Delta Sigma Phi receives social probation, National sanctions

The Alpha Gamma chapter of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity was issued social probation by both the Institute and their National organization for an incident of underage drinking that occurred at an October 8th party. Delta Sigma Phi brothers called the police to the house when a 17-year-old first-year male student passed out after having consumed alcohol before and at the party. The student was transported by ambulance to the hospital; he suffered no permanent injuries and is back on campus.

"We stopped [the student] once someone realized what was happening, but he had already consumed so much. It was a binge situation," said Andrew deRussy, a fourth-year Civil and Environmental Engineering major and president of Delta Sigma Phi.

It is the policy of Delta Sigma Phi to not serve alcohol to anyone that is underage or visibly intoxicated. A pledge had invited the student to the DJ party, which had both sober monitors and third party security present. According to deRussy, the student took a bottle of alcohol into a smaller room at the Delta Sigma Phi house away from the rest of the party and consumed it while brothers were not present.

"When he became physically unresponsive the police were called. They called the [paramedics] who took the student to the hospital," deRussy said.

Communication with both the chapter members and Institute officials was immediate.

"We had a chapter meeting immediately after the incident happened to make sure that everyone was informed of why things were happening....I notified everyone that day. At 2 a.m. I wrote an email explaining the facts of the incident to every member, our alumni advisor and our national advisor. I also spoke to our advisor that day," deRussy said.

Immediately after the incident and before sanctions the fraternity voluntarily decided to go dry, meaning that no alcohol would be present at events.

The social probation from the Institute, which was issued October 20, requires that all Delta Sigma Phi events be dry until March 31st. The national sanctions, which were issued last Friday, require that the Delta Sigma Phi house be dry until March 31st.

The Institute sanctions also require 90 percent of the brotherhood to complete an alcohol seminar. The National sanctions also require that the chapter meet mandatory attendance numbers at all National organization events.

This is the first time that the Tech chapter of Delta Sigma Phi has received National sanctions since the group was re-colonized on campus in 2001.

For the past three years the Tech chapter has been recognized as one of the top four Delta Sigma Phi chapters in the country with the Pyramid of Excellence award from their National organization.

In addition to meeting the requirements of the sanctions, Delta Sigma Phi has put in place new structures within their organization to prevent a similar incident from occurring.

"[We] wrote a formal document of responsibilities for our sober monitors and what we expect from third party security....The fraternity is going to fund our risk manager and an initiate from each pledge class to go through [Training for Intervention Procedures]....We laid out rules in our bylaws and transition notes to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again," deRussy said.

According to deRussy, Delta Sigma Phi hopes that other organizations learn from this incident as well.

"Other chapters can look at this as a learning experience. Hopefully they can use us as an example so that the same thing does not happen to them....We've definitely learned a valuable lesson," deRussy said.