Fourteen Are Charged With Hazing

Victims were found with welts on their backs

April 11, 2012
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Image courtesy of Alpha Epsilon Pi

Fourteen BU students are charged with hazing, assault and battery, and failure to report hazing in connection with an alleged hazing of pledges to Alpha Epsilon Pi, a fraternity that is not recognized by the University.

The incident, discovered early Monday morning by Boston Police responding to a complaint of a loud party at 24 Ashford Street in Allston, left five apparent pledges dressed only in their underwear standing in the basement, covered with various food ingredients and with their hands bound together, according to a BPD report. Further investigation revealed red welts on the backs of the alleged victims.

The same fraternity was involved in another alleged hazing incident last month with Sigma Delta Tau (SDT) sorority. In that case, two women were treated and released from the hospital for intoxication following a booze-related incident involving SDT and AEPi.

SDT was suspended by the University while Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore (SED’87) conducted an investigation. “We found we needed to talk to additional students,” during that process, he says, so “we are going to still keep the sorority on suspension until further notice, until we have time to talk to more students,” says Elmore.

Elmore says his office will conduct an investigation in accordance with the University’s disciplinary process. “This is a serious, serious incident,” he says. “What’s troubling is we have a group of students affiliated with AEPi who were involved in this and the other incident. The consistent fact has been that members of this organization have been involved in both incidents.”

The Boston Globe reports that the national fraternity suspended the BU chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi and its 30 members, saying the actions reported clearly violated the group’s guidelines.

According to the police report, the victims in Monday’s incident were doused with flour, honey, chili sauce, coffee grinds, fish sauce, and mustard. All of the students involved declined to talk to the police. The incident so concerned Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino that he asked BU to forward the findings of their investigation to the city.

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  • Art Jahnke

    Senior Contributing Editor

    Art Janke

    Art Jahnke began his career at the Real Paper, a Boston area alternative weekly. He has worked as a writer and editor at Boston Magazine, web editorial director at CXO Media, and executive editor in Marketing & Communications at Boston University, where his work was honored with many awards. Profile

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There are 34 comments on Fourteen Are Charged With Hazing

  1. While I can not truly express how disgusted I am with the actions of this fraternity, I think more emphasis should be put on the fact that they are NOT a part of Greek Life at Boston University. They are giving all of Greek Life here a bad name and they are not even affiliated with the school. That just doesn’t seem fair to me. I think people need to take a closer look at the facts and realize that their own national board took away their charter for not following the group’s guidelines, so how can we possibly expect them to act differently than the way they are now. If their own national group doesn’t want to be associated then obviously there is something seriously wrong….

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    1. the group itself isn’t part of BU Greek life, but the individuals involved are BU students. You can’t help but wonder if the other BU students involved in frats have a similar mentality.

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      1. The first article made it perfectly clear that BU does not affiliate themselves with this fraternity. We get it. The point is that the young men involved are BU students who joined a fraternity and, like the BU students who happen to play hockey, should be seen as such and treated within the perspective of the entire campus culture. The investigations need to be school wide, BU needs to stop hiding from the truth to avoid bad publicity and face these issues head on. IF you want you’re students to act with integrity, set an example.

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        1. Dear …,
          While I am sure that we all appreciate your tremendous viewpoints, I think the greater evil here would be to apply the stigma associated with one particular, unsanctioned, unaffiliated, and unrecognized fraternity to the BU Greek Community at large. If I choose to enjoy a casual pick up game of hockey does that mean that I am in fact a rapist? If I choose to join a fraternity in strong social standing, with a storied record of philanthropy and a clean record with regards to any University sanctions or punishments does that mean I also wish to belittle others who seek the same? I would say not. I understand where your argument is coming from, but next time you choose to post at least have the common decency to take some responsibility for what you are saying and post your name. Furthermore, the last thing this campus needs right now is close minded nay sayers such as yourself. Thank you, and have a tremendous day.

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          2. Hi Nick,
            My name is Dana, I am a Masters in Public Health candidate over on the medical campus. Thank you for your reply. Perhaps I did not explain myself appropriately, or perhaps you misunderstood my point. I actually agree with you. To be clear, I was calling for BU administration to investigate these allegations as part of the broader campus life and culture, NOT within separate, isolated group incidences. I suppose that this comes from the public health side of me. I also firmly believe that not only do these events happen on most college campuses, but that these events are most likely a problem to some degree within the broader campus community. By focusing our attention on JUST the hockey team or JUST the Greek life,we are undermining the issue at large.

            So, to answer your question, Nick, no I highly doubt you are in fact a rapist for playing hockey. I’m sure the rest of the audience would agree with that contention. Thank you for your commentary, and I hope you have a “tremendous” day as well.

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  3. Hockey player arrested for assault… fourteen are charged with hazing (AEPi)… … another hazing incident last month (SDT)… I am sure these student issues are not just limited to elite athletes and fraternities (recognized or not). Maybe this is related to the larger overarching campus ethical culture and values. The hockey “Task Force” will probably find that its culture is very much in line with that of the campus (and not just limited to its elite) given the active press coming out in recent months.

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    1. All the hockey task force is going to find is that hockey players aged 15-25 talk about the same things when they are in the locker room: girls. It’s nothing new, and is the same with every single boys sports locker rooms

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    2. Oh come on, you are being incredibly unfair to the hard working students at BU that do not engage or come into contact with this sort of behavior. We have huge amounts of international students who enrich our campus, and students from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds who do not deserve to be compared to members of an illegal fraternity off BU’s campus. BU is one of the most diverse campuses in the nation, and this behavior certainly does not reflect the values or lifestyles of us students.

      How about this instead: every school has some bad apples. You are trying to draw sweeping conclusions from the actions of less than 00.04% of the student population. Roughly one in every two THOUSAND students at BU has been indicted in a recent incident this semester. Yet you feel the need to suggest that this type of action is “very much in line with that of the campus”? I’m am certainly not defending any of these recent crimes, but I also refuse to see the rest of my fellow students get pulled into this mess.

      Here’s an alternative theory: BU actually takes hazing and crime on campus seriously. I used to live in a different state next to lots of fraternities and sororities from a large state school nearby. The things I saw and the stories I heard were terrifying, yet there was never a single arrest in my time living there. At least BU is tackling this issue instead of ignoring it.

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  4. I agree with confused, there’s so much more to the “greek life” than s&m condiment sessions in a dank basement.

    I look forward to the day when college students feel safe in exploring their “confusion” in a safe, nurturing environment.

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  7. Were the pledges there voluntarily? Is it assault and battery if they were voluntarily participating in the ritual? Such things may not be for everyone but there is obviously a niche. Getting covered in food and slapped is much safer than consuming too much alcohol or participating in full contact sports.

    I can understand the university community being concerned about ‘secret societies’ getting out of hand but this does sound like a witch hunt.

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    1. In case you didn’t read any other related articles, the five “pledges” refused medical attention, which means that they could have been drinking as well, we just don’t know. I’m not saying that they were also drinking on top on that, but in the SDT case, the girls were drinking, so it doesn’t make sense to me to rule out the possibility in this case as well.

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  8. So what are the benefits of being in a fraternity/sorority? What is worth going through all this?

    It must be something. Easy sex? Privileged employment from alumni?

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    1. Well played. You are comical beyond all belief, Dr. Humbert.

      Lets pretend that Greek Life at BU doesn’t do anything else. Ignore the notion that of the $50,000 or so raised by BU student run events for philanthropic benefit last year, $35,000 was raised by Sigma Chi in one week. Let’s forget that whenever BU has an athletic event televised, they ask the Greeks specifically to help “cheer on their fellow classmates” and promise recognition for their contributions to the community over the year, and then don’t. I mean BU got their full stands, what else do they need to sell more students?

      The experience of giving back, improving the community around you, belonging to an organization with more power to enact change than just one individual, these are the appeals of Greek Life. Is alcohol involved? No shit, Sherlock. But go into Allston, you’ll find the ones with the best security, that won’t let just anyone in, that will ask overly drunk and obnoxious individuals to leave, and will take care of the ones who are dumb enough to get sick, will be Greek. The other 95% of the parties out there have issues with “roofies” and date rape; I have heard countless stories about girls getting a drink with a guy friend at one of these parties and their drinks tasting different, leading to a blackout or sickness. More fights develop, more issues in every part of the execution.

      This and the SDT disaster were isolated incidents from Greek Life as a whole. The rest of the community actually holds more emphasis in Campus life and contribution to community. The hockey team is also a separate organization. Do you know what might fuel their feelings of grandeur? Maybe setting up a task force and emailing everyone each week to make sure that that they send in testimonials about the hockey team and come to open meetings about the individuals on the team, because they would do that for any group of students that weren’t more important.

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      1. ok first of all everyone knows frat parties in allston are usually VERY sketchy and definitely not well executed..also your “frats”, if you want to see a well executed party try an MIT frat. anyways about your second point of “giving back” do you even know how retarded you sound right now? it is a known fact that sigma chi not only hazes but are also d*uches in general. I guarantee you almost every frat here hazes to some degree, lets stop pretending like it was an isolated incident. oh and no one joins greek life to give back, people who actually want to give back dont want the bad reputation that being in a frat incurs

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  10. What I completely don’t agree with is how people seem to be bashing greek life off these two incidents. I understand that and completely agree that what happened was definitely not acceptable and disgusting. However, what I don’t appreciate is assumptions. Just because a Sorority and Fraternity did what they did does not mean that all Greek life is like that. Joining Greek Life is a choice and there are positive rewards that come from it.

    Bottom line: Don’t judge Greek Life from these incidents, you can judge these people but not Greek Life. That would just be immature

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  11. the outrage here just shows the liberalization of obama’s social welfare. its JUST HAZING!1 noone was hurt and if they didnt like it they dont have to join the frat. why don’t you libs go complain about global warming instead? sheesh

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    2. seriously? Obama? i know both parties are wack, but seriously, Obama? you are a close-minded moron. why dont you conservatives go complain about how much you want a laissez-faire (thats hands off for you stupid) govt while you regulate a womans uterus and everyone’s religious freedom. read the constitution retard, something your entire party has spit on.

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  12. I think it’s clear that BU is not hiding from the truth by reporting on the awful things that have happened here recently. What’s unfortunate is that due to the recent bad press, the public seems to think this is a school-wide problem. Just to put it in perspective, there are over 18,000 undergraduate students at this school. If you take into consideration the 14 mentioned in this article, the handful that were involved in the earlier hazing incident, and the two hockey players that have made the news, 0.01% of students here are doing the wrong thing. Even if you suppose a couple hundred kids are doing things like this that may go unreported, that still means that 99% of our student body is doing the right thing. That translates into well over 17,000 young people having a positive impact on the community and around the world. It’s so unfortunate that the good deeds and efforts of so many thousands are overshadowed in the media by these few individuals who make poor choices.

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  15. I am deeply saddened that this incident occurred, but really–coming from a southern state where most college students are part of Greek life–I am glad that BU is bringing attention to the problem. Tons of other colleges have problems with hazing, yet many of their incidents go unnoticed.

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  16. Let’s avoid confirmation bias and look at the numbers. Some of these negative stereotypes about greek life have a real world foundation that can be measured empirically and indeed intuition is correct – that joining a frat/sorority increases the probability that an individual will engage in risky behavior. Of course there will be individual variability across brothers/sisters and organizations (therefore not all greeks are scum), but I think the statistics in these reports speak for themselves and given the increase in probability of sexual assault associated with greek life, it is clear that there is a congregation of scum bags at least in some of those circles.

    http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/15/7/835.long

    http://www.springerlink.com/content/j1k627684727h7h0/fulltext.html

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