Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: News
OZ members 'caused chaos' at ZBT party
Jacob Schutz
Fire alarms, a human pyramid and an almost-stolen composite picture forced Zeta Beta Tau's Halloween party to shut down early Sunday morning.
Members of OZ, an underground fraternity, "caused chaos at the [ZBT] party" by forming a human pyramid while a smoke alarm was going off, said College junior and ZBT president Sam Farber. They then tried to steal the ZBT composite, a photograph of all the fraternity brothers, as party-goers evacuated the house.
OZ was formerly colonized as ZBT until the University expelled it from campus in 2004 for alcohol-related violations.
The ZBT fraternity recolonized in 2006. Students associated with OZ were not allowed to join.
An OZ member at the party, granted anonymity because of potential illegality of the situation, confirmed that OZ members constructed a human pyramid and sang a song, but he denied that the group tried to steal the composite or set off the alarm.
There are conflicting reports about what triggered the smoke alarm. Wharton senior Austin Pena, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council, said fire department officials said a fog machine at the party set off the smoke alarm.
But Farber disagreed, saying that "it seems highly unlikely that the smoke machine caused the fire alarm," largely because the fog machine had been on since 10 p.m., when the party officially started. The alarm did not go off until around 12:15 a.m.
Farber would not say what he thought triggered the alarm.
In addition, a Facebook message obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian was sent Sunday at 1:39 a.m. from the account of Wharton sophomore Zachary Harding, ZBT's recruitment chair, to those invited to the event "ZBT Halloween Party 2007."
The message apologized for the party ending abruptly and said, "People from OZ were able to enter our party, tried to steal our possessions and then pulled the fire alarm in our house."
Farber said that Harding sent the message on his own, and that it did not represent the fraternity as a whole.
Fire and Penn Police officials arrived a few minutes after the smoke alarm went off, and OZ members were stopped from leaving with the composite. No arrests were made and the party did not restart after the alarm went off.
Farber said that ZBT is still considering what action to take, and that the frat has never experienced any similar incident.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon also experienced disruptions due to fire alarms at its party Saturday night.
SAE president Matt Deitch did not know what triggered the alarm at the SAE party.
Deitch, a College junior, said he believes that alarms have been set off intentionally at SAE parties before, but he said he has no reason to believe Saturday's alarm, or any other, was caused by any one organization, or group of people.
Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs director Scott Reikofski did not return multiple requests for comment to his cell phone.
Members of OZ, an underground fraternity, "caused chaos at the [ZBT] party" by forming a human pyramid while a smoke alarm was going off, said College junior and ZBT president Sam Farber. They then tried to steal the ZBT composite, a photograph of all the fraternity brothers, as party-goers evacuated the house.
OZ was formerly colonized as ZBT until the University expelled it from campus in 2004 for alcohol-related violations.
The ZBT fraternity recolonized in 2006. Students associated with OZ were not allowed to join.
An OZ member at the party, granted anonymity because of potential illegality of the situation, confirmed that OZ members constructed a human pyramid and sang a song, but he denied that the group tried to steal the composite or set off the alarm.
There are conflicting reports about what triggered the smoke alarm. Wharton senior Austin Pena, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council, said fire department officials said a fog machine at the party set off the smoke alarm.
But Farber disagreed, saying that "it seems highly unlikely that the smoke machine caused the fire alarm," largely because the fog machine had been on since 10 p.m., when the party officially started. The alarm did not go off until around 12:15 a.m.
Farber would not say what he thought triggered the alarm.
In addition, a Facebook message obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian was sent Sunday at 1:39 a.m. from the account of Wharton sophomore Zachary Harding, ZBT's recruitment chair, to those invited to the event "ZBT Halloween Party 2007."
The message apologized for the party ending abruptly and said, "People from OZ were able to enter our party, tried to steal our possessions and then pulled the fire alarm in our house."
Farber said that Harding sent the message on his own, and that it did not represent the fraternity as a whole.
Fire and Penn Police officials arrived a few minutes after the smoke alarm went off, and OZ members were stopped from leaving with the composite. No arrests were made and the party did not restart after the alarm went off.
Farber said that ZBT is still considering what action to take, and that the frat has never experienced any similar incident.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon also experienced disruptions due to fire alarms at its party Saturday night.
SAE president Matt Deitch did not know what triggered the alarm at the SAE party.
Deitch, a College junior, said he believes that alarms have been set off intentionally at SAE parties before, but he said he has no reason to believe Saturday's alarm, or any other, was caused by any one organization, or group of people.
Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs director Scott Reikofski did not return multiple requests for comment to his cell phone.
Viewing Comments 1 - 9 of 9
Penn Parent Alum
posted 10/29/07 @ 7:53 AM EST
Maybe if the police didn't have to respond to this bullshit the shootings wouldn't happen. What will Maureen Rush do about this? Reikofski is useless. (Continued…)
penn student
posted 10/29/07 @ 9:23 AM EST
penn parent alum, you is cracked out.
ad for oz...dudes...really? if you're so cool and underground why the hell would you go to a zbt party? i'm a normal greek and didn't go because the "new" zbt is lame-o. (Continued…)
Good point
posted 10/29/07 @ 10:03 AM EST
Yeah I have to agree with "penn student." The OZ guys are definitely a bunch of pretentious douchebags. Lets be honest though, the new zbt frat is pretty lame. (Continued…)
Agreed
posted 10/29/07 @ 11:31 AM EST
Prior comments got it right. ZBT stop making yourself look worse with dumb messages and comments. But at least ZBT was trying to have a decent party unlike Oz that can only attract girls by dropping $1000 for a club and sprinkling their small penises with coke. (Continued…)
Penn Undergrad
Agreed
posted 10/29/07 @ 11:35 AM EST
Prior comments got it right. ZBT stop making yourself look worse with dumb messages and comments. But at least ZBT was trying to have a decent party unlike Oz which can only attract girls by spending $1000 at clubs downtown and sprinkling coke on their small penises. (Continued…)
Jigsaw
posted 10/29/07 @ 12:41 PM EST
The vicious comments posted on this site about "OZ" (if such a thing even exists) are blatantly sexist. The rhetorical devices used consists of narrow-minded stereotypes. (Continued…)
jigsaw1011
Jigsaw
posted 10/29/07 @ 12:42 PM EST
The vicious comments posted on this site about "OZ" (if such a thing even exists) are blatantly sexist. The rhetorical devices used consists of narrow-minded stereotypes. (Continued…)
chuck norris
posted 10/29/07 @ 2:54 PM EST
"OZ" existed prior to language.
I LOVE THE DP!!!!
posted 10/29/07 @ 3:57 PM EST
"fire department officials said a fog machine at the party set off the smoke alarm".
Those idiots! What the hell do firefighters know about fire alarms!??
Thanks DP for letting us know what really happened! Your unbiased reporting can only be matched by FOX news, keep up the good work!
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