The Herald Journal reports today hazing may have been involved in the death Friday morning of Michael Starks, an 18-year-old USU student who was attempting to join the Sigma Nu fraternity on campus.
This piece of information is gleaned from an apparent interview with Michael Starks’ brother, George, who made the claim that Michael Starks was forced to drink a fifth of vodka in an hour.
What The Herald Journal article blatantly fails to address is any type of response from the fraternity beyond their executive director saying they’ve suspended activities temporarily.
Having read the article, my first reaction was outrage. Shut Sigma Nu down immediately if this is true. But then my rational side kicked in and suggested I should talk to some members of Sigma Nu to see what their side of the story is.
I did that. And at this moment I think it’s best for everyone to disregard what they read in The Herald Journal today and wait for an official statement or declaration from the police to be released.
Here are the facts:
- Michael Starks was drinking something, and he was underage. Someone provided him with alcohol.
- Michael Starks was drinking off-campus, where it is otherwise legal to use alcohol.
Beyond that, at this time, nothing is declared a 100 percent truth, it’s all hearsay. To get the full grasp of the picture, however, we need to understand a few things from the fraternity’s side. I spoke with some members of the fraternity (past and present) Sunday, and due to the sensitive nature of the situation, the ongoing investigation and the fact that they’ve all been told that all media contacts should go through an official representative, I will not be revealing the names of these individuals, rather I will assure readers of this blog that these are individuals I have known for years and trust that they were being straight up with this information for me and are not “B.S’ing” me.
- There’s been a tradition of a member of a sorority on campus “kidnapping” a pledge from the Sigma Nu fraternity and taking them to an off-campus location. Other members of the pledge class are then given clues to find their future fraternity brother. Since 2002, alcohol and drugs have been explicitly banned from this process, and anyone caught violating the rules would be kicked out.
- Michael Starks was drinking Thursday night/Friday morning, and others with him reportedly tried to remove the alcohol from his possession, but how much are you going to do to get it away from him? Pin him down and force him to give it up?
- Starks reportedly was drunk when his future brothers rescued him, but no one knew how much he’d had to drink, so they took him to the Sigma Nu house to “sleep it off.”
I have multiple sources who say that they will do whatever it takes to prove that this incident was not hazing related because that’s “not something we do.” The Herald Journal’s sole source is a distraught family member making a claim that the fraternity forced Michael Starks to drink a fifth of vodka in an hour.
I’m 6-foot 250 pounds and I believe that drinking a fifth of vodka in an hour would kill me too. It’s not something that is realistic for a fraternity to do to all of its pledges without incident until now.
Listen. The death of Michael Starks is a tragedy. I’m told that he was one of the most popular kids in his classes and in the Sigma Nu fraternity. Everyone loved him. His family is distraught and this is a big loss and everyone is anxious for someone to blame for why this happened.
But we need to step back and not fling accusations at individuals or organizations until more FACTS are known. Otherwise, those who report the accusations prematurely (as in The Herald Journal’s case) will end up with egg on their face and have dealt irreparable damage to reputations.
Let’s sit back and wait for the facts to come out before casting stones. If the Sigma Nu fraternity is found culpable in this incident, they may be shut down and they’ll have to pay the price for that. But so far, no one outside Michael Starks’ brother and The Herald Journal is making this claim — an egregious claim with little fact behind it at this point. Let’s not condemn anyone until they deserve to be condemned.
-Tyler
Michael Starks was drinking Thursday night/Friday morning, and others with him reportedly tried to remove the alcohol from his possession, but how much are you going to do to get it away from him? Pin him down and force him to give it up?
If a fifth of Vodka consumed in an hour is as lethal as you claim, and the people present also knew this and that Starks had consumed that much alcohol in that short amount of time, then ABSOLUTELY YES! Who among us, if we knew that a life was possibly on the line, wouldn’t wrestle a friend to the ground to save them?
I agree with Tyler that objective facts will come with time. I also agree that assigning blame is premature. But if assigning blame is premature, then so is deflecting it. And there are a lot of people up on the hill that are doing just that right now. While no Greek members have been willing to go “on the record”, they are apparently willing to talk with Tyler anonymously and also post comments defending the Greek system and deflecting blame on the Herald Journal site as well as other Salt Lake media outlet sites reporting on the case. It’s almost as if there is a concerted effort underway to deflect blame.
The following comment appears on the Herald Journal site and another Salt Lake media outlet VERBATIM:
If the Greek community wishes privacy to mourn or for legal reasons, that should be respected. However, if they are going to mount a public response and defense, then they should do it with their real names, and not anonymously to the media or on the internet while at the same time pleading to be left alone.
Well, it looks like a second media outlet is using the word “initiation” before the facts are out…http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4884164 .I too have friends close to this situation and Tom is spot on.The greeks, from ALL frats and girl frats, are trying to deflect blame as fast as they can. It will be interesting when the truth comes out, that is if there is more to this story than what the greeks are saying.
“If the Greek community wishes privacy to mourn or for legal reasons, that should be respected. However, if they are going to mount a public response and defense, then they should do it with their real names, and not anonymously to the media or on the internet while at the same time pleading to be left alone.”
this statement doesn’t even make sense. If i wanted to be “left alone” by the press, I sure wouldn’t use my real name.
Tom: My name is Gideon Oakes, and I left that comment on the HJ’s original story. Not sure what the other SL media outlet is, or who may have copied my original comment, but here I am — real name used. I am not a Sigma Nu, but I am Greek. I somewhat resent the tone and implication of blame deflection in your comment above, but I will let it slide as I am generally an advocate for transparency in all newsworthy matters (which, sadly, this is).
So now that you have my real name (and if you’re still a moderator, my email address), let’s open the dialogue. Tyler is spot on with his analysis of the situation. Friends of mine have said they were trying to take booze away from Starks that night. As a non-drinker, I’ve had to do that for other people on countless occasions.
For those who do not party, let me educate you a little. There comes a point in drinking where the drinker no longer recognizes the effects of the alcohol on them. At this point, they often become belligerent and want to keep drinking. Think of it as an Alzheimer’s patient who forgot that she ate lunch. Wouldn’t you be pissed off that the mean people aren’t letting you eat? Quite often, there is little you can do other than sitting them down and physically preventing them from reaching their bottle/can. Normally, however, the drinker will become drowsy fairly shortly after this point and you can put them to bed. This seems to be what happened to Starks. However, nobody realized until it was too late just how much alcohol he had consumed.
Tyler’s other spot-on point was that if forcing pledges to drink a fifth of vodka in an hour is standard operating procedure for Sigma Nu, there would be far fewer actives, because most would have died as pledges. Simply put, we would have heard about it before if that were the case.
Anyway, I’m tired and am headed to bed, but I’ll check back here to see if you have questions for me, or you can also e-mail me (provided you can get the address).
Gideon Oakes
Pi Kappa Alpha
There’s been a tradition of a member of a sorority on campus “kidnapping” a pledge from the Sigma Nu fraternity and taking them to an off-campus location. Other members of the pledge class are then given clues to find their future fraternity brother. Since 2002, alcohol and drugs have been explicitly banned from this process, and anyone caught violating the rules would be kicked out.
Soooo… if that is true… which I find to be BS because I also know Sigma Nu Alumni who have been involved in this… then all the sorority girls and all the Sigma Nu’s involved would have had their pins pulled immediatly when it was discovered that booze was involved if this horrible death had not taken place? Did the people involved in this little kidnapping not care if they got kicked out or their prospective houses?
There are a number of issues that none of these comments and reports are addressing. However, before I address those, the only sympathy I have for any one involved in this situation goes directly to Mike and his family for their tragic loss.
Everyone is correct in their conclusion that the police have the facts, however statements made by the organizations are also relevant. Statements from their respective chapter members should be disregarded.
First, the original post from Tyler, fails to site sources or first hand knowledge of actual actions that occurred last week; Tyler, this is not credible news. Tyler, you are being lied to by the members who are your “contacts”. If you are, or ever were a part of the greek community you would know that while hazing in fraternities is outwardly strictly forbidden by their national organizations as well as the university campuses they reside on, it takes place quietly and consistently. I find it interesting that an assumption is made that the news is the uncredible source in this situation… if you were part of this organization, wouldn’t you be telling the press the “facts” that presents your organization in the best light possible? A number of news outlets reported the same information the Herald Journal did; should those also be disregarded?
Second, are any of you aware that this fraternity has a long and troubling history of violations with their national organization as well as the university? I can tell you first hand that this is true because of the time myself and my closest friends spent in the greek community as well as at this particular house. I can also attest to the fact that I have witnessed a number of hazing rituals at this house and at others on the university campus. Are you also aware that not only was this fraternity involved but members of another greek house were involved as well?
Furthermore, the only solution to this problem is to shut these houses down. If members of my house had participated in these actions, I would say shut it down too! These inappropriate and disturbing rituals have been taking place for years, even though they are not publicized. The fraternities’ national headquarters as well as the university has been aware of this for more than 5 years now and has done nothing. Everyone involved in this situation is at fault. The fraternity itself, the active chapter members, who would have bought the alcohol and subjected the pledges to the hazing rituals, and the other organization on campus that so foolishly volunteered themselves to take part in these activities. Not only should their organizations be at fault and removed from the campus, they should all be expelled from the university for violating the explicit no-hazing policy. Additionally, even if the pledge was drunk when he came back to the house, the members of that house are still responsible for the actions that led to him being placed in the hazing situation and long time tradition of pledge-kidnapping, cleaning/painting bricks, military runs and many more.
It is unfortunate that the university and the fraternities national organization turned a cold shoulder to the situation at this house and only now that a life has been lost because of the internal practices, traditions, and rituals of this fraternity.
By the way – Fraternities and Sororities are the politically correct terminology to refer to the organizations by… frats and girl frats are not. Do your research before you post a comment, otherwise you sound uneducated and no one pays attention to you.
Former USU greek… You are spot on. As another USU greek whos name is not Ann, (what can I say, I am a chicken) we all know this has been going on for years. Read the comments on the HJ news story. They are chilling and well… true. And to Mr. Pike guy: look just because PIKES dont do this does not mean Sigma Nus dont. I have seen your comments all over all of the news stories surrounding this and the point is that hazing or not, this young man was not taken care of.
I am a former Pike as well. I can say that in very similar things do occur. It is predictable that the “brothers” all band together to protect the Greek establishment on campus. I’m not even blaming them.
But let’s be honest here, like “Ann” says he was not taken care of. The lack of action reveals a rather scary reality of the mindset of the people at that time and place. And it was not one of responsible adults, booze or no booze.
And also Gid, your whole argument about taking drinks away is stupid. I have taken drinks away too many times. As active members and leaders of Sigma Nu, “trying” is not good enough. They should have threatned him membership if they really had concern. I know shoulda coulda woulda… but hell this kid lost his life.
A couple more things… pins can only be pulled if the information and the unacceptable behavior is brought to someones attention, specifically national organizations or chapter advisors who are supposed to be following the by-laws. As I previously mentioned, these are rituals and traditions that have gone on for many years and when we found out about them while I was part of the community we brought those to the attention of the national organization as well as the university. Pins were pulled, but the organization still has alumni and members that are present to carry on these traditions.
Secondly, Pikes haze too – who are you kidding! Making pledge stand outside with the fire hose and singing the song that goes along with it is considered hazing, just an FYI.
Lastly, whether you drink or not, everyone has dealt with someone who has had too much to drink. People who are around those who drink too much know when there comes a point that someone needs to be taken to a hospital or have something taken away from then. I have fought with drinkers many times and taken drinks away from people, and I have also had to take someone to the hospital when they were on the verge of having alcohol poisoning. The members of the chapter who are considered “in charge” or the leaders of the house are at fault for not taking action in this situation.
Furthermore, hazing is present and always has been. Date a fraternity member and they’ll tell you all about it. Hazing is like the unspoken secret each organization relies on to indoctrine new members in and create loyalty. Are you going to feed me a line next and tell me the military doesn’t practice any sort of hazing? Please step out of your bubble.
one more thing…my organization was able to achieve sisterhood and a level of respect for the organization and its members with out taking part in any kind or form of hazing. hazing doesn’t make an organization, the people do.
I think we might be in the same house former greek…. great minds think alike.. honest minds think alike.
GOOD FOR YOU TWO!
and PS Tyler, I think its funny that you are taking the words of Sigma Nu members so seriously. Friends or not.
I have spoken to a Sigma Nu Alumni who said “Oh yeah, we did that every year, people are going to jail”
Also, the “kidnapping” by most national standards is hazing. I am sorry that at this particular “kidnapping” booze was involved volluntarily or by force.. but these active members are supposed to protect thier new members. They failed to. They failed to enforce their “rules”. (I have a feeling the rules were just there on paper.) Maybe the girls involved hazed him! BUT allowing the whole event to occur still falls on Sigma Nu as well.. and by not taking him to the hospital, they sealed his fate. Just my opinion, but I have a feeling you are going to swallowing your post when the facts come out.
ummm……
ann writes…”I think its funny that you are taking the words of Sigma Nu members so seriously. Friends or not.
and in the very next sentence….
“I have spoken to a Sigma Nu Alumni who said “Oh yeah, we did that every year, people are going to jail” ”
interesting.
Tyler’s position is probably wise in the end, an wreaks of calculated political correctness…(LoL…no offense Tyler, I actually commend your objectivity)…
But c’mon…These things (and worse) are frequent occurences inside these houses. People are, and probabaly should go to jail. The Pikes, the Nu’s, the Chi’s….It doesn’t matter. Very frequently people ‘play’ dangerously in there. Eventually it will occur with dangerous, or even fatal consequences.
Grumpy – I doubt seriously that you were a Pike. Otherwise you would live by the words, “Once a Pike, Always a Pike” and would not refer to having been a Pike, rather you would say, “am a Pike.” Nice try, though.
Ann – Time will tell. Until then, we’ll have to agree to disagree. As you’ve alluded to, the police have the facts. I’m confident the Greek system as a whole will be vindicated.
Whether they’re Sigma Nu members or not, the people I talked to are guys I’ve known for years and trust. If they turn out to be wrong here, then they compromise that trust.
I don’t think the guys I’ve talked to would do that.
LoL ! It’s attitudes like that made myself, and my two friends in our pledge class walk away. You frat dorks are loyal to the death ! So pathetic.
Trust me Gid. I WAS a Pike. Went through initiation night, and the three of us (almost) never came back. But by all means keep spewing your thinly veiled insults.
I see the flaw in my thinking dirt, but I find it interesting that that is the point of my post you mock. I don’t think your friends are lying, Tyler, I just think that things got out of control. Rules were broken, and peoples lives are now ruined. We can blame people or protect people all day, but nothing changes. People ARE going to jail. House ARE going to get shut down, and a FAMILY LOST THIER SON/BROTHER.
I would think that regardless of Greek affiliation or not, people would put the fact that a young man has died needlessly above anything else.
Gid has demonstrated to me, that sadly, that is not the case here.
Grumpy and Ann you make a good point. It’s pretty easy to lose perspective here. A young man lost his life and that’s the big thing here. Everything else will sort itself out, but a family will forever have lost their son.
I was reading everyone’s comments because I was curious about what is going on with USU’s Greek System. I can’t say that I am surprised by people’s reactions on what seems to be two sides, both those who want to see the Greek System done away with and those who think it is an important part of the college experience. While I do find the death of Michael Starks to be tragic I also have an extremely hard time believing that it was the result of hazing. Is there someone that can be blamed for what happened? Maybe, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. My point is that if anything, it was most likely the result of excessive celebration from being made a new member. I don’t know about you but getting kidnapped by an 18 -24 year old Sorority girl and taken to a house where I get to drink while my pledge brothers come find so we can party together doesn’t really sound like hazing. Not to mention that I also have a hard time believing that Sigma Nu would traditionally be content with an initiation ritual that would constantly put their newest members on the verge of alcohol poisoning. If there is any type of incident with the police, whether it is underage drinking, noise complaints, or hospitalization for anything, the school finds out about it. I know for a fact that Tiffany Evans the Director of the Greek System has no hesitations in contacting a fraternity’s Nationals to keep them updated on what their houses are doing. That’s good for the house. As far as the National Fraternity taking a blind eye to what was going on, that is just ignorant. If you have ever even talked to someone on USU’s Greek Row you might know something about most of the houses being on suspension, going dry, being on show cause, etc. If you don’t know what I’m talking about please do some personal research. There is a lot that the fraternity can do from a national level including the elimination of hazing. However, to completely eliminate underage and excessive binge drinking is an entirely different problem and if you think it is easy please consult the Logan Police Department and they will tell you how easy it is. Oh and I’m not talking about in the Greek System, I am talking in general. If you think Greeks are the only ones who underage/binge drink then you are kidding yourself.
I also think that the word “Haze” has been thrown around a lot. I’m not saying that hazing doesn’t occur but I put the definition below so it can be put into perspective.
haze 2 (hāz) Pronunciation Key
tr.v. hazed, haz•ing, haz•es
1. To persecute or harass with meaningless, difficult, or humiliating tasks.
2. To initiate, as into a college fraternity, by exacting humiliating performances from or playing rough practical jokes upon.
I find it ironic that even Webster’s uses the stereotype of a college fraternity in its definition. I don’t know about you but I think that the cards are stacked against the Greek System but that’s standard.
Everyone likes to point fingers in situations like this. If it makes you feel better than whatever, but I would wait until the police statement comes out. The problem is, that when something bad happens in one fraternity house, the whole community is blamed. For people that don’t know about the Greek System there is no difference between Sigma Nu or Pi Kappa Alpha or any of the other houses. Please don’t generalize. Every house is different. Believe it or not, there are actually some houses out there that follow the rules. Sorry for the rant but I just want people to try to think critically about this situation until the facts surface. If it was the fraternity’s fault then get rid of them. I don’t want them giving the Greek System a bad name.
I have one last comment about hazing. I am a member of a fraternity and of the military. According to the definition of hazing I have been getting hazed my entire life. Personally I have never felt that. Do I think it is important to eliminate hazing? Absolutely, but I think that sometimes people are so sensitive that they think everything is hazing. There comes a point in time where maybe running through the mud in the rain with your pledge brothers is a lot of fun (example). In the case of the military, I don’t think jabbing a new rank pin into someone’s chest is necessary but having to do the extra pushups and having to keep your room spotless etc. teaches you discipline and gives you strength to be a good soldier and learn your job. The Greek System is different obviously, and if you are getting hazed you should report it and get out of there. I will add however that if you can’t tell the difference between building a common bond and getting hazed maybe you shouldn’t be there in the first place.
Mike,
I find little to no difference among his death being caused by “hazing” or “excessive celebration of becoming a new member”.
He was 18, in their frat house, and plowed to the point that it killed him.
Grumpy, I apologize if I was unclear. I wasn’t trying to belittle or downplay Michael’s death in any way. I was just trying to state that the fraternity shouldn’t be hung for hazing one of their pledges if the situation was an accident. On another note, maybe he felt like the fraternity house was a safe place to go where he could be taken care of. It is extremely sad and unfortunate that no one found him in time or suspected what was going on until it was too late. No one wanted this to happen. That I can guarantee.
I would also like to add to my last comment that I agree that something should happen so this situation never happens again.
To see which media outlet in SLC is reporting it was related to “initiation” you can copy/paste the link I supplied, sorry it isn’t hyperlinked.
I am VERY aware that “girl frats” is not the proper term and I am a little more educated on fraternities than you might think as I have lived with six frat brothers for more than a year, they belonged to several different fraternities. Many of their brothers come party here and bring over their girlfriends who mostly belong to sororities, so again, I might have a little more education on fraternities than one would think….but I do apologize for abbreviating.
i thought frats and “girl frats” was funny. thought it brought some levity to a very grave situation.
i’m just sayin…
Well “us frat girls” found it to be rude, but I am glad you found a giggle in this horrible situation.
All of the Greeks who are attempting to defend themselves and their system on this and other news sites are doing themselves no favors.
I agree Tom,
The Fraternity should hire a public relations firm, because the more they try to defend the situation, the worse their image gets. I have a feeling that this is going to get really bad for this fraternity… Such a horrible tragedy, which could have been avoided so easily!
ann, i pointed out that it’s a grave situation. it’s all about the context…and i meant no disrespect. your defensive stance raises even more questions than it answers.
your defensive stance raises even more questions than it answers… and what questions are those, jess?