The Buckingham

Photo Credit: www.draepi.org/aepi_national.html

Fourteen Boston University students are currently facing complaints of “hazing, failure to report hazing, battery and assault” after Boston police discovered five male students restrained in a fraternity’s basement, nude, and “battered like Asian chicken wings”.

Initially, the police were investigating complaints of loud noise when they found that the five male students had been physically assaulted and covered in products such as mustard and hot sauce. The alleged perpetrators are members from the unofficial BU fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi.

Even though none of the five assaulted students pressed charges or requested any medical treatment, the fourteen fraternity members involved may still face legal action. Hazing is illegal in Massachusetts, and police reported that some of the victims were obviously in shock and “terrified” after they were found.

In addition to the abovementioned charges, some of the fraternity members may face charges such as keeping a disorderly house. Even though this incident occurred off campus, the perpetrators may face expulsion from BU, as the university’s judicial board is said to be handling this case.

Latest updates state that this thirty-member chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi has been shut down. 

Moreover, a 2009 Dartmouth college grad, Ravital Segal, recently published an article on the Huffington Post titled, “Hazing Confessions of a Dartmouth Alum”, in which she recounts an incident during rush week when she was a sophomore.

Specifically, she states that older sorority members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority blindfolded her, put her in the backseat of car, and subsequently ordered her to drink numerous alcoholic beverages one after the other. Ultimately, the next day she found herself in the hospital having been admitted due to an alcohol overdose. Her blood content was a lethal .399; a .4 alcohol level is mostly associated with a coma and death. Later, she learned that another pledge had overdosed, as well. Despite this, she states she did not file charges and even told Dartmouth administration that no hazing had taken place.

Amid such discussions, many are prompting alums to come forward with their stories as well as current students to report any hazing incidents in order to prevent future trauma and tragedies.