Chapman Sammys on the offensive

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Posted by Derek Olson in Gimme That OC Religion

October 3, 2007 12:18 PM

Permalink | Comments (4)

As the Weekly reported a few months ago (see "Scarlet Letters," May 10), a group of students at Chapman University hoping to establish a chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu, a national Jewish fraternity, have become a major pain for the college's administration because of their unwillingness to shut up. Today a group that stands up for people who are told to shut up, the American Civil Liberties Union, announced it's put up time.

At a press conference at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California office in Orange, branch director Hector Villagra said Chapman must "immediately rescind" what it deems freedom of speech restrictions placed on the group.

When Chapman decided not to recognize the frat in 2006, the group, headed by senior Pascal DeMaria, was also forced them to remove its Facebook.com page, banned from wearing T-shirts on campus, and disallowed from recruiting, attending events with other Greek groups and advertising.

Villagra chalks these restrictions up to First Amendment violations and, at the conference, said legal action is being considered if the college does not reverse its position. Villagra did not set a deadline for Chapman.

Both Chapman's Dean of Students Joe Kertes and Greek life adviser Chris Hutchinson have previously declined to speak about Sigma Alpha Mu.

Comments (4)

Bob Squalonero says:
October 3, 2007 13:43

First, there's the hiring, almost firing & re-hiring of Erwin Chemerinsky (a Jew), as UCI's first Dean for their law school.

Now, there's this issue with Sigman Alpha Mu (a Jewish fraternity) at Chapman Univeristy.

Gee, do ya tinks dat de OC is anti-Semitic?

Publius says:
October 3, 2007 22:37

Perhaps Sigma Alpha Mu national can contact their OC alumni and have them meet on campus in support of the Chapman colony?

a former panther says:
October 4, 2007 08:32

um... Chapman has the one of the best Holocaust remembrance centers and is active in preserving the memories of those survivors...does that seem anti-Semitic to you? Even DeMaria said that this wasn't an anti-Semitic issue -- and it's not! It's more that an organization is bummed out because they didn't get selected by their peers and the campus won't recognize them as an organization.

Alumnus says:
October 4, 2007 09:56

Former panther please read the documents on the ACLU Southern California site. This issue is not related to 1) anti -semitism; or 2) the fact that the fraternity was not selected as a recognized fraternity. It's about free speech...period. Recognized or not, Chapman has violated the Constitution by refusing to allow this group to assemble on campus. This is a fact that is in writing - it's not a "he said she said" issue. Chapman has always had an arrogance - probably because while the institution would like to consider itself an ivy league school on the west, it's more like Bob Jones University on Glassell. Good for these students for sticking up for their rights and sticking it up Chapman's rear end.

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