Several University of Maryland fraternities have been accused of holding brutal hazing ceremonies in which participants were burned with cigarettes and forced to lie on beds of nails.
The school lifted a blanket suspension of most Greek life organizations Friday, following a weeks-long investigation into allegations of abuse at a handful of fraternities.
Even though five Greek organizations are still under investigation, according to WJZ.
The investigation began when the Office of Student Conduct received an anonymous report from a parent on Feb. 21, according to court documents.
The parent claimed her chapter required her son to stand outside in the cold for hours, forcing him to go to the university health center for suspected hypothermia.
He was also required to clean chapter members’ off-campus homes and mop floors until 2:30 a.m., according to the report.
Several University of Maryland fraternities have been accused of holding brutal hazing ceremonies in which participants were burned with cigarettes and forced to lie on beds of nails. The allegations sparked a massive investigation that concluded Friday.
In a letter to the community, Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Perillo (pictured) detailed the school’s next steps, including developing “more comprehensive, evidence-based educational opportunities for all members of the section concerning the consumption of alcohol and other drugs”.
Six days later, the office received another anonymous email alleging that several fraternities were engaging in hazing activities with new recruits, according to investigators.
According to reports, new members were paddled, burned with cigarettes and torches and forced to put nails on themselves.
Students were also forced to consume non-food items such as live fish, chewing tobacco and urine, were spat on and forced to clean the homes of chapter members, according to court documents.
At one event, “an individual passed out” and fraternity members “refused” to give water to prospective members, according to the allegations.
Instead, they were “forced” to drink “pure vodka because they did nothing to help” the unconscious student. Instead, “they hit him in the face with a plastic bat and poured beer on him until he woke up,” court documents reveal.
On March 1, the office received another anonymous message from the mother of a new fraternity member.
She claimed her son’s chapter “locked the new members in the basement and broke the windows on the floor so the new members could clean them,” the documents state.
After reviewing data from the university’s health and counseling centers, the office determined that there was a slight increase in the number of visits from chapter members during the month of February.
The school lifted the blanket suspension of most Greek life organizations Friday, but five of them remain under investigation. Pictured: McKeldin Library on the University of Maryland campus
Based on concerns regarding ‘continued violations of the code of conduct regarding hazing and alcohol and drug use, the office determined that immediate action was warranted to prevent harm to the university’s students, according to court documents.
Despite the ban being lifted on Friday, five chapters remain under investigation. They have not been publicly named by the school, but court documents indicate the Kappa Alpha Order is under investigation over allegations of hazing and alcohol abuse.
The other four fraternities were not identified in court documents, but Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Sigma Kappa, Sigma Nu and Zeta Beta Tau were the only Greek life organizations not allowed to resume activities Friday, according to the ‘university.
The troubled institution was also the subject of a lawsuit filed by several fraternities who claimed the school violated students’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights during its investigation.
But the The Maryland Attorney General’s Office filed a memorandum opposing the fraternities’ request for a temporary restraining order against school officials.
The office argued that the university was “fully authorized, consistent with its code of student conduct,” to impose restrictions as part of an investigation into hazing and alcohol abuse, “which threatened health and the safety of its students.
In a letter to the community, Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Perillo detailed the school’s next steps.
These included developing “more comprehensive, evidence-based educational opportunities for all section members regarding substance use” and establishing reporting mechanisms “to share information possible cases of hazing or other problems in real time.
The troubled institution was also the subject of a lawsuit filed by several fraternities who claimed the school violated students’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights in its investigation. Pictured: Maryland’s Symon’s Hall
Friday’s development came after the Fraternity Forward Coalition, a fraternity advocacy group, was tapped to conduct interviews with members of the school’s Greek life organizations about the school’s investigation. university.
The organization claims the students’ phones were searched because they were “coerced into participating in a baseless investigation” by administrators who threatened them with “disciplinary retaliation for non-compliance.”
After the ban was lifted, the group released another statement. “Finally, on the eve of spring break, the University of Maryland is doing the right thing,” it read.
“Unfortunately, it took them two weeks and the threat of a judge’s decision to do so. We are astounded by the school’s willingness to repeatedly violate the civil liberties of its students… as well as its own administrative procedures in pursuing a baseless investigation.
The group vowed to pursue legal action against school officials.