LINCOLN, Neb. (CN) – Sigma Chi Fraternity at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln subjected a pledge to violent hazing, including being sodomized by a stripper while others watched, and other degrading, assaultive and racist actions, the pledge claims in Lancaster County Court. He claims that pledges were repeatedly threatened not to report the assaults and degradation to police or to “Greek Affairs.”
The former pledge, a minor at the time, sued nine individuals, the Sigma Chi Building Corp., Alpha Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Chi at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sigma Chi Corp., and Sigma Chi Fraternity.
Author: Hank Nuwer
Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024 and April 2025 , the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division.
He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com
Moderator: the Utah State case continues. HN
USU student pleads guilty to supplying alcohol to minor, hazing charge dropped
Published: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 11:53 p.m.
LOGAN — Another one of the Utah State University students charged in connection with the alcohol poisoning death of fraternity pledge Michael Starks has reached an agreement with prosecutors.
Whitney Katherine Miller, 19, pled guilty to unlawful supply of alcohol to a minor, a class A misdemeanor, during a change of plea hearing Wednesday, according to court records. During the hearing prosecutors agreed to drop a hazing charge against Miller, court records indicate.
Judge Thomas Willmore set Miller’s sentencing for June 15.
Starks, 18, died after participating in an initiation ceremony for the then-USU chapter of Sigma Nu. The initiation involved Starks and another pledge being “kidnapped” by the Chi Omega sorority women. An affidavit of probable cause states the pledges were stripped down to their boxers and painted in USU school colors.
Sometime during the activity, they began drinking, prosecutors say. They returned to the fraternity house already heavily intoxicated, and a few hours later, Starks was found unconscious and not breathing.
Starks was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterward.
Grant Arthur Barney, 22, pleaded guilty last month to obstructing justice, a class B misdemeanor, and was sentenced Monday to serve eight days in jail and pay a $1,025 fine. Barney will also be on probation for one year and will be required to perform 100 hours of community service.
Categories
Utah update
By Ethan Thomas
LOGAN Â One of the 12 Utah State University students charged in connection
with the alcohol poisoning death of fraternity pledge Michael Starks was
sentenced Monday in 1st District Court.
Grant Arthur Barney, 22, pleaded guilty last month to obstructing justice,
a class B misdemeanor, and was sentenced to serve eight days in jail and
pay a $1,025 fine. Barney will also be on probation for one year and will
be required to perform 100 hours of community service.
Barney was originally charged with obstructing justice and one count of
hazing, but the hazing charge was later dismissed.
Barney’s attorney, Shannon Demler, told the Deseret News in March that
Barney did not take part in the alleged hazing, but he did throw away some
bottles of alcohol that were consumed the night of Starks’ death.
Starks, 18, died after participating in an initiation ceremony for the
then-USU chapter of Sigma Nu. The initiation involved Starks and another
pledge being “kidnapped” by the Chi Omega sorority women. An affidavit of
probable cause states that the pledges were stripped down to their boxers
and painted in USU school colors.
Sometime during the activity, they began drinking, prosecutors say. They
returned to the fraternity house already heavily intoxicated, and a few
hours later, Starks was found unconscious and not breathing.
Starks was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterward.
Last month, another student, Sadie Green, 19, pleaded no contest to one
count of hazing. Charges have been dropped against three of the 12 students
originally charged in January.
Seven other USU students charged in the case have court dates scheduled in
the coming months.
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
Note: The last paragraph re waiver should be challenged in court. If the activity itself is coerced or has an element of negligence in itself, the wife
might expose the waiver for the sham it is–Moderator
Policeman killed in savage hazing for special forces
Today, 12:20 PM
The widow of a killed Russian police officer has demanded an investigation into his death: the man received fatal injuries in a brutal fight with seven other policemen. The fight was part of a savage hazing practice designed to test whether recruits were tough enough for top jobs with the police special forces.
Viktor Kritsenkov, 30 years old, was seeking employment at the elite “Bison†squadron, based in the Moscow Region.
As an unofficial entry test, the man had to stand at least several minutes of sparring against seven Bison officers at once, Life.ru reports.
In spite of his great physical strength, after the fight Kritsenkov had to be rushed to intensive care, where he died the next day.
His widow, Yekaterina, has demanded justice, saying that what happened to her husband was cold-blooded murder. She said that getting into the special forces was her husband’s dream.
An administrative investigation has been launched into the case, but the investigators say it will to be hard to launch a criminal case against the offenders. Such fights are quite frequent in Russia’s special forces.
“During such fights the participants are protected by gloves only,†a spokesman for the investigation committee said.
“That’s why before the sparring, all participants are warned of the danger and must sign a paper that relieves all other participants of responsibility in the event of an accident. By signing this paper, the man acknowledges he may receive serious injuries.â€
Excerpt:
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Five members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority accused of hazing another student have been placed on interim suspension at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
One student, Seirra Smith, 22, is scheduled to appear May 5 in Hamilton County General Sessions Court on two counts of simple assault.
The suspensions and criminal charges stem from an April 10 police report made by Jasmine Johnson and her mother, Karen Drake, accusing five members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority of assaulting her.
Judicial hearings are being scheduled at UTC for 13 students, including the five on interim suspension, said Chuck Cantrell, university spokesman. Some of the hearings have been completed; others are pending, he said.
Federal law prohibits the release of the findings of the student conduct hearings, he said.