Man seen tied to gate in front of SAE house

A naked individual was seen Sunday night tied to a gate in front of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house with a rope around his neck, said five female College freshmen, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We were walking by the SAE house and there was a naked guy roped to the fence and he had ketchup or chocolate sauce on himself and all the brothers were kind of standing around," one of the women said. The women also said that there were many brothers outside of the Spruce Street house who were singing, chanting and laughing. "SAE was chanting something about themselves [and] there were curses in the chant," said another woman. "They were playing loud opera or classical music -- blasting it. They were all standing along their lawn chanting." The women, who all gave similar renditions of the incident, said that when they saw the naked man, they also noticed that he was covered in "some kind of liquid." The women speculated that it was either ketchup, chocolate syrup, grease or paint. One woman suggested that the paint appeared to be the colors of the Buffalo Bills, who played in the Super Bowl Sunday evening. SAE President Will McAlexander, an Engineering junior, said that "an incident occurred, no pledge was involved, [and] no pledge was at the house." "It was Super Bowl Sunday and to my knowledge there were only two pledges in the house," he said. "It had nothing to do with pledging whatsoever." Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson and SAE brother Jeff Lichtman also said that the incident did occur, but it involved a brother and not a pledge. Interfraternity Council President Morris Massel also confirmed that the incident did not involve a pledge. "I have heard of the incident and I do know for a fact that it was not a pledge," Massel said. "It was not a hazing incident at all. That's been confirmed and checked out. If it was a hazing incident, actions would obviously be taken." Massel did not comment on other possible explanations for the incident. One of the women added that while the women were standing around talking in front of the house, the brothers acknowledged their presence by shouting at them. "One of the brothers yelled to [my friend] and me saying 'You picked a hell of a place to have a conversation,' " said one of the women. One of the women said that the tied-up individual appeared to be very embarrassed by the incident. "He was embarrassed because there were a bunch of girls walking by . . . there wasn't anything he could do about it then," she said. Both Associate Vice Provost Larry Moneta and Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Tricia Phaup said that they had not heard of the incident and that there was no investigation underway. "This is the first I've heard about it but if it's true and we have any evidence it will be treated seriously," Moneta said last night. "If the only people [the women] tell is the DP, it makes it very difficult to act on it.

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