Thursday, November 1, 2001

Student reports racial remarks to Campus Life
By Aaron Chimbel
Staff Reporter

Although some university officials have painted a flattering picture of the “win-win” partnership of freshmen men living in Greek residence halls, one freshman student says his experience has been far from ideal.

Freshman Anthony Tharpe, a history and advertising/public relations major, said racial language directed toward him was yelled outside his Martin-Moore Hall room on two separate occasions about one month ago. He also said his room door was repeatedly kicked and the lock was broken.

One of 11 non-member freshmen living in the Delta Tau Delta fraternity wing, Tharpe is the only black freshman in the hall. He is pledging Pi Kappa Phi fraternity this semester.

“They said ‘Hey, there is the black Pi Kapp,’ ” Tharpe said. The phrase was yelled outside his residence hall room around 4:30 a.m. as at least six or seven Delt members allegedly banged and kicked his door, he said.

“The first couple of months (of the semester) were hell,” he said. “I am 100 percent totally sure it is the Delts who said those things.” But he said he has no proof that Delt members are responsible.

Tharpe said he reported the incidents to Campus Life shortly after they happened. He said he met with Student Affairs Director of Special Projects Rick Barnes, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Tom Sullivan and Martin-Moore Fraternity Program Coordinator Grant Wietzel.

Sullivan said he could not determine what constituted racial language.

Barnes said there is no proof of who allegedly harassed Tharpe.

“We are very willing to help, but it is hard to target anyone without more facts,” Barnes said.

Tharpe’s roommate, freshman pre-major Tim Bowington, said their door was banged almost every night during first two to three weeks of the semester.

“One night when (Tharpe) was gone they banged on the door as usual,” he said.

“They said ‘we don’t want to mess with the black Pi Kapp,’ ” and they emphasized black, Bowington said.

Bowington said during one of the disturbances he opened the door and recognized one of the men as a Delt member.

Barnes said the only people who have access to the Delt section of Martin-Moore are those who live in that section.

Delt President Bob Felice said that after he was informed of Tharpe’s complaint, he told the entire chapter to stay away from the non-members in the house. Fifteen of the 90 chapter members live in the house, Felice said.

Felice said he was almost certain none of the Delt members were responsible for the disturbances.

Tharpe said there have been no disturbance problems since his meeting with Campus Life.

Freshman advertising/public relations major Chris Haley lives down the hall from Tharpe and Bowington and said, “the first couple weeks (of the semester) the Delts would pound on our doors every night.”

Haley said he knows everyone on his floor and that none of the freshman residents would be inclined to bang on the doors and yell.

Twenty-two freshmen were placed with the fraternities at the beginning of the semester, with two freshmen reassigned to other halls as space became available, said Coordinator of Housing Assignments Karin Lewis. In addition to the 11 men currently living in the Delt house, four freshmen are living in the Phi Delta Theta house and five freshman are living in the Kappa Sigma house, Lewis said.

Director of Residential Services Roger Fisher said Greek housing is supervised by Campus Life, not Residential Services.

The Greek organizations are not required to allow non-members to live in their hall, Barnes said. The university asked fraternities that had space available to house freshmen because of a lack of room for the men, he said.

Barnes said the arrangement is a “win-win” situation for the fraternities and university because the fraternity does not have to pay for the rooms and the university can house the men on campus.

If a fraternity does not fill its rooms, then it has to pay the almost $1,900 per person, per semester, Barnes said.

Felice said the fraternity was in financial need and could not afford to pay for the rooms. He said his fraternity would probably not choose to have non-members live in the house in the future.

“It’s our house,” he said.

No freshmen living in the Delt house joined the fraternity, Felice said.

No other problems associated with freshmen living in the Greek halls have been reported, Barnes said.

Aaron Chimbel
a.a.chimbel@student.tcu.edu