Sorority sister flung from truck, suffers concussion
Greek Life said bid day event wasn't sanctioned
Will York
Issue date: 9/11/07 Section: Campus News
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A sorority member was injured Monday afternoon after she fell from the back of a pickup truck during an annual event, sorority officials said.
Julie Vantrease, a senior member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, was treated for a concussion at Volunteer Community Hospital in Martin after the accident during a bid day event, chapter relations chair Whitney Ward told The Pacer.
Ward said Vantrease was injured after she fell from the back of the pickup truck in front of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity house on University Street.
AGR fraternity members were spraying water at the sorority members -- an annual tradition on "bid day," when new members are brought into sororities -- when Vantrease fell from the truck, Ward said.
"We had just gotten our new girls," Ward said. "This is an annual thing for us. We drive past the fraternity house and honk. They usually spray us with water."
Ward said Vantrease stood up because she was being sprayed with water when the driver, another sorority member, sped up.
"She is going to be absolutely fine," Ward said. "It was just a freak accident."
It is against Tennessee law for passengers to ride in pickup truck beds on public roads.
Ward said the sorority has performed the bid day tradition for about 30 years.
A hospital spokeswoman who refused to give her name on Tuesday said Vantrease had been treated and released from the emergency room.
UTM Greek Life Director Louis Ragsdale said on Tuesday that the event has never been sanctioned by the university or by the sorority.
"This is in no way an official bid day event," Ragsdale said. "These girls went off and did this own their own as individuals."
Ragsdale said the official bid day event was a dinner at the UTM fieldhouse.
He said he hasn't decided whether to punish the sorority members, citing a pending investigation by the office that oversees fraternities and sororities.
Ragsdale said he plans to warn sororities and fraternities about riding in truck beds.
"We will be talking to the groups about vehicle safety," he said. "People need to follow the basic traffic laws."
Calls on Monday to the UTM Office of Greek Life and the Brentwood, Tenn.-based sorority's national headquarters were not immediately returned.
Martin Police Department officials are investigating the accident, but an official report will not be ready until Tuesday, Officer Phillip Fuqua said.
"She has a lump on the back of her head and I won't know any further details until the accident report," Fuqua said.
Fraternity members offered to give rides home to sorority members who were visibly upset by the accident.
There were still girls riding in the beds of trucks after the accident.
Tim Storey, an Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity member, said Vantrease "just fell out of the truck and bumped her head."
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Pacer writer Sara M. McIntosh contributed to this report.
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