Rivalry ignites fight between fraternities

A fight between the campus chapters of two fraternities - Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Phi Delta Theta - transpired early Saturday morning, leaving both groups looking for a way to end a long-standing rivalry.

According to the Ann Arbor Police Department, four lanes of Washtenaw Avenue on the corner of South University Avenue were blocked by between 100 and 150 people fighting in the street at about 1 a.m. Saturday.

No one was fined, but one person from one of the fraternities was arrested for interfering while the police attempted to dissolve the brawl, AAPD officials said. A wheelbarrow was thrown into the window of the Phi Delt house Saturday night and is believed to be an act of retaliation by SAE members, AAPD officials said.

"There have been other incidents from both fraternities that are now under police investigation," said Phi Delt President Michael Novick, an LSA sophomore.

Members from the two fraternities have differing accounts of what prompted the fight and who was involved.

Jamie Whetzel, food manager of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said SAE had just started its traditional party for the new pledges when he and two of the pledges heard yelling from the Phi Delt house.

"It was about 20 or 30 Phi Delta Theta's yelling at us from across the street," said Whetzel, an LSA junior. "They were basically trying to egg us on to fight."

Whetzel added that when the fight started, it involved only him, the two pledges and 20 Phi Delt members.

But Adam Feldheim, social chair for Phi Delt, said: "We were definitely not the aggressors."

Feldheim said 15 members from both fraternities were screaming at each other across the street, but once the SAE members walked across the street, the Phi Delt's felt they had to protect their property.

"We are not going to sit there and let someone vandalize our property," Feldheim said.

Novick said he was in his room during the event and does not know what started the "scuffle."

Members of both fraternities said the majority of the people on the street were not fighting, but were spectators

"I was the one getting punched and was not doing the punching," Whetzel said.

Sean Etheridge, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said members from his house ran outside because they heard it was "three on 20."

"I ran outside and started grabbing members of my house to break up the fight," Etheridge said. "I noticed people from Phi Delta doing the same."

SAE and Phi Delt have been on the University's campus for more than 100 years, fraternity members said. Phi Delt currently has more than 100 members and SAE has 80 members.

Twenty-three new pledges from SAE were about to take their traditional walk into the house when the fight began, Whetzel said.

"This incident does not give new pledges a very good impression of the house," Etheridge said.

Both fraternities acknowledge the tensions between them and attribute most of it to their participation in Mud Bowl. For 65 years, SAE and Phi Delt have played against each other in this annual football game during homecoming weekend.

Novick said the rivalry between his fraternity and SAE began before he came to the University.

But Whetzel said he thinks Phi Delt members are angry because they have lost the Mud Bowl for the past four years.

"It is becoming so bitter that we are looking to play another frat in the Mud Bowl," Whetzel said.

The break in tradition is not an appealing idea to Feldheim.

"I think we should avoid each other outside of Mud Bowl, but I think the tradition should continue," he said.

Whetzel added that he thinks the tensions between the two fraternities have decreased during the last year. But because Mud Bowl is approaching, things have heated up in the past couple weeks.

The fight is allegedly the second incident involving the two rivals. Whetzel said a Phi Delt member called an SAE member a racial slur.

Feldheim disagreed: "Any tension we have against SAE is not racial, but Mud Bowl related."

The fight between the two fraternities is just one of a few such incidents that have occurred during the past couple of years.

Interfraternity Council President Bradley Holcman said the fight "does not set forth a good example for the Greek community."

Holcman said the fight between the fraternities was the worst he has seen during his presidency, which began last year.

Both fraternity presidents and Holcman plan to meet and discuss the issues involving the rivalry.

"I hope to be a third party and mediate between the two parties," he said. "It's been a long-standing rivalry and a meeting is long overdue."

Holcman added that because this is not the first incident between SAE and Phi Delt, the national organizations may get involved in reviewing this incident and past ones.

SAE held a meeting yesterday to discuss internally how the fraternity can prevent incidents, such as Saturday's, from happening again.

Feldheim said the next time a fight is brewing between the two, Phi Delt will try to "keep the peace and solve things in a non-violent manner."

Etheridge also said the next time a fight is about to occur, he wants members of SAE to not get involved and "walk back into the house."

Novick said his fraternity will do "whatever it takes" to ease tensions with SAE.

10-12-98