Voice It!: ATO closes at UTM

1. As an alumni of ATO in Martin i am shocked at the action by the University. When i was a pledge i had car trouble on that same road and walked 3 miles back to the campus at 9pm on a Tuesday night. Luckily, no drunks came by and hit me or they may have blamed the fraternity for the action. After all, i was an ATO pledge and back in my day “hazing” was accepted by the mainstream.

   What a ridiculous, politically correct and sad thing that this happened to this fraternity that has been around on that campus for a long long time.

2. The University better be prepared to administer the same punishment to all the other fraternities. ATO alum will be watching!

3. I agree the ATO’s should have been punished but this was over the top extreme.

   That is the problem Brandon, ATO’s have not been treated like any other fraternity. Others have done similar acts and the administration has turned a blind eye.. Also, I do not think ATO’s CEO is anti-greek, I think he is anti-ATO. He was not an ATO there fore doesn’t really get it.

   I have to agree that this administration is anti-greek. It has been very difficult to have a relationship with this administration, the open door policy that once existed at UTM is no longer there. Unfortunately for UTM there are other universities in the area that are academically equal.

4. Brandon,
   If you feel that my writing was meant to influence anyone you are sadly mistaken. The questions that I posed in the blog were questions that I had been hearing all over campus from students. I completely agree with you that people should look into the details themselves, if they still have unanswered questions. The purpose of this blog is to act as a forum for people to be able to discuss their opinions on matters that concerns the UTM campus. As for my opinion,I purposely left it out of this blog posting so I would not sway anyone one way or the other.

   • I just stumbled across this as I have been gone from UTM for quite some time. It is sad to lose a fraternity at UTM like this but please do not act like they are being treated unfairly. The thing about this is they got caught hazing and now are having pay the piper. While I know other fraternity’s on that campus do the same stuff they haven’t been caught to the extent ATO was. It’s systemic in Greek communities across the nation.

     And as far as the money they give to St.Jude is concerned, I am sure the million dollars that the Elams give to ATO to donate will still be given. If the Elams don’t decide to donate that money because a fraternity was kicked off campus them shame on them.

     • Elams didn’t give money to the ATO chapter. We spent our spring breaks raising money by pushing a wheelbarrow from Martin to Memphis. Our fraternity getting kicked off campus due to a few bad people is the pinnacle of hypocrisy. You don’t take 50 years and punish all other alumni.

5. Regardless of other allegations of hazing against ATO, the fraternity was tried for this incident and no other. I believe the university acted in a biased manner and it is frightening to see such an aggressive anti Greek administration at UTM. Obviously ATO has a reputation for being wild, but does that mean they deserve to loose their chapter? If the university closes the chapter, the charter is pulled by the National fraternity. As long as the university was so uncompromising; there was never a chance they could survive narionally. The university would do better to be more actively involved with Greek like rather than throwing their hands up when an incident happens and pretending they are appalled. The accident in question would not even stand up legally as a hazing charge under Tennessee law. How do you think the university would have reacted if this had occurred to a more restrained chapter such as sigma chi? They would not have been nearly as aggressive. Because of all that ATO does, the university should have worked with them to prevent another accident in the future. They were not treated fairly and every fraternity on campus should be appalled.

6. To the girl that obviously serves pike or else you wouldn’t have compared them to ATO, I feel so bad for you. Every fraternity hazes, but trust me, the brand is optional. These men went through a pledging process that makes them respect their fraternity and the men already in it. I can list every single pledge process every fraternity has to go through, and ato’s is no different. A boy got hit by a drunk driver and they get shut down because of it. It’s sad. 50 years of tradition shut down because a drunk, non ATO or UTM student obviously doesn’t know how to drive between mustard and mayonnaise. Get your snobby nose off this page until you know the facts and why this really happened. Go hang out with your pikes, and watch your drink when you’re with them. And I can promise you this, I’d rather clean an infected brand on their ass than surround myself with pikes or girls like you any day.

7. Hey, just think about all the money those guys will save on dues…

8. I think we are missing the point here folks. The reality is that there are consequences for our actions. Second chances are underserved gifts that are not obligatory. Whether there was mercy given in the past by the university or not, does not negate this most recent serious offense of policy.
   How many people need to be hit by a vehicle before before people are held accountable.
   Its not about whether fraternities are good or bad, it about realizing that life is bigger and more important than any fraternity or social organization.
   UTM’s actions are completely warranted for the safety and quality of life of its students.

9. I have to agree with CWM on this one i mean ATO has been around for so long it is hard to believe one incident caused UTM to shut them down. Im not saying it is unfair im just saying more than likely there is something we are not hearing to make UTM look better.

   • I think we are missing the point here folks. The reality is that there are consequences for our actions. Second chances are underserved gifts that are not obligatory. Whether there was mercy given in the past by the university or not, does not negate this most recent serious offense of policy.
     How many people need to be hit by a vehicle before before people are held accountable.
     Its not about whether fraternities are good or bad, it about realizing that life is bigger and more important than any fraternity or social organization.
     UTM’s actions are completely warranted for the safety and quality of life of its students.

10. Rechartering will come at the discretion of ATO Nationals and how far down the list of new charters and recharters this chapter stands. And most of the time it’s a minimum 5 years or longer. Some chapters never get a chance to come back.

11. Everyone knows all about ATOs hazing. From shaving their heads, to not letting them talk, to bows and toes, to cleaning the house at three in the morning on midterm week, to branding the omega symbol on the guys!!!!! Trust me, I could go on and on and on and on. This fraternity is outrageous and take it wayyyyy to far on everything they do! I have heard more rape stories about ATO then Pike anyday. When a Tau Girl gets called by a pledge to come take care of his brand because it has become overly infected and he does not want to tell his parents or go to the doctor. There is a serious problem.

12. Other Greeks know all to well about ATO. Don’t worry, the rest of us won’t make the same mistake. Also, why do you think the pledges were out there? Of course it was a hazing incident Otis, don’t think the rest of us are idiots. They deserve what they got.

13. Ato donated 1.5 million to St. Jude in the past 12 years. That’s more than every other fraternity and sorority at UTM put together for the next 20 years. Were they treated fairly? No, no, and no, they were canned over a very regrettable accident (not hazing incident) all because rakes hates Greek life. If other Greeks don’t see that they’re next they need to open their eyes.

14. Hallelujah!

15. Anti-hazing is not the same as anti-Greek. In today’s pervasive media, UTM had no choice but to take action. Had ATO been following their national, local, IFC, and university guidelines they wouldn’t be in this place. As for blaming CHANCELLOR Rakes, as you should be addressing him, their national CEO is revoking their charter. Do you feel he is anti-Greek, Brent?

16. Let’s look at this realistically. UTM wouldn’t shut down a fraternity chapter that has been around this long for one incident alone.

    The most likely scenario is that their decision was based on a number of other infractions against university policy.

    The real concern here should not be whether or not ATO was treated fairly. We should instead be asking: what other violations did this fraternity commit that we’re not being told about?

    At the end of the day, the UTM administration will do whatever it can to save face. Their investigation must have revealed some serious misbehavior if they were actually forced to shut one of the historic Greek organizations down.

    TL;DR

    Instead of asking whether this was fair, we should be asking the university “what else did they do that you’re not telling us about?”

17. Absolutely ATO was targeted by the University unfairly. This is a great example of the anti-greek culture that has spread at UTM since Tom Rakes came to town.

    Tom Rakes just wanted someone to make an example of. ATO should be welcomed back in the near future.

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