Jack Conway’s college days

One more note about the SAEs: although it’s not directly applicable to Conway, it’s interesting to note that the fraternity earned a worse and worse reputation throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, eventually ending in its dissolution under pressure from Duke and the national SAE organization.

By 1994, the frat’s annual, Mexican-themed “South of the Border” party had become controversial on the politically correct campus.

In 1997, SAE was barred from holding social events for four weeks after one frat brother urinated out of a dorm room window at a kegger.

Later that same year, police busted a SAE Christmas party at 3:00 a.m. The SAE brothers had stolen 150 Christmas decorations from front lawns all over town and used them to spice up their winter formal. One of the victims of the theft tracked down his stolen wreath to the party, one of dozens hanging on the wall.

In 1998, a 16-year-old woman visitor to one of the frat’s parties alleged she was raped. That same year, frat brothers kicked in the door of an apparently unwelcome neighbor.

In 2002, another woman alleged she had been raped at an SAE party. By that time, students referred to the frat’s initials as standing for “Sexual Assault Expected.”

Under pressure from university officials and the national SAE, the fraternity eventually disbanded in 2002. The group has since re-formed as an informal, off-campus group, much to the dismay of neighbors, who told the Raleigh News and Observer of students “vomiting in their yards, ‘hanging out’ buck naked on their balconies and chanting during apparent rituals.”

Conway’s classmates said they were incredulous at the evolution of SAE after they left, which they said was out of character for the frat they knew at Duke.