Several altercations early Friday morning involving two rival fraternities were provoked by a non-Northwestern student at a fraternity initiation ceremony Thursday night, said the president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the organization that governs the historically black Greek system.
During Thursday’s Alpha Phi Alpha probate, where new members of the fraternity were presented to other NPHC fraternities and sororities, a balled up piece of paper was thrown in the direction of Alpha neophytes — the new members of the fraternity — on the basketball courts outside of Bobb Hall and McCulloch Hall, witnesses said.
NPHC President Jonathan Reynolds said witnesses thought that a member of Kappa Alpha Psi threw the paper — a disrespectful gesture that “Alpha Phi Alpha had a right to question,” he said. But after five NHPC organizations held a meeting with university administrators, they decided that the paper probably was thrown by a student who is a member of another university’s chapter.
After the probate, members of Alpha Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi were involved in four to six disturbances with four to 10 people involved in each altercation, said Asst. Chief Daniel McAleer of University Police.
A resident assistant called University Police to report unauthorized people in the area around 11:06 p.m. Thursday, according to McAleer. UP sent four officers to the basketball courts, where they estimated the crowd to be about 80 to 100 people. After noting that nothing was happening, three of the officers left the scene and left one officer behind to monitor the event.
The altercations broke out around 12:39 a.m. Friday. More UP officers arrived, and the crowd moved out of the basketball courts and into the Sports Pavillion and Aquantic Center parking lot. After the altercation, UP estimated the crowd grew to 150 people.
Evanston Police Department officers were called to assist with crowd control, McAleer said.
UP officers gave verbal warnings and were able to contain the altercations with “minimum or no police intervention,” McAleer said. There were no reported weapons or injuries, and no arrests.
Because the incident probably was started by a student outside of NU, Reynolds said, there will be no repercussions or penalties for either of the fraternities.
Kyle Pendleton, director of fraternity and sorority life, could not be reached for comment Monday.
It is not uncommon for members of fraternities from surrounding chapters to attend events like probates in support of their organizations, said Reynolds, who is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. He also said there have been no other instances where non-NU chapters caused trouble.
There are other Alpha Phi Alpha chapters at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago, Chicago State University and a joint chapter for the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola University Chicago. Kappa Alpha Psi has another a chapter at the University of Chicago.
“I think it was a misunderstanding, and all the police that came escalated the attention drawn to it,” said Weinberg junior Ketica Guter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, who witnessed the event. “There was miscommunication between the frats.”
Reynolds agreed that the police response magnified the situation.
“The nature in which the police responded to the situation sent the perception that it was a much bigger thing,” Reynolds said.
NHPC hopes to initiate a forum with UP to discuss the way in which the police responded to the situation.
“Responses like that take the focus away from the positive things these communities do,” Reynolds said. “They put the focus on the one minor incident that is completely magnified.”
The rivalry between the two fraternities is healthy, Reynolds said. It is comparable to the rivalries between other fraternities on campus, he said.
“Everyone has an affinity to their organization,” Reynolds said.
Reach Marcy Miranda at
The Daily’s Helena Oh contributed to this report.
