Fraternity Accused in Alleged Hazing of Pledge

A fraternity at Cal State Northridge faces a disciplinary hearing in connection with the alleged hazing of a pledge who became so drunk at a house party he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital with convulsions, a university spokesman said.

The April 29 incident, at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house off campus, involved a 20-year-old pledge. The student, whom the university would not identify, told officials he drank nine or 10 alcoholic beverages in less than an hour at the behest of fraternity members, said CSUN spokesman John Chandler.

“The victim’s account is that he and other pledges were directed to go through a regimen of activities that included being given repeated drinks,” said Chandler. “From his perspective, he was expected to drink them. He did.”

Besides drinking, the activities at the Keswick Street fraternity house in Reseda included “jumping up and down and saying things,” Chandler said.

“From the university’s point of view, this was an activity that appears to be one of hazing,” Chandler said. “It triggers the disciplinary process.”

The Interfraternity Council Judicial Board will also hold a hearing on the issue. A date has not been set.

The CSUN incident comes amid increased alarm over binge drinking by students.

Earlier this month, a grand jury indicted a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, for manslaughter and hazing in the 1997 death of an 18-year-old freshman after a night of binge drinking at the fraternity house.

Referral of SAE to the Interfraternity Council at CSUN followed a four-month probe that included interviewing about 50 witnesses, said Chandler, who was designated by campus administrators to handle all inquiries on the matter.

Although hazing is outlawed in California, Chandler said campus police decided not to pursue criminal charges against the fraternity because of conflicting accounts of the event.

A spokesman for the national office of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in Evanston, Ill., denied the hazing charges, but acknowledged that there was substantial drinking at the fraternity that night, after a social event involving pledges and their “Big Sisters.”

“Big Sisters” are older college women who serve as mentors to the pledges, said national SAE spokesman Benjamin Lewis.

Lewis said the incident sparked a thorough review of the fraternity house by an alumni board, which weeded out problem members, outlawed alcohol in the house and put the chapter on probation for a year, which could jeopardize their affiliation with its national organization.

The chapter was ordered to revamp its pledge program and to have all social events approved by an alumni board.

The “Big Sisters” event “will never be allowed to happen again,” Lewis vowed.

“We support the university 110%” Lewis said. “Bottom line, we don’t want our chapter to do anything that would hinder the health and safety of our pledges or members.”

At the time of the drinking incident, Lewis said, a chapter member performed CPR on the pledge after he was found on a couch unconscious and not breathing.

Lewis and Chandler said the student had been drinking before he arrived at the fraternity house.

Chandler said the student’s blood alcohol level was “very high,” according to the report of the investigation. He would not disclose the exact blood-alcohol level, but the student was hospitalized overnight.

Neither Chandler nor Lewis knows if the SAE pledge went on to join the fraternity.

Despite the fraternity’s efforts to resolve the problem, Chandler said CSUN cannot drop its inquiry.

“If, in fact, what transpired was hazing, that is a behavior the university considers to be very serious in nature,” Chandler said, adding that the university has taken a strong position against alcohol abuse.

If the fraternity is found to have violated campus alcohol guidelines, punishment could range from no action to probation, suspension or other sanctions.