Students Rush to Support of ‘PHIG’ Frat

GENESEO — Not everyone agrees with a recent editorial on the Phi Sigma Xi fraternity and coverage of criminal charges against Victor Lazarte, a SUNY Geneseo student and a member of Phi Sigma Xi who was accused of unlawfully dealing with a child. The GeneseeSun.com received five emails from outraged SUNY Geneseo students.

Three of those who wrote quickly asked not to have their emails shared when they were informed that their concerns would be published.

UPDATE:

After initial publication of this article, one additional email was removed per the students request.

This email was sent by Deneisa Wharton and was published with her consent:

To Conrad Baker and Josh Williams,
 
My name is Deneisa Wharton, and I am currently a junior and an extremely active member of the Alpha Clionian sorority, Phi Kappa Pi, and Greek Life as a whole here at SUNY Geneseo. After reading both of your articles on Genesee Sun (not to mention your previous article about Roric Brown, a close friend of mine who you slandered in your pathetic online paper which expedited his dismissal from both Delta Kappa Tau and SUNY Geneseo) I am absolutely disgusted and appalled by what you chose to present as facts, and that you brought up the death of Alex Davis because you thought it would somehow make your arguments stronger, and your ridiculous accusations seem legitimate.
 Here is an actual fact (maybe you guys should try and learn some of these before you publish anything!): the underage girl in Conrad’s article thought she was drunker than she should have been because she doesn’t really drink much, and even though she went to the hospital, she did not get her stomach pumped, meaning she clearly wasn’t in an “extremely intoxicated state” as you claim. I obtained this information from my close friend in the Phi Sigma Xi fraternity, someone who was ACTUALLY PRESENT at the time, unlike either of you.

 And as for Josh, your article is just completely abhorrent. Really? ‘Deadly Frat Has No Place In Geneseo’? I know you want to capture the attention of readers, but a headline is supposed to be supported by subsequent evidence in the article, which yours is not. Clearly this entire situation at date party (which all Greek organizations and sports team host at least twice a semester, not just Phigs) was not as serious as you’re making it out to be, since the fraternity was not reprimanded until your articles pressured the school into taking unnecessary action. Just because you don’t hear about Phigs doing charity work it doesn’t mean that they don’t, seeing as ALL Greek organizations are required to do at least some charity work each semester, including but not limited to Relay For Life where each member of every organization has to raise a certain amount of money for cancer research.
 Yes, the fraternity was raided for drugs in 2011, but all of the students who were a part of it then are GONE, and their actions should not stipulate punishments for the current members of the fraternity. Just because an individual makes a poor decision it does NOT mean that their entire organization should be held accountable. You even admit in your article that everyone gets drunk somewhere on the weekends, so why are you trying so hard to make Phigs look like a horrible organization just because they’re doing the same thing as their fellow students?
 
The thing that infuriates me the most however, is the fact that you felt the need to bring up the tragic and RECENT death of a fellow student, who happened to be one of my friends since freshman year, just to try and make your article seem more convincing. Do you have no shame? How do you think his family will feel once they see this, if they haven’t already? How do you think Alex’s brothers and lacrosse teammates feel about his death being used in a pathetic hack job of an article compiled of misconstrued facts?  Alex lived at Phigs, he died in his own house, but because it happens to be this fraternity in particular, you try and make it seem like the entire organization is the issue.
I personally know every single member of Phigs, and none of them are the bad people your pathetic excuse for an article is trying to make them out to be. They joined this organization to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and to have a home away from home with people they consider their brothers. The fact that you, someone who didn’t even go to college here, think you have the right to take that away from them is ridiculous, and unjust.

The other ludicrous statement you make is that you think Phigs should be treated as Pigs. I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that a girl getting drunker than usual, which happens multiple times every weekend, warrants the same punishment as an entire organization hazing a student by FORCING him to binge drink until he was unconscious and choked to death on his own vomit. Also, the statesmen exists as a place for people to go ‘dance off the booze’, so you should probably become more informed before you publish anything, especially things that you clearly know nothing about.

Also, just know that Greek Life as a whole is not taking this slander lightly, and we are working together to fix this horrible situation you’ve placed members of our community in, and honestly, the Genesee Sun will be long gone before Phi Sigma Xi closes it’s doors. Do you realize the alumni base they have? The alumni base Greek life itself has? This summer the Inter-Greek Council is celebrating its 100 year anniversary, and my organization has been around for over 140 years, which speaks volumes more than your meager 4 year stint.

As rude as this email may be, maybe you two will realize that you cannot just post whatever you want online, especially when it has the potential to ruin people’s lives. I sincerely hope that you get all of your facts together before you publish anything else.

An email from Jake Griebner was deleted from this post at his request. 

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