USC Chapter had Resident Scholar
A month after Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity closed its USC chapter, the university corrected a statement made about the chapter by its top student affairs official.
“In the December Daily Gamecock reporting of the Sigma Phi Epsilon story, Dr. Dennis Pruitt (USC’s vice president for student affairs) indicated the University of South Carolina Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter has not implemented a resident scholar program. Dr. Pruitt misspoke, the statement should have been: the University of South Carolina Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter has not implemented a residential learning community,” wrote Associate Vice President for student affairs Jerry Brewer in a Thursday afternoon email to The Daily Gamecock. “The University administration acknowledges the efforts of Mr. Michael Lettre in coordinating the University of South Carolina Sigma Phi Epsilon resident scholar program since its inception and the work of Danny Bounds and Jesse Ford as the resident scholars. The university apologizes for the incorrect statement and appreciates the opportunity to provide this information.”
Angry former chapter members had commented on the inaccurate statement through social media and on Dailygamecock.com, and one wrote a letter to the editor addressing it.
The Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter was shut down by the national fraternity, which cited incidents such as the neglect of the chapter’s Greek Village house and a failure by chapter members to self-govern as reasons for the shutdown.
The Daily Gamecock filed a Freedom of Information Act request with USCPD last month for police records connected with the chapter’s house address that returned inconclusive results.
A separate open records request for incident reports detailing the chapter’s misdeeds was also filed with the university last month; however, USC has not yet provided a response.