Three organizations, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Kappa Phi Lambda, and Lambda Phi Delta were all founded on March 9. The foundings of the first one and the last two are separated by about 140 years.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded on March 9, 1856 at the University of Alabama. Kappa Phi Lambda was founded in 1995 and Lambda Phi Delta in 1997.

I had hoped to write a post before the only internet connection available to me became worse than two paper cups and a piece of string. I had hoped to talk about the beautiful Headquarters of SAE in Evanston, Illinois. It does not seem appropriate today after hearing about the exploits of the SAE chapter at the University of Oklahoma. In the “what in the world were you thinking, guys” file, the men, no make that boys, of the Oklahoma chapter, on the way to a Founders’ Day event, sang a most inappropriate song. As the mother of two sons, and knowing that those men have mothers, too, I want to believe that the boys all knew better. and that no one, but no one on that bus, was thinking. 

In that one moment, the lives of the men in that chapter have changed. The chapter is no longer recognized by the university or the fraternity. The men have had to move out of the chapter house. There is talk the house will be vandalized (because vandalizing places seems to be an acceptable response when someone does something somebody doesn’t agree with!!!!).  What should have been a teachable moment has come to a day of reckoning for all involved.

As a mother, I feel the pain that all those families are going through. Yes, what the men did was wrong. Their lives are forever changed. Certainly, their college careers are changed. Remember please that they are not monsters. They are young men whose lives are forever changed. Please put the tar and feathers away.