Monday, April 28, 2008

Daily Texan:Fraternity leaders face hazing charges

SAE in hot water. From The Daily Texan :

The Travis County Attorney's Office charged four members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Texas Rho Chapter on Friday for allegedly hazing pledges with cattle prods, beating them with bamboo sticks and forcing them to binge drink.

Officials indicted former chapter President Chase Bolding, economics senior and former pledge trainer Austin Sherrill and former pledge trainer Will Evans with both hazing, a Class B misdemeanor, and furnishing alcohol to a minor, a Class A misdemeanor. Attorneys also charged former Vice President Jimmy Berry with failure to report hazing, a Class B misdemeanor. Class B misdemeanors are punishable by up to six months in jail and a maximum $2,000 fine. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum $4,000 fine.

All of the charges relate to incidences that occurred during the fall 2006 semester. Lawyers for the charged members could not be reached by press time.

Travis County Attorney David Escamilla said this was the first time a hazing-related investigation had led to additional charges. Escamilla said the Nov. 17, 2006 death of engineering freshman and pledge Tyler Cross sparked the 14-month investigation. The correlation between the hazing investigation and Cross' death is under the jurisdiction of the Travis County District Attorney's office, but representatives from the office did not confirm any relationship by press time.

"The message we're trying to send is really to focus on the leadership," Escamilla said. "If they aren't going to control the hazing, then I don't know who will."

After the Ohio State University football game on Sept. 9, 2006, Bolding, Sherrill and Evans called a meeting at a pledge's room in the University Towers private dormitory, according to the probable cause affidavit. At the meeting, Bolding forced a pledge to take the "bows and toes position" in which he had to raise himself on his elbows and toes while lying on a table. After the pledge got into position, Bolding flipped the table over onto the pledge. Later in the meeting, Evans threw darts at a pledge's hand after telling the pledge to put his hand against a dart board. Several darts struck the pledge. Sherrill also picked up a hot clothes iron and burned the faces of two pledges in the room. The two were instructed to not attend classes until the minor burns healed, the affidavit said.

On Nov. 10, 2006, the fraternity hosted a "cactus run," where pledges were required to gather large amounts of cactus with their bare hands for an upcoming party, the affidavit said. At the event, Evans required three pledges to eat Crisco and two others to eat cat food. Evans also shocked several pledges with a cattle prod and forced one to sit on a cactus, according to the affidavit.

Four days later, during "Jungle Week," - a week dedicated to building structures for the fraternity's biggest party of the year - members required pledges to participate in a pool-building competition, dividing them into two teams, the affidavit continued. The pledges ran across the house's yard carrying heavy rocks, while active members struck them with bamboo sticks. Members forced the losing team to pile into the back of a Penske truck, where Sherrill gave a speech and shocked the pledges with a cattle prod, the affidavit said.

Two days after that, on Nov. 16, 2006, the chapter hosted a ceremony called "Senior Boo" where nine active members chose one pledge each to attend, the affidavit said. That night, the pledges got into the back of the Penske truck parked outside of the fraternity house. The members instructed the pledges to remove their shirts and blindfold themselves, and at least one other member was hog-tied. Sherrill drove the truck to the location of "Senior Boo," while members in the back used cattle prods on the pledges. When they arrived at the ceremony, the members gave the pledges three half-gallon bottles of tequila, whiskey and Rumplemintz to drink, the affidavit said.

Sherrill encouraged the underage pledges to "consume excessive amounts of liquor," the affidavit said. Sherrill and Bolding also "traded swats" from a piece of bamboo with the pledges. During the ceremony, Bolding singled out one pledge, forced him to get into the "bows and toes" position and kicked him in the stomach. On the ride back, Bolding and Sherrill provided the pledges with a keg of beer, the affidavit said.

Juan Gonzalez, vice president for student affairs, said the University is taking a proactive effort to prevent hazing and providing alcohol to minors. On April 7, representatives from SAE and UT signed a mutual agreement restricting the fraternity from such activities. Gonzalez said SAE is the only Greek organization to sign the agreement.

"What was made public today was very disturbing," Gonzalez said. "Individual students, and also organizations, need to recognize that there are consequences. At the end of the day, we're talking about illegal activities."

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