CORAL GABLES, FLA. (WSVN) - The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, which is also known as SigEp, has been kicked off the University of Miami’s campus because of some serious allegations made against the chapter, including women claiming they may have been drugged at an off-campus party.
“We heard SigEp was potentially being shut down,” said Patrick McCaslin, Assistant News Editor at the Miami Hurricane.
According to reporting done by the student run newspaper, one of the main concerns has to do with pictures where girls accused members of the fraternity for spiking their drinks with drugs during a party at an off-campus house.
McCaslin wrote the article and interviewed people who were at the party.
“I interviewed a couple of students, one was a partygoer, and she described being at the party, she had a drink, and I believe she said she was by the DJ booth, and she turned and when she looked back, she noticed some sort of white powder in her drink,” McCaslin said.
He says she also mentioned at the party they were spraying fire extinguishers, so she says the white substance in the drink may have been from that.
He tells us he also spoke to another source.
“She was saying that they also noticed white powder in their drink,” he said. “They didn’t know what it was. They also said it could have been the fire extinguisher. Who knows? But she also said she knew a couple of people who started vomiting uncontrollably after a few drinks or blacked out.”
“I think they should take something like this pretty serious,” said a student, who asked to remain anonymous.
She and another female student who also requested anonymity, said they know plenty of people who went to the party and said they had no issues.
“I didn’t hear anything until it started popping up on social media,” said the second student.
The fraternity is also facing backlash for a video said to include members of SigEp before the party chanting about digging up a woman and having sex with her.
The University of Miami sent 7News a statement on the allegations the fraternity is facing that read as follows:
“UM continually communicates a clear set of policies and expectations to all of our greek organizations that are designed to encourage a safe, healthy, and positive experience for UM students. The university received allegations the Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter violated university policy and participated in behavior that is inconsistent with the values and expectations of the university community and their national fraternity. We have partnered with Sigma Phi Epsilon for 73 years, and we support their decision to close the chapter effective immediately.”
As far as the claim that drinks were spiked, those are just allegations for the time being, but clearly SigEp’s national board thought things were concerning enough to revoke their charter at UM.
Heather Matthews, Chief Communication Officer for the fraternity, released the following statement,
“On Friday, the Sigma Phi Epsilon’s National Board of Directors unanimously decided to revoke the charter of the chapter at University of Miami. The National Headquarters received a video demonstrating SigEp members violating policy and engaged in misogynist actions that are not aligned with the values of this Fraternity. We expect SigEp chapters to provide their members and campus community a safe and supportive environment. That’s the cornerstone of a positive Fraternity and university experience, so we take that expectation seriously and hold our chapters to that standard.”
So far, no charges have been filled.
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