Pitt’s Delta Sigma Phi suspended for violations

The mansion will still be green.

But the fraternity Delta Sigma Phi, nicknamed the “green… The mansion will still be green.

But the fraternity Delta Sigma Phi, nicknamed the “green mansion” fraternity for their large, green-brick house on Dithridge Street, is no longer.

On Sept. 19, the University made a decision to no longer recognize Pitt’s Omega chapter of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.

Their national organization’s grand council reinforced this verdict on Sept. 24 with the decision to revoke the charter and immediately close the chapter.

According to Bruce Hammond, the organization’s national director of communications, the fraternity violated the Delta Sigma Phi Policy on Responsibility and Accountability. The policy includes serious infractions, such as substance abuse and hazing, and less serious infractions, such as failure to abide by fire codes and problems with special-events planning.

“The specifics aren’t really that important,” Hammond said. He added that the Omega chapter of Delta Sigma Phi could have violated one or a combination of these policies.

Anita Triggs, Pitt’s Fraternity and Sorority Life coordinator, said a complaint detailing a hazing incident was filed last April with Pitt’s Office of Judicial Affairs. This allegation led to dialogue between the chapter, the University and the organization’s national office for several months, she added.

Delta Sigma Phi was placed on interim probation, meaning the fraternity was unable to hold social functions or attend Greek-related events.

According to Triggs, the judicial board’s Sept. 19 decision was based on the fact that the hazing allegation was substantiated. The fraternity violated their interim suspension by hosting a party and serving alcohol to minors, causing them to lose Pitt’s recognition. Triggs was one of the three hearing officers on the judicial board that made the University’s decision.

“We felt that the organization was headed in the wrong direction, and the best alternative was to [terminate] recognition,” Triggs said. “The national office seemed to agree with our findings.”

Sophomore Dante Renzulli was a pledge for Delta Sigma Phi last spring and made the allegation that hazing was present during his pledge period. Renzulli said he was hazed for almost three straight months, but he continued to pledge anyway, because it had been such a big time commitment.

Renzulli said the brothers made him “eat stuff that was kind of bad” such as a two-pound tub of margarine, pickle juice, Tabasco sauce and hot sauce. He said he was also forced to go for two straight days without getting any sleep.

According to Renzulli, he made it through pledging until about the last week, when, after a night of forced binge drinking, he lost control of himself. The brothers told him the next day that he could no longer pledge after the incident.

“The night before they told me to leave, they had made me drink a whole lot of beer and vodka … beer first … and I was taking shots of Scotch, too,” he said. “It was more alcohol than I have ever drank in my life. Naturally, I got real out of control … I don’t remember anything, but apparently I got violent or something.”

After his dismissal, Renzulli sent a statement about his experiences at Delta Sigma Phi to the University and the national fraternity.

“Really the only reason I got them in trouble is because they screwed me over,” Renzulli said.

According to former Delta Sigma Phi President and Pitt senior Matthew Weaver, “Our main problem is the way the whole situation was handled by our nationals and the University. It seemed like we were guilty until proven innocent the entire time, and I was under the impression that our nation worked the other way.”

Weaver added that Delta Sigma Phi alumni and brothers had spoken on the fraternity’s behalf at the Student Judicial System trial.

Sophomore and Delta Sigma Phi brother Mike Hansen also said that “the outcome of the trial was determined before the actual event took place.”

“Unlike other fraternities, we were singled out for such things as underage drinking, while any literate person can read the multiple citations given to people ‘outside’ of hill fraternities in The Pitt News,” Hansen said.

Hansen said the Delta Sigma Phi pledge process had been a voluntary event bringing together potential and current members of the fraternity to promote brotherhood.

Delta Sigma Phi was originally chartered at Pitt in 1916. Delta Sigma Phi’s recognition at Pitt is terminated until all the current members have graduated from the University. Then, according to Hammond, the fraternity “would like to return to the University of Pittsburgh.”