Greek Row, and specifically the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, has every right to be upset about how leniently a member of the U football team was treated after injuring several attendants of a Halloween party, according to police reports.
Police arrived at the Pike house at 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 1 to find two U students with injuries and several witnesses claiming the attacker was leaving through the back door.
U football player Lisi Leota was listed as the suspect in the police report. He was found with blood on his shirt and injuries to his knuckles. His punishment for cutting a student’s lip and knocking out his front tooth, giving another student a concussion and a broken nose, and supposedly physically attacking several others was a police-forced apology, according to a police detective.
Even if the charges that the injured students said they plan to file go through, the altercation seems unwarranted and improperly handled.
Although this situation is certainly worth the outcry and the injured parties have every reason to be furious, the injustice is probably only a fraction of what Katie Baker felt earlier this year when she was assaulted at a party hosted by the same fraternity.
In January, Baker came forward claiming she was assaulted at the Pike house and asked that anyone with information come forward and help her identify the man who left her with several facial fractures and bruises covering the right side of her face. Baker said that she didn’t believe her attacker had any association or membership with any greek organization.
The biggest difference between the incident that happened on Halloween and Baker’s incident is the way it was handled.
Within hours of a Daily Utah Chronicle reporter being assigned to the story, statements from fraternity president Joey Lambert and the victims were gathered. The police report, which was key to getting statements from Leota and U football head coach Kyle Whittingham, was also given to The Chronicle, unaltered and in full, by Assistant Dean of Students Jay Wilgus.
In January, obtaining a statement from Lambert took several days and another hour’s worth of phone calls, text messages and face-to-face meetings. The information Lambert finally gave was less than illuminating. A police report was also recovered in the Baker incident by Wilgus, but had portions missing and blacked-out names.
Collecting information that led to a completely objective and informative story about two Greek Row victims was fairly easy. Obtaining information about Baker was much more difficult.
Maybe the Pike house learned its lesson from January. Maybe Wilgus’ message of more ethical accountability on Greek Row, which he shared last week with The Chronicle’s senior staff, has begun to hit home with the U’s fraternities and sororities.
Forgive us for our skepticism, but it’s also possible that when it comes to protecting one of its own, Greek Row has no problem shedding as much light on the situation as possible.
When it comes to a woman like Baker, the rumor mill churned and the Pikes tried to defend their image, but in the end, nobody stepped up with so much as an anonymous phone call to help a woman who was badly injured at the Pi Kappa Alpha house.
What happened to those U students early Saturday morning is unfortunate. What happened to Baker back in January is disgusting, and that doesn’t just refer to what happened to her face.
The January incident doesn’t make what happened Saturday at the Pike house any less horrible. If convicted, Leota deserves to be fully prosecuted for inflicting permanent damage on two students.
There is still time for amends to be made to Baker. Somebody knows what happened in January, but is choosing not to come forward. Lambert claimed he had diligent notes and statements from those at the party at the Pike house back in January.
Greek Row has taken a huge stride in restoring its somewhat tainted image by coming forward so quickly with this incident. We at The Chronicle only hope that this is a sign of the times to come and that Baker’s situation can still be rectified.