The Sigma Pi fraternity is under investigation after allegedly hosting a party where minors were present and alcohol was served, Student Life and Leadership (SLL) Director Stephan Lamb said.
The fraternity was placed on cease and desist Friday after Lamb heard from several university staff members about an alleged party, held at a Foothill property leased by some of the fraternity’s members, Lamb said.
“They’re under a cease and desist order,” Lamb said, “which basically is the terminology that we utilize when I have cause to believe that an investigation of a situation or an event warrants my review and that’s the case with them.”
Lamb was unwilling to go into the details of the current investigation but did express his dismay that the cease and desist order brought an end to Sigma Pi’s participation in Greek Week last week.
“It’s regrettable that this happened in the middle of Greek Week, because it affected the black team (Sigma Pi’s team),” Lamb said.
Lamb said he felt investigating Sigma Pi was necessary in order to be fair to all fraternities, he said, especially after Delta Sigma Phi was placed under cease and desist two weeks ago for a party.
“To be consistent with how I handled Delta Sigma Phi — basically removing them from Greek Week — I felt I had to be consistent, so I needed to do that to Sigma Pi as well,” he said.
Though both incidents occurred relatively close together, Lamb didn’t think this was unusual.
Warmer weather means more events and activities, and Lamb said SLL often sees a rise in parties when this happens.
“In spring quarter, we become aware of more student activity out in the community, and I think that’s linked to the weather,” Lamb said.
The investigation is news to the Interfraternity Council (IFC), of which Sigma Pi is a member, IFC director of public relations Jason Colombini said. The investigation was announced at the IFC meeting Monday night, he said.
“It’s a new investigation,” Colombini said.
The Sigma Pi president and vice president could not comment as of press time.
Victoria Billings and Allison Montroy contributed to this article.
Editors Note: This article has been updated since publication. We originally reported that Sigma Pi leased a property on Foothill, when in fact the property is leased by some of the fraternity’s members, not the fraternity itself. We apologize for any confusion. Please email mustangdaily@gmail.com with any questions regarding our updates policy.
The school and its administration needs to truly bring the hammer down on these fraternities, especially now that they are providing alcohol to minors. I still dont believe it to be true.
God this newspaper is a joke
Providing alcohol to minors is against the law. Fraternities are not above the law.
I applaud the administration for doing it’s job in protecting students from the hazardous fraternity life.
OK, so are you under the impression that no minors in College drink? Because the large majority of them do, so to be consistent with you guys, I say we get rid of college education so there with be no more unlawful underage drinking!! You are idiots.
I drink, all the time, am underage and have a 3.74 GPA in Pre-vet, it is not hazardous, it is what happens in this society, better learn to handle it in college when there is a whole fraternity making sure you are OK and have a sober ride rather than on your own in real life when you get fucked up at a bar and get taken home by a stranger and raped.
Im not naive. Underage drinking is going to happen and if you are caught then be ready to deal with the consequences. The Greeks think since it is already happening, they should not be punished for adding to the problem. Sorry, but living the Greek life is hazardous. And nobody is saying that underage drinking is effecting grades so your comment about your GPA is irrelevant.
The entire premise of this is absolutely ludicrous; they get put on cease and desist because one guy [Lamb] who has his own plans of killing Greek Life HEARD of a party? And there were college students there?! I never would have guessed. At this rate every fraternity on campus will be gone by summer.
Greek Life is at the heart and deeply rooted in Cal Poly Leadership, EVERY campus organization, club, and the great school that Cal Poly is. I look around my own house and see the finest men, leaders, and friends I could ask for; I see iron sharpening iron and a Greek community as a whole that gives back SO much.The ignorance that fraternities do nothing but deteriorate the social fabric of our college needs to end.
Mustang Daily, we understand you’re just reporting what happened, but we’d love to see some coverage of all the great things that ACTUALLY go down every week. Check the percentage of ASI candidates yesterday that were Greek, you might be surprised. We’re not.
“I look around my own house and see the finest men, leaders, and friends I could ask for”
hahahahahahhhaha get off your pedestal blue, you and your frat brothers arent that sick. And who the fuck cares about ASI candidates? Like they ACTUALLY want to do anything good for the school, they do it for the resume genius. Go back to sharpening your iron.
As lame as i admit it is, reading everyones dumbass comments regarding the lack of support for Frat life is hilarious. Greek Life as a whole receives the most amount of positive coverage in this retarded newspaper so please stop complaining about it.
And to the mormons who wrote about the underage drinking, I am 19 and drinking in my dorm as we speak, so fuck you
This is absolutely ridiculous! Whenever the MD publishes an article about a fraternity doing something bad, hords of fratscats attack the MD claiming they are unfair. Um, are you not aware of what the fraternity did? They had alcohol in a party with minors present. I think we should be rational here. Is it against the law to have alcohol at a party with minors present? Cuz then all my family parties would be cancelled (for the record my parents drink and the minors don’t). HOWEVER, if there were minors who had consumed alcohol, THEN I think that is different. It is ILLEGAL for minors to drink, so Sigma Pi should face any consequences of that. Saying that “it’s college, it happens.” or “i drink and i still have a 3.74 GPA” doesn’t change it at all (I’m looking at you “Realist”). How foolish are you to think that because it happens it’s okay? It is a clear violation of the law. I think college students should be able to chose to drink or not, but they need to understand that the alcohol drinking law applies and they will face any consequences if caught. Also, to say that drinking is better done at college where fraternity members take care of you is also dumb. Need I bring up the painful memory of Carson? The thing is that there will always be people, as much as you would like to think that they’ve got your back, will not necessarily help you out. As for the MD, you should also focus more on the things that Greek orgs. have done for CP.
If Cal Poly is going to go after Greek life for minors drinking, they should be fair and apply this to every club/organization that affiliates with the campus. I am sure the Cal Poly community is aware that other clubs and organizations on campus also have minors drinking at their social events, and they do not do half as much as what Greek life willingly participates in to stay affiliated with the campus.
In addition, the tragic events that involved Carson should not be used as a blanket and applied to every Fraternity on campus. Just because the organizations are listed as a Fraternity on campus, it doesn’t mean that all Fraternities act on the same principles. Each fraternity has a different story as to how they became the organization they are today. One Fraternity that was affiliated with this campus chose to force new members to drink in excessive amounts, it is not the same as social drinking at a party and I can assure you that every Greek member was shocked and saddened by the events that happened and would NEVER want that to happen with somebody they call their brother.