Fighting has no place in SigEp

In this risk management case study, we take a look at how fighting and physical assault can affect your chapter, and how you can avoid this from happening. Sigma Phi Epsilon does not condone any form of physical assault or fighting.

John Doe was visiting a campus in North Carolina for a football weekend in the fall of 2009. He was walking with his fraternity brother late on Saturday night and went up to a house where some SigEps lived. As he was leaving, someone threw a beer bottle at the house. A group of guys came running from the house to confront him  because they thought he had thrown the  bottle. The group began beating on John Doe and police were called to the scene.

John Doe was beaten severely and suffered a head injury. Since the one person he could identify from the fight was a SigEp and the group came out of a house leased by SigEp members, he pursued litigation against the chapter, alleging that the chapter was hosting a party and that a group of SigEps assaulted him. Costly litigation resulted for SigEp, and the member named in the suit had to pay his own legal fees and settlement costs.

A total of 175 claims were reviewed for the above graph with $3,582,941.72 paid out in claims.

Fighting has no place within SigEp. 

A ten-year study shows that fights or assault and battery claims are SigEp’s leading cause of claims in both frequency and severity (dollars paid out).  This commands our attention.  If someone gets out of control during or after a party, do not take matters into your own hands. 

Brothers should rely on professional security or call the police to manage these situations. Until this support arrives, chapter officers or members should attempt to calm the situation down and assist anyone who is being attacked, if it doesn’t put them in harm’s way.

Some scenarios involve brothers arguing and fighting with other brothers.  This is a clear violation of SigEp’s oath of obligation.  Brothers engaging in such behavior must be held accountable and disciplined through the chapter’s standards board process.  Do not settle an argument or retaliate against someone by fighting. In addition, when you fight, you subject yourself to criminal and civil liability and put the Fraternity at risk.

The person initiating a fight WILL NOT be covered under the Fraternity’s insurance policy.  He will have to pay for a defense if he is charged criminally or is named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit. This is what happened to the member in the case outlined above.

Don’t fight, and take appropriate actions to stop a fight without getting yourself or your brothers hurt.

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