School Boards: It’s not enough to tell taxpayers you handled a sexual hazing incident at the high school level. You need to let the law investigate. You need to be transparent. Leave out the names of perps, ok, but not details of the crime. That’s not ok. Moderator Hank Nuwer
Category: Hazing News
Moderator: Brown allegedly waited two weeks before thorough investigation as players met and came up with a laundered version of facts : NBC report
Excerpt
Brown University is investigating alleged hazing on its men’s varsity swimming and diving team, officials at the Ivy League school said Wednesday, joining the growing list of colleges and universities that have taken action after recent reports of inappropriate behavior.
The prestigious university, located in Providence, Rhode Island, said in a statement Wednesday that it was “deeply troubled by the allegations.” Hazing violates the school’s code of conduct and Rhode Island state law, the statement said.
The investigation was launched after the student newspaper, the Brown Daily Herald, reported that it reviewed text messages, emails, photos and audio recordings from team members, who described Oct. 7 as a wild night of “initiation” or “hazing.”
The newspaper found that multiple new members of the team vandalized school property and vomited after a night of heavy drinking, among other activities.
An anonymous first-year member provided the newspaper with a photo showing teammates smashing Smirnoff Ice vodka bottles against a statue of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. In a recording of a Nov. 14 team meeting provided to the newspaper, a team captain mentioned “the tradition of smashing the ‘Ices’ against the statues.”
Another photo provided by the first-year member, who asked to remain anonymous over fear of retaliation, shows a team member with a drawing of a penis and the word “Oedipus” on his bare back, as an onlooker points and laughs. (Oedipus is a mythical Greek king who fulfilled a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother.)
Team members also told the school paper that they were made to drink mixtures of Tabasco sauce and vodka.
In its statement, Brown said the university received a media inquiry about the alleged hazing on Nov. 14. At that time, the school said, “no student had expressed concerns directly” to the university. But its Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards began looking into it and opened an investigation on Nov. 29.
“While it remains the case that no student has expressed concerns directly to Brown to date,” the school “continues to actively investigate.”
In a recording of a Nov. 14 team meeting provided by the anonymous first-year member, one captain said, “There’s things that are out there that could be damaging, it’s just about how we spin it right now.” Thirteen days later, the same captain instructed the team to say, “We have not had any meetings to talk about this story about that night since we found out about the investigation.”
Harvard puts the squeeze on to squeeze out fraternities
Here’s why:
This is sad. Oneonta blog reports hazing. Says it hopes for reforms before a death happens (warning: nudity in otherwise antihazing post) http://oneontanow.blogspot.com/2011/01/suny-hazing-at-its-finest.html …
SUNY rogue frat deaths trending. Enough already and enough already was more than a quarter-century ago in SUNY schools. Great Time story. Moderator (And need we mention a pledge died at SUNY Binghamton from alcohol-related fall at a recognized Greek chapter)?
http://time.com/5049781/suny-oneonta-frat-freshman-dies/
Here is another from Daily Star: Underground Greek organizations at the State University College at Oneonta have been a longtime problem and are difficult to track as they come and go, Oneonta Police Chief Douglas Brenner said Tuesday.
Freshman student Daniel Michaels died Saturday from a combination of drugs and alcohol shortly after he was found unconscious in a home that members of unrecognized fraternity Alpha Pi moved into this fall.
Brenner said police are investigating whether Michaels was at a welcome party for new pledges at a different location when he ingested the drugs and alcohol, and said hazing is not considered a factor at this point.
Unrecognized Greek groups often use the letters of national organizations but are not affiliated with them or the college and don’t give the names of their members to the school. Some continue to operate after schools strip their official status. SUNY Oneonta’s website says that hazing has been a problem with unrecognized groups, and advises that students who rush them do so “at their own risk of academic failure or difficulty and physical and emotional hazing.”
Brenner said there are four or five such groups that police are aware of this year, and a sophomore student in an unrecognized sorority who spoke on a condition of anonymity said there are about 10 total. She said that although they are often stigmatized by students, many act similarly to official fraternities and sororities and mingle with them, also participating in fund raising and volunteer activities.
She said her sorority was kicked off the campus years ago but continued under a new name and currently has about 40 members. They had the option to go through the recognition process again but chose not to, partially to save money on dues, she said.
Students interviewed by The Daily Star said that they have heard stories of hazing in both official and unofficial fraternities and sororities, but that it was more common in unofficial Greek life where they are more likely to get away with it. Rumored hazing rituals included crawling through snow or standing outside for hours in freezing weather, swallowing goldfish, and at one unofficial sorority, being forced to strip naked in front of fraternity members.
Both official and unrecognized Greek groups regularly move from house to house on year-long leases, according to a former student. Few official fraternities display their letters outside because they don’t own the property. Landlord Peter Clark confirmed that his brother owns the house Alpha Pi members moved into this fall, and said that the company has a rule against renting to fraternities but students lie.
The older homes many students rent in the city can be a barrier to becoming a recognized Greek group; they may not meet the fire codes necessary to be a designated fraternity or sorority house.
Greek life advisor Angie Eichler said that the school encourages incoming students to join recognized groups during orientation, and that parents are sent a letter about Greek life every semester. Unrecognized Greek groups were invited to an open meeting last year to discuss the process for being verified, which two have since completed, she said.
An alcohol and drug committee at SUNY Oneonta educates students with an alcohol-awareness week and safe-spring-break campaigns, according to the school’s website. The committee also sponsors a survey every two years to identify attitudes and patterns of alcohol and drug use.
Erin Jerome, staff writer,