contemporary news accounts. See Tamar Lewin, “In Short: Nonfiction,” New York Times, April 28, 1999.

  In a variety of surveys: Joetta L. Carr and Karen M. Van Deusen, “Risk Factors for Male Sexual Aggression on College Campuses,” Journal of Family Violence 19 (2004): 279.

  two studies… fraternity members are three times more likely: John D. Foubert, Johnathan T. Newberry, and Jerry Tatum, “Behavior Difference Seven Months Later: Effects of a Rape Prevention Program,” NAPSA Journal 44 (2007): 739; and Catherine Loh et al., “A Prospective Analysis of Sexual Assault Perpetration,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 20 (2005): 1339.

  “rape-supportive attitudes”: See R. Sean Bannon, Matthew W. Brosi, and John D. Foubert, “Sorority Women’s and Fraternity Men’s Rape Myth Acceptance and Bystander Intervention Attitudes,” Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice 50 (2013): 72–87.

  “A 2016 university task force”: Harvard University Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Assault, Final Report, March 7, 2016, at http://sexualassaulttaskforce.harvard.edu/files/taskforce/files/final_report_of_the_task_force_on_the_prevention_of_sexual_assault_16_03_07.pdf.

  “predictable outcome”: Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura T. Hamilton, and Brian Sweeney, “Sexual Assault on Campus: A Multilevel Integrative Approach to Party Rape,” Social Problems 53 (November 2006): 483–484. For an eye-opening inside look at the college scene, see Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Laura T. Hamilton, Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013). Following social science conventions, the book and study do not name Indiana University, but it has since become public.

  23 percent of sexual-assault reports: “Community Attitudes and Experiences with Sexual Assault—Survey Report” (Bloomington: Division of Student Affairs, Indiana University, October 2015), p. 5, at http://stopsexualviolence.iu.edu/doc/climate-survey/climate-survey-full-report.pdf.

  a member of Delta Tau Delta: Samantha Schmidt, “Accused in Two Rapes, Former Student at Indiana University Avoids Prison with Plea Deal,” New York Times, June 27, 2016.

  Sociologists at Lehigh: Ayres A. Boswell and Joan Z. Spade, “Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?” Gender and Society 10 (April 1996): 136–138.

  “the ‘rapey’ one”: Rebecca Leitman Veidlinger, “Does Your Chapter Tolerate Sexual Assault? The Answer Is More Complicated Than You Think,” FRMT Risk Management Newsletter (Willis of Nebraska) 35 (Spring 2015): 3, at www.frmtltd.org/wfData/files/FRMT_Spring_2015.pdf.

  at fifteen of 230 SAE chapters: This is a conservative number. I excluded some cases where it was difficult to determine the facts of the report.

  “was charged with rape and assault”: Massachusetts District Court, criminal docket number 1662-cr-002604, April 19, 2016.

  “I am directing you and members of your chapter”: University of Iowa, result of public-records request.

  SAE member was handcuffed and arrested: Ibid.

  five separate reports: San Diego State University and California State University, Long Beach, results of public-records requests.

  longest trail of sexual-assault reports: University of New Mexico, result of public-records requests.

  lawsuit filed by an eighteen-year-old freshman: Jane Doe v. Sigma Alpha Epsilon et al., U.S. District Court, New Mexico, June 22, 1999, CV 99–0693.

  the initials A. O.: A. O. v. Phi Alpha Inc. d/b/a Sigma Alpha Epsilon-New Mexico Chapter et al., New Mexico District Court, County of Bernalillo, January 29, 2014, CV-2014–00836.

  “This is where my memory stops”: Public-records request, University of New Mexico.

  in the SAE chapter house at Emory University: SAE and Emory statements. In February 2017, Emory said, “the victim decided not to pursue criminal prosecutions.” Citing privacy rules, the school declined to release information about possible disciplinary proceedings. Clark Brown, SAE’s general counsel, said the chapter wasn’t found responsible for the alleged attack but underwent sexual-assault training.

  according to her parents: Parents of an LMU Student, “First-Person Feature: Parents of a Rape Survivor Tell Their Story,” Los Angeles Loyolan, April 15, 2015. Brown, the SAE lawyer, said the chapter, which was a provisional “colony” was shut down soon after for alcohol violations.

  “during his interview with detectives”: Transcribed DVD statement of Ivan Alexander Booth, November 2, 2014.

  “It is beyond just alcohol”: “University Formalizes SAE Chapter Suspension,” Johns Hopkins News-Letter, March 5, 2015.

  In a March 2015 editorial: “SAE Suspension Wrong, Requires Reversal,” Johns Hopkins News-Letter, March 5, 2015.

  $2 million insurance policy: University Policies and Procedures, Insurance, Johns Hopkins University, at http://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/fsl/policies.

  Chapter 4: The SAE Law

  I based my account of SAE’s disciplinary hearing on November 13, 2012, on the results of a public-records request to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. It yielded the 175-page transcript of the proceedings, as well as the voluminous records of e-mails, letters, and documents related to the incidents, the investigation, and its aftermath. I also traveled to Wilmington from April 26 through April 28, 2016, to meet with Ian Gove and other fraternity members and alumni.

  could pull off a purple seersucker suit: Molly Parker, “Sen. Goolsby Takes Last Lap with Eye on House—His Own,” StarNewsOnline.com, May 15, 2014, at www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20140515/news/605041629/WM.

  “This is a kangaroo court”: Interview with Ian Gove.

  college professors are more likely to be liberal: See Neil Gross, Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care? (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013), and Mitchell Langbert, Anthony J. Quain, and Daniel B. Klein, “Faculty Voter Registration in Economics, History, Journalism, Law, and Psychology,” Econ Journal Watch 13 (3) (September 2016): 422–451.

  defining characteristic of the American right’s: Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (New York: New Press, 2016), p. 235.

  judicial officer later sued SAE: David Fiacco v. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, U.S. District Court, Maine, September 15, 2005, 1:05-cv-00145-GZS. I relied mostly on records related to this case.

  “I knew those men”: Pete Smithhisler, speech to Lambda Chi Alpha, published September 2014, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKclW4MoHX0. Smithhisler declined to speak with me.

  make up about 40 percent of fraternity-related deaths: John Hechinger and David Glovin, “CalPoly Brings Back Freshman Pledging After Lobbying,” Bloomberg News, October 15, 2013 at www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-15/cal-poly-brings-back-freshman-pledging-after-lobbying.

  report, prepared by fraternity executives: Ibid.

  Trinity College, a well-regarded: David Glovin, “Wall Street Pipeline Trinit
y Sees President Resign,” Bloomberg News, May 7, 2013, at www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-05-06/wall-street-pipeline-trinity-sees-president-quit-amid-frat-fight.

  Wesleyan Student Assembly had conducted a survey: “Survey Data Regarding Greek Life and Sexual Assault,” Wesleyan Student Assembly, April 26, 2014, at http://wsa.wesleyan.edu/2014/04/26/survey-data-regarding-greek-life-sexual-assault.

  saw a broader need to remake Greek life: “On the Record with President Michael Roth: Sexual Assault, Frats, Need Blind,” Wesleying, December 1, 2014.

  “I think it’s a really tragic loss”: “Future of Wesleyan’s DKE Frat in Hands of Judge,” CBS News, April 29, 2015, at www.cbsnews.com/news/wesleyan-university-lawsuit-delta-kappa-epsilon-fraternity-accuses-school-of-discrimination.

  re-examine the policy: Graham W. Bishai, Claire E. Parker, and Leah S. Yared, “Social Organizations Sanctions Could Be ‘Revised or Replaced,’” Harvard Crimson, January 26, 2017, at www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/1/26/sanctions-may-change-khurana-says/.

  committee advocated: Hannah Natanson and Derek G. Xiao, “Faculty Committee Recommends Social Groups Be ‘Phased Out,’” Harvard Crimson, July 13, 2017, at www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/7/13/new-sanctions/.

  “I sincerely hope”: C. Ramsey Fahs, “In Most Extensive Comments in Centuries, Porcellian Club Criticizes Final Club Scrutiny,” Harvard Crimson, April 13, 2016.

  this $500-a-plate cocktail reception: I attended the early portion of the evening, along with Steven Churchill, president of SAE.

  39 percent of senators: North-American Interfraternity Conference.

  its share of kingmakers: Bruce D. Hornbuckle, “Brother Bill Brock: A Profile of the SAE and Republican Party Chairman,” SAE Record 99 (May 1979), pp. 2–14.

  more than $1.3 million in campaign contributions: Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets.org, at www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000021992.

  FratPAC bore down on US representative Frederica Wilson: David Glovin, “Mother of Golf Prodigy in Hazing Death Defied by FratPAC,” Bloomberg News, July 24, 2013, at www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-24/mother-of-golf-prodigy-in-hazing-death-defied-by-fratpac. In a February 2017 e-mail, O’Neill said of Wilson, “We have spent a lot of time talking with her and her staff about the most effective ways to combat hazing and to penalize those who haze students. Many other groups did so as well, and it was clear that crafting a federal anti-hazing law presents a number of challenges.” His firm is now called Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.

  The coalition spent $250,000 lobbying: OpenSecrets.org, at www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-24/mother-of-golf-prodigy-in-hazing-death-defied-by-fratpac.

  “We believe our sisters”: Tyler Kingkade, “Alpha Phi Becomes First Sorority to Say It Doesn’t Support Safe Campus Act,” Huffington Post, November 12, 2015, at www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alpha-phi-safe-campus-act_us_56441c26e4b045bf3dedce0d.

  an episode from 2008: Parks Griffin provided records related to the football game.

  “Whoever’s able to hire”: Allie Grasgreen, “Students Lawyer Up,” Inside Higher Ed, August 26, 2013, at www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/26/north-carolina-becomes-first-state-guarantee-students-option-lawyer-disciplinary.

  student right-to-counsel bills have been introduced in seven states: February 2017 e-mail from Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

  “The real problem for the fraternity”: “Fraternity Suspension Hounds UNCW Chancellor,” 2014, WECT, at www.wect.com/story/25478372/fraternity-suspension-hounds-uncw-chancellor.

  “a victim of North Carolina good old boy politics”: Kristen King, “Miller New Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay,” The Daily Clips, StarNews Online, June 3, 2014.

  Chapter 5: Sing, Brothers, Sing

  I visited the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman from November 4 through November 10, 2015. I pieced together the history of the song through interviews with several members: Garrett Parkhurst, Drew Rader, Sam Albert, and Jack Counts III. These University of Oklahoma students also offered details of the singing on the bus, as did their dates, Corina Hernandez and Lindsay Strunk. I met with Jack Counts Jr., who walked me through the chapter’s rich archival material and introduced me to other alumni who shared details about SAE at Oklahoma. The university’s Western History Collections provided valuable archives related to the chapter’s history—including photographs of its blackface party—and of the early history of fraternities on campus.

  equivalent of $4 million today: The 1965 cost, $550,000, and other details of construction come from Jack Counts Jr.’s chapter archives.

  largest networks of Ford auto dealerships: Fred Jones Family Foundation, at http://fredjonesfamilyfoundation.com/history.html.

  “Singing Fraternity”: For lyrics, see SAE’s Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/notes/sigma-alpha-epsilon-fraternity/the-many-songs-of-sigma-alpha-epsilon-fraternity/88343331136, or to hear the songs, mthetgi.sae.net/TheTrueGentlemanInitiativeLibrary/81/Module?module=Songs.

  The song had traveled: University of Oklahoma “Investigation and Findings,” released under a public-records request, reported earlier by Tyler Kingkade, “SAE Fraternity Members Learned Racist Song at National Leadership Event, University Finds,” Huffington Post, March 27, 2015, at www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/sae-fraternity-racist-song_n_6956790.html. See also SAE’s statement on the investigation, at www.sae.net/home/pages/news/news-media-statements-oklahoma-investigation-findings.

  had been a top golfer… Jesuit prep school: Faith Karimi and Justin Lear, “Who Are the Two Fraternity Students Expelled at the University of Oklahoma,” CNN.com, March 12, 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/03/12/us/oklahoma-who-are-expelled-students. I couldn’t reach Parker Rice for comment. Through a family spokesman, Pettit declined my request for an interview.

  “To those who have misused their free speech”: David Boren, University of Oklahoma statement.

  At Princeton University, three-fourths: “Report of the Working Group on Campus Social and Residential Life,” Princeton University Reports (May 2011) at www.princeton.edu/reports/2011/campuslife/obs-rec/fraternities-sororities.

  found rigid segregation: Matthew W. Hughey, “A Paradox of Participation: Nonwhites in White Sororities and Fraternities,” Social Problems 57 (November 2010): 653–679.

  “American apartheid”: John D. Sutter, “Are Frats a Form of American Apartheid,” CNN.com, March 10, 2015, at www.cnn.com/2015/03/10/opinions/sutter-oklahoma-fraternity-racist.

  “racially isolating environments”: Julie J. Park, “Clubs and the Campus Racial Climate: Student Organizations and Interracial Friendship in College,” Journal of College Student Development 55 (October 2014): 641–660.

  “ethnic clubs for White students” … “White victimization”: Jim Sidanius et al., “Ethnic Enclaves and the Dynamics of Social Identity on the College Campus: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87 (July 2004): 107.

  more likely to report verbal and physical assaults: Nella Van Dyke and Griff Tester, “Dangerous Climates: Factors Associated with Various Racist Hate Crimes on College Campuses,” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 30 (July 2014): 290–309.

  many previous episodes: See Tyler Kingkade, “SAE’s Racist Chant Was Not an Isolated Incident,” Huffington Post, March 10, 2015, at www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/10/sae-racism_n_6831424.html; Jake New, “Deadliest and Most Racist?” Inside Higher Ed, March 10, 2015, at www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/10/several-sigma-alpha-epsilon-chapters-accused-racism-recent-years; and Tasneem Nashrulla, “A History of Racism at Sigma Alpha Epsilon,” BuzzFeed News, June 29, 2015, at www.buzzfeed.com/tasneemnashrulla/a-history-of-racism-at-sigma-alpha-epsilon?utm_term=.lm5AvNb35#.cp618g7qX.

  Halloween party at Yale’s SAE chapter: Jon Victor and Joey Ye, “SAE Denies Charges of Racism,” Yale Daily News, November 2, 2015. See also Susan Svrluga, “Students Accuse Yale SAE Fraternity Brother of Sayin
g ‘White Girls Only’ at Party Door,” Washington Post, November 2, 2015; and Monica Wang and Joe Ye, “Investigations Yield No Disciplinary Action,” Yale Daily News,” December 9, 2015.

  two white SAE members at the University of Texas: Cassandra Jaramillo and Mikaela Cannizzo, “UT Students in Racially Motivated Assault Appeal University Disciplinary Process,” Daily Texan, March 29, 2016.

  the University of Wisconsin at Madison suspended: Results of a public-records request to the university. See also “Timeline—Sigma Alpha Epsilon,” The University of Wisconsin website, May 17, 2016 at http://news.wisc.edu/timeline-sigma-alpha-epsilon.

  plotted to tie a noose: Charlie Campbell, “Ole Miss Fraternity Chapter Shuttered After Racist Prank,” Time, April 18, 2014.

  spray-painted racial slurs: Jacqueline Palochko, “Lehigh Launches Survey Linked to Racist Graffiti,” Morning Call, October 13, 2015.

  the Bizzell Memorial Library stands: Anne Barajas Harp, The Sooner Story: The University of Oklahoma, 1890–2015 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015), p. 77.

  $75 million dorm: Jason Kersey, “Oklahoma Athletics: What’s It Like to Be a Non-athlete in Headington Hall?” Oklahoman, July 12, 2014, at http://newsok.com/article/4988418.

  family of one of Rader’s pledge brothers: “OU President David Boren Announces New Seed Sower Society Members at Regent Meeting,” OU Daily, March 9, 2016.

  pleaded guilty in 2014 to a misdemeanor: Jake Trotter, “Joe Mixon Reaches Plea Deal,” ESPN, October 30, 2014, at www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/11790146/oklahoma-sooners-running-back-joe-mixon-reaches-plea-deal-case-punching-female-student.

  allowing them to withdraw: Telephone interview with David Boren, March 2017.

  “Since we know we all have said things”: Maria Dixon Hall, “A Teachable Moment: How OU Failed Transformation 101,” Patheos, March 10, 2015, at www.patheos.com/blogs/mariadixonhall/2015/03/a-teachable-moment-how-ou-failed-transformation-101.