The Transcript

A 19-month legal battle among several former and current members of the Ohio Wesleyan chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon came to an end early last month without ever seeing a courtroom.
One former Sig Ep pledge instructor, along with his father, charged five other brothers with libel, emotional distress and abuse of process, saying they “falsely accused” him of sexual assault. They claimed damages greater than $25,000.
According to the complaint filed May 6, 2010, the accused brothers made “numerous false and defamatory statements…in both oral and written form” to the university’s Department of Public Safety, the Judicial Affairs department and a Sexual Assault Hearing Panel.
The pledge instructor charged his former brothers knew their statements were false and that they did not have any information to support them.
He also argued their actions were “atrocious, extreme, outrageous, intolerable in civilized society and constitute heinous conduct,” and that they “perverted (the university) proceeding.”
The accused brothers moved for immediate dismissal of the case in their favor and argued their statements were true, constituted opinion and could not legally be held libelous because they occurred in the setting of a closed hearing.
They also asserted the emotional distress charge was moot because their actions were not extreme, and any of their adverse affects were unintentional. Additionally, they said, the plaintiff presented no evidence of “psychic injury.”
They also denied the merit of the pledge instructor’s charge that they misused the proceedings because the university handled the sexual assault claims privately and never initiated any legal processes.

“COERCE, PRESSURE, AND INTIMIDATE”
The impetus for the lawsuit was a university investigation conducted after one of the brothers, along with the Sig Ep housefather, made a formal sexual assault complaint to PS in early 2010. The brother reported the plaintiff had “aggressively touched” his penis and asked him inappropriate questions about his personal life and sexual interests.
Three other Sig Ep brothers came forward with similar allegations after they heard about the initial charges.
One reported an incident in which the plaintiff tested him on the Greek alphabet and told him to remove an article of clothing with each mistake he made. After several errors, the brother “had removed all his clothing except his boxers,” according to his counterclaim. The pledge instructor “told (him) that he had to get completely naked,” but he refused.
The brother said the pledge instructor “continued to coerce, pressure, and intimidate (him) by telling him that he was the ‘new member educator’ and that (he) was a pledge, not just that, but that (he) was also the ‘pledge class president’ and that he needed to know everything better than the rest.’”
The pledge instructor told the brother to try reciting the Greek alphabet again, and that there would be “more ‘consequences’ each time (he) made additional mistakes….”
The brother was unable to accurately pass the test, so the plaintiff demanded that he “make himself ‘hard.’” He complied after much pressure, “but did it aimlessly to avoid becoming aroused.”
Following this, the pledge instructor displayed his knowledge of the Greek alphabet by holding a lit match and reciting it in its entirety before the match burned his hand. He similarly challenged the brother, holding another match under his testicles; he was unable to sufficiently recite the alphabet before the match slightly burned him.
In addition to these episodes, two other members of the fraternity joined the initial accuser in reporting incidents where the pledge instructor forced them to strip to their boxers during an initiation ritual. One was told to remove all his clothing and “spin in a circle while singing the song ‘I’m a little tea pot.’”

THE UNIVERSITY INVESTIGATES
Judicial Affairs Coordinator Michael Esler investigated the incidents after they were reported to PS. The university moved the pledge instructor from the Sig Ep house into a residence hall during the investigation.
Cole Hatcher, director of media and community relations, said the investigation was conducted “in accordance with the disciplinary guidelines outlined in our Student Handbook,” and all parties were advised of their legal options.
While a report was filed with PS, several records requests to the Delaware Police Department indicated no report was ever filed there.
Esler said he was unable to reveal other details of the investigation because they are protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
The case was brought before a Sexual Assault Hearing Panel in conformity with the university’s sexual assault policy. The panel absolved the pledge instructor on all counts.
“(S)ince there were no witnesses or hard evidence, the preponderance of evidence began with a 50/50 percent margin of error,” the panel wrote in its collective report.
Esler said he has not encountered many cases like this in his time at the helm of Judicial Affairs.
“In 14 years of doing this job, I’ve probably dealt with 20-25 cases of sexual assault,” he said.
Hatcher agreed the incident was anomalous, and encouraged students to “immediately report any incident in which they feel threatened.”
“This type of incident is unusual at Ohio Wesleyan and goes against everything the university seeks to represent,” he said. “We work hard to foster an atmosphere of mutual respect and safety. We always have been and remain a community that values personal integrity.”
Matt Hunter, a freshman who deferred bids from Chi Phi and Alpha Sigma Phi, said he feels the pledge instructor was wrong in his actions.
“I understand hazing to an extent and what its purpose is, but there has to be some sort of a line,” he said. “I don’t know exactly where that is, but something like holding a match under your testicles goes beyond that line.”
Despite this, Hunter said such incidents haven’t affected his perception of Greek life in general.
“Hazing hasn’t really influenced my decision on whether I’m going to (pledge) or not, as much as the benefits of Greek life,” he said.

A SUIT WITHIN A SUIT
Charges against two of the brothers were eventually dropped, but two others—including the one subjected to the Greek alphabet test—and their attorney, James Connors, also brought a third-party lawsuit against the national entity of Sig Ep.
They charged the fraternity with two counts of civil liability for hazing and one count each of emotional distress resulting from negligence; defamation; assault and battery; misuse of legal proceedings; and civil conspiracy.
They also claimed Sig Ep owed them financial compensation for the incidents.
The national fraternity denied all the charges and moved for immediate dismissal of the third-party suit in its favor. It argued what happened to the affected brothers did not constitute hazing under Ohio law because it was not directly related to their initiation into the organization.
Additionally, the fraternity noted the only portion of its initiation rituals that calls for removal of clothing requires the pledging brothers to take off only their shirts.
Because the fraternity felt the incidents in question were not hazing, but assault and battery, it also argued the lawsuit was inappropriate because it was out of Ohio’s one-year statute of limitations on assault charges.
Delaware attorney Michael Heimlich, counsel for the national fraternity, added that complaints were only made to the university, never to his client.
Connors could not be reached for comment.

SETTLEMENT
All parties to the case—Christopher Burchinal, counsel for the plaintiffs; the brothers that countersued them and Sig Ep; and Heimlich, representing the national fraternity—settled out of court on Sept. 3, 2011.
According to the settlement’s terms, the plaintiffs were to pay $10,000 to the two remaining defendants in three installments, and also provide a doctor’s note certifying the younger one was “in treatment.”
Additionally, the national fraternity promised payment of $12,000 immediately upon dismissal of the case.
Heimlich said the settlement was only made to keep the affair out of court and legal costs at a minimum.
“The settlement was not an admission of liability,” he said. “It was made simply for economic reasons relating to the costs of litigation, and it shouldn’t be construed as an admission of liability.”
Burchinal could not be reached for comment.
Even after the settlement, it took nearly five months for the case to be officially dismissed.
Neither obligated party contacted the brothers who owed money until Nov. 15, 2011, after Connors approached Burchinal and Heimlich via email requesting documents for dismissal and the money his clients were owed. This prompted the brothers to bring legal action against both their debtors because of their failure to follow through.
Heimlich said he and his clients were not compelled to make any payments until the case was officially dismissed.
“If you look closely at the pleadings, our trigger to provide anything was based on dismissal,” he said.
According to Heimlich, an “accidental overpayment” from the Sig Ep trust fund—the source of the settlement money—was a major cause of the delay.
Heimlich and Sig Ep eventually drafted the documents for dismissal, and the case was dismissed on Feb. 1.

Students and faculty honored Margaret Fete and her dedication to students and French during a memorial service held last Tuesday.
Fete died on Dec. 24, 2011 after a courageous battle with cancer. She was a professor of modern foreign language at Ohio Wesleyan, and began her teaching career there in 1970.
Fete received degrees from Middlebury College and Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She taught introductory French and Spanish, as well as upper level French language, civilization and literature courses.
Junior Anna Cooper, said the service was fitting.
“Prof. Fete has personally been the most influential professor I’ve had at OWU, I was able to work with her for my first five semesters,” Cooper said. “She cared so much about her students and taught me how to be an informed student and helped me to develop a well-rounded, global perspective.”
Fete shared with students her extensive travel experiences in Europe.
The National Endowment for the Humanities granted her summer awards to pursue research on narrative fiction and film, l’ecriture feminine, criticism, theories of writing, language, and culture. She was published in the French Review and Notre Librairie.
Cooper said, “She wanted me to make the study my own, would ask me and help me develop it in the direction I wanted.
“She emphasized how important it is to understand the cultural context of your work and the background and life of the authors.”
The Modern Foreign Language department has suffered two deaths this acedemic year.
Susanna Bellocq, professor of French, died on Nov. 27, 2011.
Senior Laura Miske, MFL student board president, said these losses were hard on the department as a whole.
“As Dr. Rojas mentioned in his remembrance, we are now in a state of rebuilding rather than expansion,” Miske said. “Their passing has left a huge hole in the heart of the department that cannot just be quickly filled up again.”
“We are working to restructure the department in the time of this tragedy while keeping the integrity of the French department that Drs. Fete and Bellocq had so well established.”
Lee Fratantuono, associate professor of classics and William Whitlock professor of Latin, said the service was done respectfully and it was a proper goodbye to a professor who had taught at OWU for so long.
“Chaplain Powers and Sarah Dubois organized a wonderful service and the remarks by President Jones and Dean Stinemetz, a former student of Margaret’s, were especially welcome,” Fratantuono said.
“She also stressed the importance of asking questions to establish meaningful dialogue and making connections. The fact that she was on medical leave last semester but offered to take the time to work with me in an independent study shows how much she values her students.”

“Show me the money,” was the resounding call that filled the Benes rooms on the evening of Feb 20.
The words, which came from Dr. Dan Vogt, professor of chemistry, were directed at low faculty salaries and changes to Ohio Wesleyan’s curriculum, which would make travel-learning courses, course connections and the first-year pilot course part of the university’s catalogue.
The Academic Policy Committee’s (APC) OWU Connections Curricular Plan was discussed, voted upon, and passed with some alterations at the Feb. 20 faculty meeting.
The decision determined whether these courses would be offered in the future. Dr. Danielle Hamill, zoology department chair and chairperson of the Academic Policy Committee, said, “The OWU Connections curriculum is designed to include opportunities for students to make connections at various levels, including connections to the university, connections across disciplines, connections beyond the classroom, global connections and more.
“The Committee believes each curricular component has academic merit, as well as being of interest to students and faculty. “
Hamill explained changes in the curriculum must be approved by the APC, which is a committee consisting of nine faculty elected by their peers, three students appointed by WCSA, and three administrators (typically the provost, dean of academic affairs, and registrar).
The types of curricular changes the committee approves include new courses and majors, as well as more over-arching changes such as introduction of the Q requirement, or, in this case, adoption of a new curricular plan.

To those who know about OWU’s commitment to service and international relations, the idea of approving these courses into the curriculum seems moot. However, these courses require extra work from faculty members who choose to lead them, and they do not get compensated financially.
“If you’re going to implement this plan, we (the faculty) can’t do more work,” said Professor of Chemistry Kim Lance, a member of the APC. “So somehow you need to compensate us for doing this extra work.”
“That compensation could come in a variety of ways. It could come in course releases, in professional development funds to apply to your research, or it could come in just paying you a stipend – x amount of dollars to do it.”
These concerns led the APC to recommend “that a first step towards addressing full-time faculty workload will be adopted including the option of two ‘2+’ semesters in a six-year period and credit for faculty-directed individualized student study that may be taken as a course release, professional development funds, or stipend.”
A course release, Lance explained, is a permission given to a faculty member to drop one or two of the courses out of the six they are contracted to do on a yearly basis, in order to do other activities such as the administrative work done by department chairs.
According to the American Association of University Professors Faculty Salary Survey conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education, as of 2011, full time professors at OWU are, on average, paid $80,000 a year, while associate professors are paid $58,200 and assistant professors $52,000.
President Rock Jones, who attended the faculty meeting, acknowledges the inadequacy of faculty salaries. “I am deeply committed to enhancing faculty salaries. For too long, faculty salaries have hovered at or near the bottom of faculty salaries among the Great Lakes College Association institutions.”
“The Board adopted a resolution to bring faculty salaries to the median of the GLCA, and we continue to work to fulfill that resolution as quickly as possible. Two years ago, faculty received an average increase of seven percent in salary, something found almost nowhere else in the country in this difficult economy,” he said.
Given the extra work involved with taking on the additional course-load involved with the OWU Connections curricular program, some faculty members are discontented with these figures. Some are discontented with their salaries overall.
Additionally, in order to maintain and fully implement the new curricular plan, APC felt OWU would have to hire at least seven new faculty members – another expense for the university.
Some faculty at the meeting felt that paying faculty for extra work on a case-by-case basis goes against the mission of the university, and that it will lead to neglect of students. This is the argument that led to the motion to strike the clause from the plan.
Joe Musser, professor of English, spearheaded this argument, but was unavailable for comment.
“Ohio Wesleyan is like just about every institute of higher education in the United States in that they really run on the good will of the employees…There are so many people here who do things that are beyond their contract but they do it because they are part of the community,” Lance said.
He said that there is nothing in his contract to write letters of recommendation for students – he does not get paid for it – but he does it because he wants his students to succeed. He added the reasoning behind those in opposition of the clause was that if the university started to pay faculty for extra work, there might be the demand for being paid for things like letters of recommendation and independent studies.
Lance said this could be a dangerous road to go down, because underpaid faculty will have to choose things to do for students based on whether they get financial compensation.
According to Lance, though the Board of Trustees passed a faculty salary enhancement package, last year faculty salaries only increased a dollar each – due to a drop in enrollment. It was reported during the meeting that the University’s deficit is at $330,000, and OWU’s expenses are 17% larger than its $6 million budget.
Lance, who has taught at OWU for 23 years, said he thinks a major part of OWU’s deficit and dropping enrollment numbers is a lack of focus on student housing in favor for more focus on specific programs.
Kyle Smith, associate professor of Psychology and member of the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid (CAFA), presented findings from a consultant hired by the university to assess prospective student perception of OWU.
He said the committee found that matriculating students believe OWU is strong in theory-to-practice, community service and global learning opportunities. Students who chose not to come here see OWU as being weak in those areas. He added that committee members were surprised that OWU dorms weren’t rated far below others; regardless, affordability, location, campus life, academic programs, etc., had more of an effect on final decisions.
He also said that financial aid was one of the biggest factors in matriculation.
At the beginning of the meeting, President Jones said that OWU had seen a higher freshman retention rate than last year – at 95%. However, this is lower than previous years. Additionally, after a recent prospective student day, the Admissions department was pleased with the amount of visitors.
Lance added that after visiting Otterbein University recently, he learned they are placing a larger emphasis on their residential life by working on a plan that ensures seniors have their own apartments. He said that this was why Otterbein is drawing more prospective students to their campus than OWU.
“There was a time where students were choosing Ohio Wesleyan because our suites had individual bathrooms as opposed to two per hall,” Lance said. “Students care about where they are going to live. We keep ignoring that.”
Whatever the reason may be for dropping enrollment numbers, it is adversely affecting the faculty that OWU considers absolutely instrumental in the university’s success.
In Rock Jones’ inaugural address as president of OWU, delivered Oct. 10, 2008, he said, “We stand on the shoulders of our faculty. The reputation of this institution was developed first as a result of the teaching and scholarship of a stellar faculty.”
“This well-deserved recognition continues to this day. The teacher-scholars of this faculty are this institution’s greatest asset, and they are our students’ greatest resource. We must work to increase the size of our faculty, building on our core strengths and diversifying the range of expertise represented here.”
In other business, Kaaren Courtney, professor emeritus of modern foreign language, presented a memorial resolution for the late Susanna Bellocq and asked that it be accepted as a permanent part of the minutes of the meeting, and that a copy be sent to the Bellocq family. A moment of silence and reflection followed the presentation.

While most Ohio Wesleyan students will spend the week of spring break working or relaxing, seven small groups of students will dedicate their time to mission, service and leadership.
Each of the seven spring break mission groups have unique goals, whether it is working for justice, engaging with other cultures or helping restore small communities.
The Chicago Group, however, has goals that are both abstract and intangible: students will be spending the week in the inner city of Chicago where they will focus on the Muslim community in America and interfaith dialogue in the midst of complex tensions.
Senior Mary Slebodnick, who is serving as the team’s reflection leader, said she is very passionate about interfaith work.
She is hopeful the trip will enrich her commitment to understand religions beyond her own.
Slebodnick said her team will be working with three pivotal organizations in the inner city of Chicago, including CAIR, the Council of American Islamic Relations, whose goal is to promote cooperation between all different faiths.
Slebodnick said her mission team is very different from the others.
Slebodnick said because her trip is dealing with complex interfaith issues, their goals are hard to verbalize.
“We have one of the more complicated trips because we are totally education based,” she said.
“A lot of the other trips, which are service based, such as the team aiding in Hurricane Katrina recovery or the team working in El Salvador at orphanages.”
Slebodnick attended a speech at Capital University in Columbus last fall by Eboo Patel, the founder of Inner Faith Youth Core, another group the mission team will be working with next week.
She said Patel said something that has stuck with her: “It would be nice if everyone said something they found beautiful about different religions,” he said.
Slebodnick said she grew up in a church where Christianity is the absolute truth.
“There was always that hang-up in the background,” she said.
“You feel like you are supposed to convert others to Christianity.”
She said she struggled when her younger sister, at age 15, told Slebodnick she was an atheist.
“She was dead serious, and she was not changing her mind. It was very painful for me having to think of her going to hell or anything like that.”
Slebodnick said it is the “put your money where your mouth is moments” that make the idea of interfaith more real.
She said throughout her life she has had several situations like these, where interfaith has enriched her life and her understanding of her own background.
Slebodnick’s desire to aid in interfaith mission work was reinforced when she visited the Lakota tribe in South Dakota.
“During this trip I learned how Christianity wiped out the Lakota culture,” she said.
Slebodnick said that people think the Lakotas are fine now, but the fear still lingers there.
“A lot of Lakotas still think that if they practice tenants of their original culture that it is satanic,” Slebodnick said.
“And that was really sad for me to see because their religion is so rich.”
Slebodnick said her interest in interfaith has helped her to realize the commonalities between all different religions.
“When they talked about their creator I felt like they were talking about my God,” she said.
Her personal experience understanding her sister’s desire to be atheist and spending time with the Lakota tribe that aims to suppress the Lakota tribe’s religious beliefs, motivated her to be a reflection leader on the trip.
Junior Tori Schlaudt is also a part of the Chicago Mission Team.
She said she thinks interfaith relations are incredibly important globally and locally because the world today is becoming more and more diverse.
“Many people are ignorant about the Muslim faith (myself included before this trip) and some even think that all Muslims are terrorists due to 9/11,” Schlaudt said.
“In order to have genuine, loving relationships, it is important to understand interfaith dialogue,” Slebodnick said.