January 11, 2013
Cornell Withdraws Recognition of a Fraternity After a Report of Hazing
ByARIEL KAMINER
Two years after one of its students died after a fraternity drinking ritual,Cornell Universityhas withdrawn its recognition of another fraternity after a pledging episode in which prospective members were said to have been served alcohol and stripped naked.
The pledging, in October, involved students hoping to join the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity, said Claudia Wheatley, director of the university’s press relations office. “Their initiation consisted of being told to take off their clothes, down to their underwear, then the existing members apparently stripped the underwear off of them,” she said. “In addition, they were served alcohol.”
Two of the students were taken by ambulance to a hospital and treated for excessive intoxication, she said. She did not know how much alcohol they had consumed, but she added, “as far as the university was concerned, the humiliation of being told to strip and then having someone pull your underwear off was plenty to qualify as hazing, which is not tolerated at Cornell.”
Charles G. Wolf, an officer of the Tau Epsilon Phi national organization, said that the episode “is against our values,” citing an official statement that said in part: “I will respect the dignity of all persons; therefore I will not physically, mentally, psychologically, or sexually abuse or haze any human being.”
But he took issue with Cornell’s response. “My understanding is that chapter leadership was not there at the time but when they heard about the intoxication they took proper action,” he said. “They called for medical help immediately.”
As a result, he said, “This actually could have a negative impact on other houses on campus. They will see they did the right thing but still got loss of recognition. If there had been a cover-up, that would have been the appropriate thing to do. But things like disciplinary probation, disciplinary reprimand, would I think probably be a better choice.”
The episode follows a string of hazing episodes around the state. Last spring,Binghamton University suspended pledgingafter a series of complaints about people being physically abused, deprived of sleep and forced to drink heavily. In the fall, members of thewomen’s volleyball team at the State University of New York-Geneseowere charged with hazing after the police said that freshmen on the team had been handcuffed, blindfolded and forced to drink large amounts of vodka.
Several of the players charged accepted plea dealsthat involved community service and would lead to a formal dropping of the charges, according to The Associated Press.
In February 2011, George Desdunes, a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at Cornell,died after he had been subjected to a mock kidnappingand encouraged to drink large amounts of alcohol. The chapter of that fraternity was disbanded, although the three people tried on hazing charges, who argued that Mr. Desdunes had been drinking heavily earlier in the evening and had participated in the ritual voluntarily,were later acquitted.
Still, after the death, Cornell’s president, David J. Skorton,writing on the Op-Ed pageof The New York Times, announced that he had “directed student leaders of Cornell’s Greek chapters to develop a system of member recruitment and initiation that does not involve ‘pledging’ — the performance of demeaning or dangerous acts as a condition of membership.”
Ms. Wheatley said no legal charges were being brought in connection with the Tau Epsilon Phi case, and no students were being singled out for discipline on campus. But she added: “For a fraternity, losing recognition is pretty serious. They can’t participate in rush next week. They can’t recruit new members.”
Ms. Wheatley said Cornell learned about the hazing through several channels, including an e-mail from someone in the fraternity and an anonymous tip through the university’shazing-prevention Web site. According to the rules of Cornell’s Greek system, the chapter has a brief window in which to appeal the decision, but it was unclear if that option would be exercised.
Materials recently removed from the Cornell University Web site had described the now defunct fraternity chapter as “a credit to Tau Epsilon Phi, a house devoted to the T.E.P. motto of friendship, chivalry, and service.” It called the chapter the “jewel” of the organization.