The fraternity house of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and the wall of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. were vandalized Monday.
When Torey Alston received a phone call early Monday morning, he was saddened and shocked by the news that his fraternity’s house (which houses 11 members) was traced with graffiti.
“I got a phone call at 6 a.m. from my frat brother stating that graffiti was on the fraternity house,” Alston said
As the president of Kappa Alpha Psi, Alston said he immediately went over to witness the damages at the house on 730 Wailes Street (a block and a half from campus) and he contacted the Tallahassee Police Department.
When the police arrived Alston said he showed them the black marks of graffiti and the indecent words sprayed across the front of the house under the Kappa’s initials-K A Psi.
However, after police left Alston said the president of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. later notified him that their wall had also been vandalized.
“After speaking with the president, Travis Floyd of Phi Beta Sigma, I was told that someone had vandalized their plot around 1-1:30 a.m.,” Alston said.
Although the Sigma’s did not wish to comment about the incident, their wall located across from the Ware-Rhaney building, was also covered with graffiti.
An unknown witness noticed the markings and alerted a member of the fraternity.
A member of Phi Beta Sigma later reported the incident to the FAMU police department.
Alston also decided to contact FAMU PD. FAMU PD officials say the crimes are in the jurisdiction of TPD because they did not occur on campus.
Alston said he believes the people who vandalized the Sigma’s wall later decided to do the same to the Kappa house because of the time frame of the discovered incidents.
Cory Gray, the president of the Pan-Hellenic Council and member of Kappa Alpha Psi, said he was also notified about the counts of vandalism on Monday. Gray said he does not believe members of the Divine 9 were involved in the crime.
“We had this problem last year and we trust that it is not one of the members of the nine Pan-Hellenic Council members; however, we hope to take action as soon as they are found,” said Gray, a senior economics student from Montgomery, Ala.
The acts of vandalism also upset Dominique Drake, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
“These ignorant acts just make us [sororities and fraternities] look bad as a whole,” said Drake, 21, a senior business administration student from Euclid, Ohio.
Interim Director of Student Union and Activities, Mickey Clayton, said he wants to rebuild the relationship between Greeks and other students on campus.
Clayton said, “In recent years, we have had an increase of vandalism in Tallahassee and on FAMU’s campus.
Sometimes we get careless about the emotions others feel towards Greeks,” Clayton said.
Although some students believe members of different Greek organizations do not get along Clayton said he wants to dispel this myth.
“My main goal is to bring Greeks to share the same common goals as non-Greek students at FAMU,” Clayton said.
Contact Christina Hordge at christinahordge@yahoo.com