By May Chow | AsianWeek Staff Writer
On a chilly evening last Wednesday, a young man who was about to begin a new semester in school lost his life during a fight that broke out between two San Jose State University Asian Pacific American fraternities.
Police estimate that about 100 members from the Lambda Phi Epsilon and Pi Alpha Phi fraternities met at Flickinger Park in San Jose to settle differences shortly after midnight on Wednesday — differences which still remain unclear to the public — and a fracas ensued. Alam Kim, 23, received a fatal stab wound to his chest that punctured his heart, and four others were taken to area hospitals.
Kim, who lived in Los Altos with his parents and aunt, was a junior at SJSU majoring in art and a member of Lambda Phi Epsilon.
On the surface, this incident has the makings of a story reminiscent of “West Side Story” — a cadre of young hooligans settling a score with knives and taunts at the stroke of midnight. News stories and public comments by officials contributed to this impression, with references to street gangs and allusions to APA thugs.
But many in the APA community feel that the media blitz, which followed the fight, cast a negative light on the two fraternities and shifted attention away from the root cause of the altercation. Instead of focusing on finding out what caused the dispute, many believe the story has been sensationalized.
The Development of Young Adults
Jack Hsia, the current national president of the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity, told AsianWeek that at the present moment, the members are trying to cope with what happened last week.
“Our immediate concern in the wake of this tragedy is for Alam Kim and his family,” Hsia said. “The hearts of all Lambda Phi Epsilon brothers go out to his family as we join them in mourning his passing.”
He said that his fraternity denounces any type of violence among its own members and other fraternity members. He added that Lambda Phi Epsilon has always promoted academics and civic participation among its members.
“APA fraternities [like ours] allow its members to learn from each other, collectively help the community, and provide a ‘family-type’ environment away from home,” he said. “These fraternities are valuable in the development of young adults. They provide a stepping-stone towards the real world.”
Hsia, 23, is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in economics and philosophy. In a soft-spoken manner, Hsia was in disbelief over the incident and the media coverage of the fraternities that were involved.
“Unfortunately the media has always been quick to highlight the worst of any organization which is constituted of [young people],” Hsia said. “I think that people must realize that we cannot categorize them all in one bunch. That’s not fair, nor right. If only our accomplishments were treated with equal importance, our public image would be far greater than what it is today.”
Death Rho Lambdas
After San Jose Police Sgt. Steve Dixon made a public statement saying that the fight resembled a gang brawl “without the tattoos,” media outlets picked up on the gang reference and stories poured in insinuating the fraternities might have been participating in gang-like behavior.
Several news reports talked about the fraternity websites, now defunct, and how they “evoke the outlaw ‘gangsta’ hip-hop image.” They cited that the Lambdas referred to themselves as the “Untouchable Death Rho Lambdas” on their website, which had an old wooden electric chair with leather straps and the sentence, “Have a seat, buckle up, enjoy ride,” and that the Pi Alpha Phi web master’s screen name was “yellowghetto.”
In an exclusive interview with AsianWeek, Brian Gee, 33, former national president of the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity, said his first reaction to the news reports was that they were very scarce and conflicting, and that a terrible tragedy had occurred. He said he believed everyone associated with the fraternities was astonished at what they’ve read in the newspapers.
“There’s anger, shock and surprise over the police and media reports,” Gee said. “Upon further reflection it seems that the police and media are playing into the negative stereotypes of Asians, which also upsets me very much.”
Gordon Wong, 33, a past member of the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity, wonders if the two fraternities had been made up of mostly white students, would the police have hinted at gang activity?
“The gang references and the thuggish nature placed on this story takes away from what caused the event,” said Wong, who lives in Los Angeles. “This part disturbs me most. I think Asians and other minorities tend be singled out and clumped together as a whole but not when there is a crime committed by white people.”
Wong, who was a member of the UC Berkeley chapter, said he never viewed the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity as being thuggish. He said the San Francisco Chronicle referred to the fraternity as being “pretty boys.”
“Don’t you think it’s hard being a pretty boy and thuggish at the same time?” Wong asked. “The papers were trying to reach for something that wasn’t there. I wish they wouldn’t assume so much and instead focus on what caused the event and how to prevent it from happening again.”
Both Hsia and Gee agreed that APA fraternities provide a sort of haven for their members to learn about their heritage and their community.
“In my opinion, APA fraternities provide college students with a healthy environment to learn, socialize, and explore each one’s horizons,” Hsia said, whose fraternity has more than 1,000 members throughout California and in Texas. “APA fraternities expand individual’s social outlets, teach valuable teamwork knowledge, and allow individuals, who may not normally meet under normal circumstances, to associate with all different types of people.”
Gee said these fraternities provide a common cultural environment to learn about themselves, because many members don’t know a lot about their culture before joining.
“I think these types of organizations meet the needs to a growing APA student population and gives the students a place where they can meet their full potential with a very supportive network of brothers and sisters,” Gee said, whose grandfather was a member. “Pi Alpha Phi was started at UC Berkeley in 1926 by six Asians because they felt they were discriminated from trying to join the mainstream houses.”
Eggings and Bad Blood
The investigation into what caused the fight is on-going. Dixon said he is working with SJSU police to try to piece together what happened.
“We are interviewing members who were there that night and trying to come up with leads into what caused this,” Dixon said. “We know that there were ‘eggings’ involved with the Pi house, which is off-campus, verbal taunts and some bad blood.”
Dixon said he has called back a lot of the participants who were present at the fight that night to question them again.
“There are many that are being evasive and deceitful,” Dixon said. “Clearly, some of these people who we’ve talked to were there that night and took part in the fight and know something.”
No weapon or weapons involved in the death of Kim and the injuries of the four others have been recovered, according to Dixon.
SJSU Police Chief Ric Abeyta said because the incident occurred outside of the university, the case is out of their jurisdiction.
“The only problems that were ever reported were minor noise disturbances,” Abeyta said. But he added that that doesn’t mean that individuals within the two fraternities had problems. He said there could have been some, but just weren’t reported. He said what happened on Wednesday transpired out of bad decisions.
“I wouldn’t classify these two groups as being gangs,” Abeyta said. “But I think what Sgt. Dixon meant was that the behavior that was displayed on Wednesday was gang-related. This wasn’t a gang activity, it was just stupid behavior. It’s not normal for any fraternity or student organization to act like this.”
On Thursday, the two fraternities were suspended by the university pending further investigation into the case.
“They are not to use the university facilities for any of their activities or use the university’s name in any publications or affiliation,” said Angela Harper, Greek Life Coordinator at SJSU. “The university is holding meetings to examine what caused this fatal outcome and better the future for fraternities here at the school.”
“It’s a terrible, terrible tragedy,” Harper said. “We are now trying to help students adjust from this tragedy. I mean, it’s awful to have to start off your school semester like this.”
Hsia said that members of the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity have started a trust fund in memoriam of Kim.
Members from both fraternities have been advised by attorneys not to speak with the press in the wake of an ongoing investigation. The few that have spoken have given short statements and remained anonymous.
Reach May Chow at mchow@asianweek.com.
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