FRATERNITY AT USC ON SUSPENSION

Numerous Drug Arrests Prompt Action Against Sigma Phi Epsilon, School
Official Says

University of South Carolina officials say a prominent campus fraternity is
under suspension because of numerous drug arrests involving its members.

The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity was suspended several weeks ago after USC
officials contacted the chapter's national office about the arrests.

Since last winter, eight members have been charged with offenses ranging
from possession of marijuana and cocaine to using fake identification, said
USC spokesman Russ McKinney.

Some of the arrests took place on campus, and McKinney said USC police
received information that established a possible pattern of drug activity
involving the fraternity.

"There was enough smoke there that our law enforcement became concerned,"
he said.

Those eight members, plus a few additional Sigma Phi Epsilon members not
charged with crimes, went before USC's student disciplinary board. None was
expelled from USC, but some have since left the university, McKinney said.

Sigma Phi Epsilon, with about 80 active members at USC, is one of the
university's oldest fraternities. It will celebrate its 100th anniversary
on campus next year.

Scott Thompson, spokesman for the Sigma Phi Epsilon headquarters in
Virginia, said the fraternity's national office conducted an investigation
of USC's chapter. The national office lifted its suspension this week.

Thompson said all the members involved in drug arrests were expelled from
the fraternity last semester and no longer have any affiliation with Sigma
Phi Epsilon.

Twenty-eight members were expelled from USC's chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon
last semester alone, according to chapter vice president Chris Halstead.

While some of those expulsions stemmed from members possessing small
amounts of marijuana, others were related to failure to pay dues, Halstead
said.

He didn't know the exact number that had been expelled for drugs.

USC's McKinney says the university hasn't been notified of the results of
the national office's investigation.

And while he said the university is impressed with the fraternity's actions
to expel members, the school will continue its suspension of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

"We'll have to evaluate whether all the concerns that were raised continue
to be a concern," he said. "We would probably say that all the folks
involved (with drugs) have not been expelled from the fraternity."

USC fraternities and sororities under suspension are barred from meeting as
a group, on or off campus, unless they're gathering specifically to discuss
the suspension.

Halstead, who served as the fraternity's president last year, says the
university is on a witch hunt and is unfairly targeting the fraternity
because of its raucous past.

"The university was looking for something that's just not there," he said.
"They were trying to say we we're dealing cocaine in mass quantity, and
that's crazy. They can look at us all they want, we know the allegations
aren't true."

Sigma Phi Epsilon does not own a home in USC's new Greek Village. It moved
out of the university's McBryde residence hall for fraternities last year.

Halstead said they moved out because McBryde was "not very clean" and
members were embarrassed to bring girls and parents to their rooms.

USC rarely suspends Greek organizations, McKinney said, although one was
briefly suspended earlier this year for a suspected hazing incident.

Despite the chatter on campus of drug activity at the fraternity, Sigma Phi
Epsilon recruited a record 41 pledges this fall and took second place in
this year's Homecoming festivities, Halstead said.

"We hope all this goes away, because we'd like to be here for our 100th
anniversary," he said.