Three fraternity and sorority houses were vandalized last week as part of a prank allegedly performed by fraternity pledges. Separate but similar police reports were filed on April 13 by the three houses. The various Greek organizations, however, have released few details of the incidents.
The Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) received three incident reports complaining of occurrences of vandalism during the same day and time of day at the houses of the Sigma Nu fraternity, the Chi Omega sorority, and the Alpha Phi sorority.
"The front entranceways and walkways of the three different locations had ketchup, mustard, syrup, and other condiments splattered on the entranceways," TUPD Captain Mark Keith said.
Though the reports were forwarded to Assistant of Judicial Affairs Veronica Carter, no disciplinary action has been taken because there have not been any further complaints and there are no reported suspects.
"Basically, they were reporting that these acts of vandalism took place," Keith said. "Unless we get any further information, nothing will happen."
While such incidents are usually handled within the sorority, the Alpha Phi sisters chose to file a police report because someone had actually broken into their house, according to President Andrea Perry. "As soon as we found that someone had come in - we're not sure how - we called the police because of obvious breaking and entering," she said. "Nothing serious occurred, things were just messed up a bit."
Though the TUPD has no evidence that a fraternity was involved, Perry said her sorority immediately suspected that was the case, and decided not to pursue the case any further.
"We weren't ready to press charges," she said. "We figured it was a frat, and we try to keep things amongst ourselves to maintain some sort of unity in the Greek community."
The Inter-Greek Council (IGC) confirmed that a fraternity was responsible for the pranks, but the group did not know for sure which one was involved. "We discussed this at the IGC meeting. We know this happened," Dave Lattanzi said. "Whoever did it, fixed it," he said.
The guilty fraternity gave the Alpha Phi sorority money to compensate for the vandalism, according to the IGC. There were also allegations that the sorority was paid to keep details of the incident quiet, but those were not substantiated by the IGC.
"Alpha Phi said they were paid and got the place cleaned up," Lattanzi said. "Whichever house did it kept it anonymous. It just makes more sense this way.... They cleaned up and paid, and I'm happy about that."
Members of Chi Omega said that the entire front of their house was covered in 'gunk.' "It was just the outside of our house, but they definitely got the inside of Alpha Phi," President Carrie Gagel said.
Sigma Nu brothers declined to comment on the extent of the damage done to their house, but Keith offered some specifics. "There was some damage done to 92 P-Row. A volleyball net in the backyard was cut or damaged," he said.
According to Keith, action will likely be taken if suspects are identified. "It's vandalism. If it was done by pledges and if they were directed by their chapters, then yes, it is a prank that got out of hand and could lead to some kind of disciplinary action," he said. "It's tough for us to act on rumor or innuendo unless somebody comes forward."
Members of the Greek community say they are keeping quiet about the situation because implicating specific organizations could create tension within Tufts' Greek community. Because Tufts' Greek system is smaller and has more distinctive houses than systems at other schools, there is a great need to maintain unity, according to Lattanzi.
"It makes it harder because you're working with people all over the place, and it can create differences," he said. "Things have improved - it used to be very bad, lots of problems with houses going at each other and serious fighting."
The there is not as much rivalry between fraternities and sororities at Tufts as there is at other schools, according to Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, although there is a persistent conflict between Zeta Psi and Theta Delta Chi (123). "There have been pranks and things between the two houses," he said.
To further maintain unity, the IGC would like to create ways for fraternities and sororities to better communicate. "[We'd like to] move to an open forum between the different houses to air concerns and discuss things and let other houses know what they're doing," Lattanzi said.
