Sigma Chi Omega members are under UB judicial review after allegedly throwing away hundreds of Spectrum copies which reported on the fraternity.
Two reporters found roughly 400 copies of the newspaper in Student Union garbage cans on Thursday. Reporters contacted University Police, which reviewed camera footage of people throwing out papers and contacted Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Pamela Stephens-Jackson. Stephens-Jackson identified a student who threw out the papers through photos from the fraternity’s banquet. The issue was The Spectrum’s last of the 2018-19 academic year and cost $850 to print.
Members disposed the copies just hours after The Spectrum reported that the fraternity held a banquet despite UB’s ban on Greek life events. Sigma Chi Omega members held the event at the 31 Club on April 27 and posted about the event on social media. The 31 Club didn’t have an event planned for the frat that day, but was holding a “UB architecture formal,” according to restaurant management.
A student, who is a Sigma Chi Omega member, signed the contract for the formal, according to 31 Club office staff. The ban came following the death of freshman Sebastian Serafin-Bazan, possibly due to hazing including Sigma Pi on April 17.
UPD Deputy Chief Joshua Sticht wrote, in a statement, that the information involving the paper disposals has been referred to the UB Office of Student Conduct and Advocacy for “further action.”
Sticht did not provide screenshots of disposals or names of students, citing the information’s further adjudication at UB and FERPA law.
The disposals mark the second reported time in two years that UB community members removed the Commencement Issue from newstands. Last year, a UB Facilities employee threw out stacks of papers in the same locations that students threw out papers this year. Sticht told The Spectrum last year that the surveillance reports looked like two people carrying out the same act as a potential order or miscommunication.
The Commencement Issue is set to remain on stands until The Spectrum’s next issue, the Orientation Issue, on July 1.
Benjamin Blanchet is the editorial editor and can be reached at benjamin.blanchet@ubspectrum.com and on Twitter at @BenjaminUBSpec.
Benjamin Blanchet is the senior engagement editor for The Spectrum. His words have been seen in The Buffalo News (Gusto) and The Sun newspapers of Western New York. Loves cryptoquip and double-doubles.