New Jersey College Fraternity Disciplined in Racist Hazing

Racist hazing involving an all-white fraternity resulted in disciplinary charges against one student and the fraternity, the president of Rider College said Friday.

J. Barton Ludeke spoke to about 400 students at a meeting he called to explain his administration’s response to the Jan. 4 “Nigger Night” at Phi Kappa Psi. He said pledges were asked to dress in what he called a “racially denigrating manner.”

Officials of the 3,000-student campus just north of Trenton have said fraternity pledges were told to dress in baggy clothing, speak in stereotypical black speech and paint X’s on their heads for a cleaning session at the chapter house. The X’s were apparently in reference to X caps popularized by Spike Lee’s movie, “Malcolm X.”

Many students, especially minorities, called for the maximum penalty against the student and the fraternity. Both have been charged under school rules with indecent conduct and hazing.

The student, who was not identified publicly, could be suspended for up to a year and the fraternity, which had its activities suspended Jan. 8, could be shut down.

The New Jersey Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi released a statement saying it does not condone language or behavior insensitive to any group or individual.

Fraternity representatives and the student charged will meet with administrators Monday and a school judicial panel is scheduled to convene the following Friday.

The school, where 6% of the students are black, has been shaken.

“It takes only one incident like this for Rider College to go down in history as an infamous, bigoted place,” said Kaeron Charles, a 20-year-old sophomore majoring in liberal arts. “And that’s a shame. It’s disappointing more than anything else.”

Fellow sophomore Tahira Aziz, a black psychology major, said she wasn’t surprised when she heard of the hazing. Aziz said she has noticed racism on the campus.

“It could be at a party, in a classroom,” she said. “You might start talking about racism in the classroom and hear someone’s views and think, ‘I never knew that person had those philosophies.’ ”