Miami Student

Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Campus

The Mu Psi chapter of the fraternity faces punishment after second incident in 2007-08.

Miami University's chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu has been sanctioned for the second time this school year for serving alcohol to a minor.

At a hearing conducted by the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution Jan. 23, Sigma Alpha Mu admitted to serving alcohol to a minor at a party at their off-campus house in late October 2007. They were found to be in violation of the Code of Student Conduct, Section 105B.

Chris Taylor, associate director of the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution, said that sanctioning organizations is more difficult because the alcohol sanctions in the conduct code apply mostly to individuals.

Taylor said that normally after a second alcohol offense, the office conducts an assessment of the individual; however, he said that this procedure would not be appropriate or practical for an entire fraternity chapter. Instead, Taylor said Sigma Alpha Mu must assess its own policies concerning alcohol.

According to Taylor, Sigma Alpha Mu must turn in a copy of the chapter's risk management policy and conduct an assessment of these policies with an intention of preventing future incidences of serving alcohol to minors as well as all alcohol violations.

Josh Kaback, vice president of public relations for the Interfraternity Council (IFC), said that Sigma Alpha Mu's punishment is from the university.

"The university has their list of the punishments they give," Kaback said. "(This is) not out of line with what they've done in the past."

Kaback said that Sigma Alpha Mu has already re-evaluated their risk management policy and turned copies into the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution.

"They're moving quickly and they are following the university (sanctions)," Kaback said.

According to Kaback, IFC will hold a hearing to decide if they will punish Sigma Alpha Mu and what the punishment should be. The hearing date is yet to be determined.

Taylor said that the extensive time between the party in question and the hearing was caused by a number of things.

"When organizations go through our process, it does tend to take a little longer," Taylor said.

Taylor said that the process takes longer when witnesses are involved. Taylor added that the office was not notified of the incident until a couple of weeks after it occurred, so by the time they went to schedule the hearing it was nearing final exam week.

Sigma Alpha Mu was represented at the hearing by their chapter adviser Jerry Miller, and Sigma Alpha Mu president Andrew Messer. Messer refused to comment and Miller was unable to be reached.

According to Taylor, organizations can choose between having one administrator or a disciplinary board hear their case.

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