Campus News

Casa Joaquin Murrieta goes loco

Outrage over party with Latin-American them

By Robert Nathan Eberhart
From the April 2006 Print Edition

Casa Joaquin Murrieta, a primarily Latin-American multicultural cooperative living house, or co-op, at UC Berkeley is waging a campaign to label the fraternity community as a homogenous group of ignorant white racists.

Specifically, Omar Ramirez, Lisa Higuera, Joe Flores, Iuri Lara, and Alejandro Ramirez, the several principal representatives of the co-op in the campaign, released an open letter addressed to members of the Berkeley Latin-American community. The letter accused members of the Sigma Phi fraternity of racism and xenophobia due to their hosting of a Latin-American–themed party last semester.

In the letter, members of Sigma Phi were accused of “degrading our people” so that “white people can have fun,” and of putting up fences in front of their door for partygoers to crawl under in mocking imitation of aliens who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

Another statement by co-op member Lara laments the “frivolous ridicule of the struggle of peoples” and “our struggle with the American nightmare.”

“That’s a bunch of crap,” says Richard Hsu, treasurer of Sigma Phi. “These accusations are not only flat-out lies that completely misrepresent what happened, but more importantly, they trivialize the real issues of poverty and racism that plague many newly arrived immigrants in our country.”

According to Hsu, there was never any intention of having a fence to climb under for entry into the party, nor was there any intention of ridiculing a minority group in any way whatsoever. The fraternity is composed of twelve active members, only two of whom are ‘white’; four are Latin-American, and two are actually immigrants from Mexico.

The party’s objective, according to Sigma Phi member Lauro Parra, a Latin-American student who organized the party, was a “celebration of Latin-American culture through music, refreshments, and food.”

Apparently the party’s name, “South of the Border,” motivated the accusations. CJM alleged that the reference to Latin-America as “south” of the U.S. border — an undeniable and neutral geographic fact — constituted “ignorant exploitation of our condition in name of fun,” and prompted the organization of a protest and the castigation of the members of Sigma Phi as white, racist xenophobes.

After discussions with the co-op, Sigma Phi altered the title of the party to the innocuous “La Fiesta” to prevent the planned protest.

But, true to the militant nature of the political-correctness movement, CJM did not stop there. The principal members involved filed a complaint with the Office of Student Life and Office of Greek Life. Among other allegations, the complaint erroneously alleged that Sigma Phi had hosted a party titled “Run for the Border.”

Melissa Lang, the UC Berkeley Advisor and Program Coordinator for Greek Life, declined to comment on the accusations or provide any substantive information on the complaints, but did say that Sigma Phi’s status as an independent society, unaffiliated with the university, places it outside of her jurisdiction.

Casa Joaquin Murrieta, a member of the UC Berkeley community for 30 years, has a history of left-wing radicalism dating back to the 1960s. More recently, CJM served as a headquarters for the massive student protests following the passage of Proposition 209. It holds anarchist ‘study-sessions,’ and is affiliated with the “War Resisters League,” among numerous other left-wing organizations.

“I was really shocked by the whole episode,” said Sigma Phi brother Alejandro Jimenez. “I wish nothing but good will between this fraternity and our neighbors at CJM.”

When contacted, the involved members of CJM refused to comment.

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