Police arrest three students for fight at SAM

The brawl broke out after a party Friday night, but fraternity rivalries seemed not to be the cause. University Police arrested three Penn students for breaking into the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity house and assaulting several SAM brothers early Saturday morning, University Police Sgt. Keith Christian said. Officers detained two freshman lacrosse players, a sophomore Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) brother and a prospective Penn student at 2:50 a.m. Saturday. Four SAM brothers and a visitor to the house were treated for minor injuries sustained during the incident. They were released from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania later that morning. The Judicial Inquiry Office is investigating the incident, but Scott Reikofski, who directs the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, said the fight did not spur from fraternity rivalries. Only the FIJI brother arrested Saturday is a member of the Greek system. SAM had hosted a party at its house at 3817 Walnut Street earlier Friday evening. The incident began when several SAM brothers asked a freshman lacrosse player who had been acting aggressively to leave the party. The freshman punched a SAM brother as he was escorted out of the house, according to SAM President A.B. Fischer, a College senior who was not at the house when the fight occurred. At 2:45 a.m. -- about 45 minutes after the party ended -- the freshman student returned to SAM with a group of six to eight friends who may or may not have been at the party earlier, according to a sophomore SAM brother who answered the door when they arrived. The sophomore, who requested anonymity, said he asked the group to leave, but they came into the house anyway, shoving the SAM brother and punching a house visitor in the process. "They weren't coming for any reason but to fight," the brother said. Fischer substantiated the idea that the freshman and his friends -- not members of SAM -- provoked the incident. A fight ensued between the students and SAM brothers, but the fraternity brothers were outnumbered, Fischer said. From all indications, the fight had nothing to do with the fraternity system. "This was not a fraternity versus fraternity incident," Fischer said. "We've never had a problem with FIJI in the past." And FIJI President and College senior Alex Boisvert said the fight was an "isolated" incident that doesn't stem from bad feelings between the two houses. Fischer has placed his own chapter on "social freeze" -- which means the fraternity will not host any other social events this semester. He added that chapter members have not made a decision about pressing charges against the offending students. "It's a shame students would think about doing something like this -- it's like they haven't left junior high," Fischer said. InterFraternity Council President and College senior Josh Gottheimer said there have never been historical tensions between the FIJI and SAM fraternities. "Unfortunately, these kinds of incidents occur, but they are few and far between," the Alpha Epsilon Pi brother added.