The fire alarm that broke up the Zeta Beta Tau party last Saturday night may have been pulled intentionally, officials from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority affairs say.
OFSA Director Scott Reikofski said he has heard "two or three" possible causes for the alarm going off but is awaiting a final report from the fire department before issuing a formal statement.
Reikofski would not elaborate on those causes.
This statement contradicts earlier ones from the InterFraternity Council, that said fire officials had confirmed that a smoke machine triggered the alarm.
Fraternity members in ZBT have accused members from OZ, an underground fraternity, of pulling the alarm and of causing chaos at their party by trying to steal a composite picture of the fraternity's members.
ZBT has not yet taken any action against those suspected of disrupting the Halloween party.
"We haven't made any decisions yet," said ZBT president and College junior Sam Farber.
Farber added that it was a "possibility" that the alarm was intentionally set off.
ZBT is still investigating the event by talking to partygoers to try and determine what happened, Farber said.
Larry Moses, an OFSA program coordinator, said in a voicemail message that a final report has yet to be issued about the event.
"It didn't appear to be a pull station" that set off the alarm, "at least up to what they discovered that night," Moses said.
He added that the alarm could have been triggered by a combination of a fog machine and the heat caused by party attendees, but that he did not know for certain.
Because OZ is an underground fraternity, the organization cannot be punished by OFSA.
Reikofski said any action against OZ would have to be initiated by ZBT. From there, the Office of Student Conduct would make an official investigation.
Reikofski pointed out that, because OZ does not "officially exist," any action taken involving the group would have to be against the individual members involved.
InterFraternity Council president and Wharton senior Austin Pena said that the IFC will discuss the issue at its next meeting, and that he has not yet talked to ZBT members about the event.
