Editor,
In 2000, while I was a junior at UNM, the infamous Sigma Chi incident occurred in which a member of the fraternity duct-taped a swastika onto a car parked illegally on the frat's property. That member was appropriately disciplined.
Two years later, the fraternity managed to egregiously violate its own charter and its terms with UNM. It was suspended for four years.
Now, it is about to reopen, and in the views of a very small but vocal minority, this is a bad thing.
Jay Tillman, a member of the campus student government and the Black Student Union, is unhappy with the rebirth of Sigma Chi. Presumably, his issue is that in the 2000 matter, the car owner was African-American and female.
Tillman said being in a fraternity carries a great responsibility, and the actions of one or a few stain the whole. He also said in an edition of the Daily Lobo that the group's core views are still racist.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
His argument is flawed for several reasons. The new Sigma Chi members have no connection whatsoever to the 2000 incident, and the current adviser was not at UNM at the time. To use a business comparison, it is basically a new charter or franchise under new owners.
He is speaking about a subject in which he has no basis for his views other than hearsay and reports about people who have long since departed UNM.
He is engaging in stereotyping,
assuming that one bad apple somehow tarnishes the entire organization. This is like saying every Italian-American is a card-carrying mafioso, and that all Irish-Americans secretly sympathize with the IRA, and that anyone of German stock must be a latent admirer of the Third Reich. This is circular reasoning. He offers no basis in fact or law to prove that the group as a whole endorses racism and uses one incident to make this claim. He simply pulls at straws, hoping that he can put together the broom.
Michelle Touson, president of the Black Graduate and Professional Student Association, also weighed in by saying that Sigma Chi members' requirement to attend sensitivity courses is not enough, and the members should be forced to attend an African-American college or work in New Orleans.
Touson just might want to dust off her copy of the United States Constitution and refresh her memory of the Fifth Amendment. Given that the new members have not been charged with any wrongdoing, either statutory or regulatory, she cannot demand that these people be arbitrarily penalized for past acts if they are no longer on campus.
I was at UNM when the incident occurred. It was an act of stupidity, and the then-chapter of Sigma Chi learned that stupidity can be painful. However, this is not a basis to deny a new chapter its place, and throwing accusations and suggestions that have no basis in fact or reason is more of a poor reflection of those individuals than of Sigma Chi.
Brandon Curtis
Daily Lobo reader
