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LSU Fraternity Faces Hazing Charges

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/9-f...W1j?ocid=ientp

"9 fraternity members arrested in Louisiana for hazing crimes.

"BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana State University announced the arrests of nine fraternity members for hazing-related crimes on Wednesday in a toughened approach to such incidents after the death of a pledge in a fraternity drinking ritual.

"The men arrested, ranging from ages 19 to 23, were members of Delta Kappa Epsilon. Their charges range from misdemeanor hazing to felony second-degree battery and false imprisonment.

"DKE's national organization closed LSU's century-old chapter last month, saying members violated the organization's alcohol and hazing policies. LSU said the hazing allegedly happened last fall...."

This article has some details, and yikes. It's no wonder they were arrested.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/louisiana-...posts_card_hed

Wow. I knew a guy in college who was a "target" of bullies and I believe extended a bid so that he could be the whipping boy when it came to hazing. He went through all kinds of hell to the amusement of the actives and then was released for some reason (can't remember why) prior to initiation. Bad stuff. But nobody talked or turned people in back then--I had told him to drop out but this was his second attempt at pledging a frat and he desperately wanted to be Greek. This LSU case is awful and I'm glad these kids have been arrested and that the chapter has closed. Always sad when that happens, but sounds like it definitely needed to happen in this case.

That is how real hazing should be taken care of -- arrests and the criminal justice process. That behavior is not indicative of most fraternities.

Matthew Naquin was found guilty yesterday and has additional charges pending in Max Gruver’s death. Sounds like Naquin is a sadistic individual. It came out that he had also set another brother’s hair on fire in the past too.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn...ial/index.html

Do Title IX Protections Discriminate Against Fraternity Members?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/...ternity-hazing

Quote:

A lawsuit filed by the parents of a*Louisiana State University*student who died during a fraternity hazing ritual could drastically reform college disciplinary systems nationwide if it is successful.

This month, a federal judge agreed that a groundbreaking legal argument by the student's parents potentially has merit. The parents' argument is that fraternity members and pledges at the state's flagship institution are far more at risk than their sorority counterparts because the university disregarded the dangerous and sometimes fatal hazing activities that occur among men in Greek life and cracked down on the women more severely.

The lawyer for the parents of Max Gruver -- an 18-year-old who died in 2017 after being forced to chug hard liquor -- alleged this violates Title*IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law barring sex discrimination at public and private educational institutions that receive federal funds.

Sooo this is interesting. It seems the argument being made is that since there is much more pervasive hazing by the fraternities, they are being discriminated against. Unless, of course, there has been some kind of disciplinary action taken against the sororities as a whole that wasn't equally applied to the fraternities.

Does anyone here know this to be the case?

Unless the sororities were suspended by the university alone - and not as a reaction to actions taken by their national - this suit has zero merit.

LSU's review request denied in case of frat pledge's death

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/..._headlines_hed

As a result of this, I see many private universities shutting down Greek life altogether and public universities regulating it to the point that it's just not fun anymore. This is very bad for our organizations. It may be true that LSU treats men's and women's groups differently and is essentially deliberately violating Title IX, waiving their immunity. I don't think they will agree that is the case. They will see Greek Life as a huge liability that they're going to want no part of going forward.

I honestly do not understand why people think it's fun to haze.

Greeks, band groups, military groups, athletic teams, even whole schools where freshmen are hazed-- where is the thrill?

I'm not honestly sure what the examples are that they have for women's groups being held to a higher standard by the University.

I can't come up with a case where an NPC sorority has had anything like this happen to compare the punishments.

I think it comes back to the age old issue of alcohol being on the premises in fraternity housing. The next shoe to drop is alcohol being prohibited in all Greek housing. Schools are going to start demanding student groups waive their 4th Amendment rights and consent to random searches by university law enforcement. That's exactly the course of action I'd be recommending if I was general counsel to any public university. If I was general counsel to a private university, I'd strongly be considering whether to recommend the shuttering of any Greek life.