In 1995, Muhlenberg ZBT House Banned from Campus for Four (4) Years on Allegations of Marijuana Sales and Use

[Louis Posner]

Well, here is the history of why the ZBT House was Banned from Campus
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Muhlenberg Bans Fraternity For Drug Use Nine Students Face Disciplinary Action
July 20, 1995|by SUSAN SNYDER, The Morning Call

Muhlenberg College banned a fraternity and revoked its charter last month after a campus investigation revealed drug use and sales by house members, a college official said yesterday.

Nine students -- all of whom but one are members of the Alpha Nu chapter of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity -- face possible disciplinary action by the college, said Rudy Ehrenberg, dean of students.

College officials began to suspect that some fraternity members were using marijuana and selling it after they responded to a fight at the house at 2308 Chew St. on May 17, just after final exams, Ehrenberg said. They began an investigation which showed that the house members had been fighting over drugs, he said.

School officials do not believe the drug activity had been going on for a long period.

"We're of the opinion that it's a relatively recent development," Ehrenberg said.

When the investigation was complete in mid-June, the college notified the national office of Zeta Beta Tau based in Indianapolis. The office sent representatives to Muhlenberg to review the findings, and they along with college officials decided about a month ago to revoke the fraternity's charter, Ehrenberg said.

Thirty-two fraternity members lived in the house, said Lina Striglia, college spokesman.

The fraternity house will not be permitted to reopen on campus for at least four years or participate in campus activities and recruiting. Fraternity members who are returning to school in the fall will be housed elsewhere, Ehrenberg said.

"There's a lot of good stuff that goes on," Ehrenberg said. "We're all troubled when these isolated incidents come up."

Zeta Beta Tau is the same fraternity that last December canceled its formal to hold a Christmas party for homeless families from Allentown's Sixth Street Shelter. Fraternity brothers collected food for the families and gave toys to the children.

It's also the same fraternity that won recognition from the national office a decade ago. In 1985, the fraternity placed fifth of 82 Zeta Beta Tau chapters. The fraternity, which began at Muhlenberg in 1932, won the national pledging award in 1984 for providing the best program on educating new members.

And in 1986, the fraternity placed in the top five again in social service, philanthropy, publications, alumni programming, academic improvement, participation in campus activities and cooperation with the national fraternity.

National fraternity officials hope to re-establish the chapter on campus after the disciplinary period, said James Greer, executive vice president. The college and national office are discussing what to do with the house in the meantime, he said.

 For full article, see http://articles.mcall.com/1995-07-20/news/3053604_1_zeta-beta-tau-fraternity-house-national-fraternity
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Muhlenberg Grad Sues Frat Officials Over Beating
November 04, 1995|by DICK COWEN, The Morning Call

Former Muhlenberg College student Nicholas Busch has sued the president of his campus fraternity and the top official of its national organization over a beating he endured by juveniles at the chapter house on May 17.

Busch of Sherburne, N.Y., a 1995 graduate, contends he was beaten by seven youths in the Zeta Beta Tau house who were "part of an ongoing illegal drug trafficking operation."

This summer, Muhlenberg and ZBT's national organization jointly banned the house from campus for at least four years and withdrew its charter.

For full article, see http://articles.mcall.com/1995-11-04/news/3065249_1_busch-s-suit-zbt-fraternity

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As we can see, it was marijuana, not hard drugs.
There was also a minor skirmish.
It involved up to 9 members of a House that had 32 residents and many more Brothers

The House had an unblemished history and the Brothers did a lot of good deeds for the Community.

The ban was for a period of 4 years.
After 4 years, Muhlenberg unilaterally decided to bulldoze down the ZBT House

[Ralph Bellafatto]

The house was bulldozed by December.  Berg did not wait 4 years.

 

Ralph J. Bellafatto

Bellafatto Law Office

4480 William Penn Highway

Easton Pa 18045

610-923-9200

610-923-8144 (fax)

Ra...@Bellafatto.com

[Lloyd Darlow]

Ralph, you're the attorney - how the hell is/was this legal??

Lloyd

[Jarrett Wells]

The story that I heard was that a brother and the president were both dealing and got into a dispute over sharing the marketplace. The brother had a couple of townies come in and they beat the shit out of the president but he got away and went to campus security who called the cops and state police which led to the house being torn down. I had also heard that people from prior years had received letters from the investigation but it never went anywhere. 

Sent from my iPhone

[Ralph Bellafatto]

It wasn't. that's why we sued.

Muhlenberg didn't care. The house was an eyesore directly across the street from the new library, on chew street, the first thing prospective students and their parents saw when they got out of the admissions office on their way to a tour of the campus. This was the opportunity they were looking for to clean up this part of campus. Once it was gone they had everything they wanted. The lawsuit was a minor annoyance to them at best.

It was a very anti-fraternity time (maybe still is?) and zbt wasn't the first frat since our time to get booted.

Ralph J. Bellafatto
Bellafatto Law Office
4480 William Penn Highway
Easton Pa 18045
610-923-9200
610-923-8144 (fax)
Ra...@Bellafatto.com

[Scott Spiro]

Excellent work all- anyone know how many members of present college admin / officers/ trustees were involved in bulldozing?? We need to know our real present adversaries.

We should draft a resolution before the sept reunion and have it e- signed and then supported / ratified by those present in September along the lines of supporting Financially ZBT return to berg...

Scott

Sent from my iPhone

[Dan Kleiner]

Not the ZBT I knew. We studied every night, read the Bible, played Bridge on the weekends and knitted sweaters for the homeless.

 

From: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com [mailto:zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jarrett Wells

Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 11:09 AM
To: Ralph Bellafatto
Cc: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com

[Steven Cagnetta]

Geez. Just trying to figure out who was the bigger idiot in that one.

Based on that story, no surprise they kicked them off (frankly, the guys involved should be thankful that no one went to jail). As for fraternities in general, I think it is a mixed bag.  While in some places they may be strong, I also believe they are seen by schools as a source for many of the ills in college (drugs, binge drinking, date rape).  I have seen numerous articles in the last few years where frats were closed and brothers were arrested for hazing, assault, underage drinking.  My sense is that the schools will live with fraternities so long as they fly right.  When they screw up, they will be summarily dumped.

By the way, to Dan's point, we may have done our fair share of stupid stuff, but we knew how the game was played.  I could not imagine the brothers I lived with doing (or letting happen) what those bozos did.  They screwed it up for everyone else.

Steve

[Christopher DeSantis]

Sorry guys, but one of the ZBT recognitions from Lois Posner’s email  just blew me away. Did I miss something here?

 

“The fraternity, which began at Muhlenberg in 1932, won the national pledging award in 1984 for providing the best program on educating new members.”

 

How the f***k did we win that??  That was the year I pledged and the only education I received was how to properly and effectively kick the shit and scare the hell out of pledges when I become a brother!

 

Chris

[Marc Ehrlich]

I just did a quick search and see the following links all from the Morning Call.

 

http://articles.mcall.com/1995-11-04/news/3065249_1_busch-s-suit-zbt-fraternity

http://articles.mcall.com/1995-11-30/news/3060967_1_juveniles-fraternity-beating

http://articles.mcall.com/1996-06-05/news/3088473_1_fraternity-house-juveniles-fraternity-brothers

http://articles.mcall.com/1995-08-06/news/3051083_1_zeta-beta-tau-fraternity-house-national-fraternity

 

It provides some details and one of them actually got sentenced.  Those involved should be asked to write a letter with a mea culpa accompanying any other petition/documentation presented to the school.

[Robert H. Debbs, DO, FACOOG]

We certainly all had our share of fun but we also gave back.

I am proud of the mentorship I had in the early 80's by many of you and this culiminated in my presidency in 84 which led to the national award mentioned in the article

 

Still some of the best and most important times of my life even in comparison to med school, fellowship, a directorship at UPENN......still always fondly remember.

Looking forward to sept.

I will be There!!!!

BOBBY

Robert H. Debbs, DO, FACOOG, Dist.
Clinical Associate Professor of OB-GYN
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
Director, Pennsylvania Hospital
Maternal Fetal Medicine Network

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From: "Dan Kleiner" <dankl...@verizon.net>
To: "Jarrett Wells" <jtw...@gmail.com>, "Ralph Bellafatto" <ra...@bellafatto.com>
Cc: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 11:22:14 AM
Subject: RE: [ZBT-Muhlenberg] In 1995, Muhlenberg ZBT House Banned from Campus for Four (4) Years on Allegations of Marijuana Sales and Use

[Scott Spielman]

Chris,

Who are you kidding. You're from Staten Island, you knew how to do all of that before you came to the 'Berg. ;^)

-Scott

____________________
Scott Spielman
c: 301-520-6645
e: sdspi...@gmail.com


Sent from my BlackBerry, please pardon the brevity and any spelling errors

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From: Christopher DeSantis <cdes...@ricg.com>

Sender: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com

Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:45:54 +0000

To: Dan Kleiner<dankl...@verizon.net>; 'Jarrett Wells'<jtw...@gmail.com>; 'Ralph Bellafatto'<ra...@bellafatto.com>

Cc: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com<zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com>

[Christopher DeSantis]

Bobby, might there be any more accolades about yourself that you possibly left out?

 

Chris

[Scott]

the active president at that time was not dealing

 

From: Jarrett Wells

Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 11:09 AM

To: Ralph Bellafatto

Cc: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com

[Christopher DeSantis]

LOL! Damn, what a bad rap Staten Island always gets………especially from my fellow brothas.

 

Definitely picked up a few pointers during pledging to hone my skills even further. J

[Knappy]

"School officials do not believe the drug activity had been going on for a long period."

bwaahhhahhhhahhahhahhhahahh!

Seriously, I spent the last 5 minutes doubled over in painful laughter after reading that line.

Let's face it: a few brothers screwed up big time, and left the school with no choice but expulsion. I still think that Berg administration handled it terribly after the fact when they decided to ignore the alumni & level the building, contents & all. We went up there a day or too after it happened, and recovered what we could. I spoke with Dean of alumni relations a few years later & he was the opposite of apologetic about it: combative & peevish. I have the letter he sent to me, which I probably still have at home. They will never get a dime from me (outside of the $30 for dinner & open bar) until I hear a mea culpa from them. Let's see if they say anything on Sept 8th.

Knappy
class of 90

[Lloyd Darlow]

...and did CPR on pledges who are allergic to pea soup.

----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Kleiner <dankl...@verizon.net>

To: 'Jarrett Wells' <jtw...@gmail.com>, 'Ralph Bellafatto' <ra...@bellafatto.com>
Cc: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com

[Lloyd Darlow]

I find it amazing that the current U. Prez wants to make remarks at the dinner. I am praying that some of you assholes verbally totrure him a bit. No, it doesn't make our case for reinstatement any easier, and it's not the kind of behavior that professionals usually are known for, but it would be awfully entertaining.

Lloyd

[Louis Posner]

According to the Muhlenberg website, the ZBT website was in existence from 1970 to 1995.

See Muhlenberg Fraternity Life: Alumni @  http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/campuslife/greek/alumni.html

To add insult to injury, ZBT is not even listed on the Muhlenberg website as a Fraternity Alumni organization. 

It is as if 25 years of ZBT alumni were wiped off the Muhlenberg map.  
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On Friday, August 10, 2012 4:06:07 AM UTC-4, Louis Posner wrote:

[David Albers]

And I'm here to testify that Chris certainly learned how to scare the hell out of the pledges the next year.
 
Dave Albers '88
 

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From: cdes...@ricg.com
To: dankl...@verizon.net; jtw...@gmail.com; ra...@bellafatto.com
CC: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com

Subject: RE: [ZBT-Muhlenberg] In 1995, Muhlenberg ZBT House Banned from Campus for Four (4) Years on Allegations of Marijuana Sales and Use

Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:45:54 +0000

[Scott Spiro]

Chris,

Do you remember the javelin I used to throw around at the pledges in front of the house??

Sent from my iPhone

[Christopher DeSantis]

Thanks Dave. My Mom always said I had a knack for picking things up rather quickly.

 

Chris

[Christopher DeSantis]

Unfortunately, I do not recall Scott. I wish I did though. Sounds awesome!

[Steven Cagnetta]

Speaking of quick movements, I never saw Chris move faster (including at IM football games, where he moved pretty fast) then the day when he was running a pledge meeting and Dean WHATEVER HIS NAME WAS came knocking on our door.  Chris went from screaming at pledges to chug the warm beer from a Ginz cooking bowl to dumping the bowl's contents down the toilet behind the bar in approximately 2.3 seconds.  I know this because that I spent those 2.3 seconds stalling the good dean outside prior to him and his campus thugs pushing past only to find the pledges sitting in a row singing songs.

Usain Bolt would have been proud. . . 

Steve Cags

On Aug 15, 2012, at 2:36 PM, Christopher DeSantis wrote:

Thanks Dave. My Mom always said I had a knack for picking things up rather quickly.

 

Chris

 

From: David Albers [mailto:dsal...@hotmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 10:52 AM
To: Christopher DeSantis; dankl...@verizon.net; jtw...@gmail.com; ra...@bellafatto.com
Cc: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [ZBT-Muhlenberg] In 1995, Muhlenberg ZBT House Banned from Campus for Four (4) Years on Allegations of Marijuana Sales and Use

 

And I'm here to testify that Chris certainly learned how to scare the hell out of the pledges the next year.
 
Dave Albers '88
 

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From: cdes...@ricg.com
To: dankl...@verizon.net; jtw...@gmail.com; ra...@bellafatto.com
CC: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [ZBT-Muhlenberg] In 1995, Muhlenberg ZBT House Banned from Campus for Four (4) Years on Allegations of Marijuana Sales and Use
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:45:54 +0000

Sorry guys, but one of the ZBT recognitions from Lois Posner’s email  just blew me away. Did I miss something here?

 

“The fraternity, which began at Muhlenberg in 1932, won the national pledging award in 1984 for providing the best program on educating new members.”

 

How the f***k did we win that??  That was the year I pledged and the only education I received was how to properly and effectively kick the shit and scare the hell out of pledges when I become a brother!

 

Chris

 

From: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com [mailto:zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf OfDan Kleiner
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 11:22 AM
To: 'Jarrett Wells'; 'Ralph Bellafatto'
Cc: zbt-muh...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [ZBT-Muhlenberg] In 1995, Muhlenberg ZBT House Banned from Campus for Four (4) Years on Allegations of Marijuana Sales and Use

 

Not the ZBT I knew. We studied every night, read the Bible, played Bridge on the weekends and knitted sweaters for the homeless.

 

[Christopher DeSantis]

Cags, you had me cracking up with this memory! Boy, was that one scary night! Too funny!

 

Chris

[Consolidator Webfares]

 

Well lets not forget the night of "Fun as Hell Week" when Schmidty the head campus cop comes strolling through the "unlocked" back door under the bridge door while us pledges were being douched in full schmeg in the living room - he simply turned around and walked right out the same door - nothing more was ever mentioned by him or anyone else of the campus.... Dodged a bullet there too...

           
Sincerely,
     
Klaus