Excerpt from the Daily Athenaaeum
The West Virginia University Police Department is investigating an alleged hazing incident between 10 and 15 Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity members that occurred early Monday morning, said Police Chief Bob Roberts.
Police officers entered the fraternity house, located at 672 North High St., between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. after hearing music and seeing an open door. There they found pledges blindfolded with food poured on them, Roberts said.
One person was allegedly slapping those blindfolded in the face. There was a warrant out for his arrest, and police detained him Monday afternoon. He has since been released on bail, Roberts said.
There were six to seven new members and approximately four active members, said Ron Justice, WVU’s director of Student Organizations Services. He said there is no indication alcohol was involved, and no one was injured.
WVU put the fraternity on moratorium, which bans it from any activities.
“We patrol the fraternities about the same way we do the residence halls,” Roberts said. “It kind of surprises me that this was going on there because they know we do.”
Hazing is, as defined by the West Virginia State Code, “to cause any action which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health or safety of another person or persons or causes another person or persons to destroy or remove public or private property for the purpose of initiation or admission into any organization … operating under the sanction of or recognized as an organization by an institution of higher education.”
