Police: DKE frat members arrested for hazing, urinating upon LSU pledges

Nine members of a fraternity under suspension at Louisiana State University were arrested Thursday on charges related to hazing pledges who were urinated on, forced to lay on broken glass, and ordered to stand for hours in painful positions, according to authorities.

The nine present and former Louisiana students, all of whom had been members of Delta Kappa Epsilon, were booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges ranging from criminal hazing to felony battery, the university said. All turned themselves in to police.

The charges stem from an investigation by LSU police, who received reports about hazing from DKE’s national organization.

One pledge told police he was forced to stay in an ice machine for more than 30 minutes that was half filled with ice and water. He was eventually taken out to lie on a basketball court covered in broken glass, according to an affidavit in support of the arrests.

While on the court, he and another pledge were sprayed with a hose. The pair also had milk cartons thrown at them and were urinated upon, the affidavit said.

Read more:  www.usatoday.com

 

, USA TODAYPublished 4:57 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2019 | Updated 8:47 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2019

Sexual Assault on Campus Strategies for first year students and parents.

We owe it to our sons and daughters to have honest conversations about sexual violence and dating violence. Research repeatedly demonstrates that first-year women students, especially, are at the highest risk of sexual assault. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that much of this occurs within the first few weeks and months of school starting, so some young women are entering their first weeks of classes, already disoriented from a violation, so soon after campus orientation.

Research shows that the majority of sexual assault on campus is perpetrated by a small group of predatory males who are doing this over and over to multiple women.

by: Deborah J. Cohan, Ph.D.

Learn more:  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-lights/201709/sexual-assault-campus

New York Today: The City’s Bystander Effect

Good morning on this clear Monday.

The first time I dialed 911 in New York was on a subway platform at 42nd Street — last week.

A woman was bleeding on her head and neck; she had fallen on the stairs between the platform and turnstiles.

Some passengers hurried past her. Others stopped to look and moved on. Several took out their phones — not to call for help, but instead to record the scene.

Maybe you’ve witnessed a similar episode in the city: curious onlookers who hesitate to act or opt not to do anything at all.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com

 


Is there such thing as a digital bystander effect?
CreditJohn Taggart for The New York Times

Boy ‘driven to suicide by bullies’

A distraught mother has claimed that her 11-year-old son was driven to suicide by bullies at his school.

Thomas Thompson took an overdose of painkillers after other pupils picked on him because he was clever and well-spoken, she said.

Sandra Thompson found her son in his bedroom when she returned home from work in the evening.

Her partner, Geoff Clarke, tried to resuscitate the youngster while paramedics were called, but he had suffered a fatal heart attack.

Thomas is believed to be the youngest child to take his own life because of alleged bullying.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-187330/Boy-driven-suicide-bullies.html#ixzz4QIMmWdJg
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Coach: Hazing hurts the whole team

Posted: Aug 13, 2015 3:39 PM EST
Updated: Aug 13, 2015 5:05 PM EST
By Katy Solt

AUGUSTA, GA (WFXG) – There are still many unanswered questions after a student came forward making hazing allegations against his new football teammates. Shakur Chisolm, a star running back who just transferred to Allendale-Fairfax High School, said he and other students were hazed at a summer camp for the football team, and now he wants answers as to why nothing was done.

So what are other schools and state organizations doing to make sure their students aren’t taking part in illegal activities?

A team is supposed to be a second family, a group of friends that will have your back and help out no matter what situation you get into. But what happens when the people who’re supposed to help you, hurt you?

Chisolm said he and other new players on the team were beaten with gloves, belts and fists as part of a team hazing ritual for the school football team.

In Augusta, Westside High School Football Coach Scott Tate said while the specifics on this case haven’t been fully released, hazing doesn’t just hurt one or two players, it hurts the entire team.

“Anytime you’re hazing like that, you’re not taking care of each other,” Tate said. “You want to build each other up, not bring each other down.”

Hazing allegations have not been brought forward in Richmond County, but at Westside, the coaches and players work together to make sure that doesn’t ever happen.

“One thing that we do is we talk to the kids all the time about doing things as a family, being a team, being together, taking care of each other,” Tate said. “You have to work together on the team, and that’s something that we build and we try to do.”

The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) and the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) both list unsportsmanlike conduct policies on their websites, but neither have a hazing policy listed online. A representative for the SCHSL said the schools handle any cases, and if the league is notified, then they step in to help investigate.

With the school year barely underway, and the teams waiting for the first Friday night game, Tate said the important thing players need to remember is that a team is a family, and you always protect and help your family.

“As a team you’re working to win the game, to have the best season you can,” Tate said. “And if you’re pulling somebody down, you’re not doing that. You need to build each other up.”

Senaca Baines, the principal of Allendale-Fairfax High School, said he was notified of the allegations last Friday, and an investigation was immediately launched. The school is also working with the superintendent on this matter.

Virtually all college students experience the effects of college drinking – whether they drink or not.

The problem with college drinking is not necessarily the drinking itself, but the negative consequences that result from excessive drinking.   Each year, drinking affects college students, as well as college communities, and families. The consequences of drinking include: death, assault, sexual abuse, injury, academic problems, health problems/suicide attempts and more.  As reported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the report:  www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol

 

Most Dangerous Colleges

For many college students, their campus becomes a new home. The full hallways of young adults, the blue safety buttons and the ample staff of campus police seem to promise protection at every corner.

But colleges are not, actually, impermeable to the crimes of the real world. Despite extensive safety precautions taken by many schools, crimes do strike campuses.

The Daily Beast reviewed the U.S. Department of Education’s stats for college campuses around the nation and narrowed down the ones that are the most plagued by crime, weighting the data for campus population.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/most-dangerous-colleges/

 

 

Safest College Campuses 2016

 

The 2016 Safest College Campuses ranking is based on key statistics and student reviews. Top ranked colleges offer a safe and healthy environment with little or no campus crime, drugs, and alcohol usage.

See how this ranking was calculated.

 

 

Former Florida A&M students receive probation for hazing death

By Associated Press June 27, 2015 12:26 pm

ORLANDO, Fla. — State Attorney Jeff Ashton wanted to send a harsh message Friday (June 26) during the sentencing hearing of three former members of Florida A&M University Marching Band convicted in the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion.

But Circuit Judge Renee A. Roche, in determining their sentences, had other considerations:

First, she said, Champion willingly participated in the ritual that ended his life that November evening in 2011.

Second, the young men convicted of manslaughter and hazing in April will have to live with felony records for the rest of their lives.

Finally, Roche said, it was important to balance their sentences against the other nine former FAMU band members charged in the case.

Most were given probation.

At the end of the day Friday, so were Aaron Golson, Benjamin McNamee and Darryl Cearnel. All received 10 years’ probation.

“The court recognizes that perhaps Mr. Champion had thoughts or philosophical objections or reservations about this conduct, but there was no evidence of that presented in this case,” Roche said prior to handing down the sentences.

“To the contrary, the evidence was that he went to the bus on his own, that he responded affirmatively when he was asked if he was sure repeatedly, and there was no external pressure for him to participate.”

Ashton asked for the minimum sentence, 9 1/2 years in prison. After the hearing, he would not comment.

Champion, 26, was killed after participating in a ritual known as Crossing Bus C, in which band members hit, kicked and punched him as he made his way down the aisle of a parked charter bus.

Champion’s parents have challenged whether their son voluntarily boarded the bus after performing in the Florida Classic game between FAMU and Bethune-Cookman University.

“There is no real documented proof,” Champion’s mother, Pam, testified in court Friday. “What you’ve heard has been said over and over and over again by the people who killed him. Check your source.”

Roche told the families she reached her decision by also weighing the fact that “the brand of felony on these young men is a substantial punishment that perhaps can never be undone.”

Members of the defendants’ families, who filled the courtroom to offer character statements on behalf of the men, broke into tears after Roche announced that none of them would be going to prison.

“I am just thankful — I am thankful for my son and the other defendants,” said McNamee’s mother, Sharri Dean-Collins. “Of course, I pray for Mrs. Champion and Mr. Champion, that they will continue to find peace. I still want us to join hands and fight [hazing] together because there is so much to be done.”

In January, Roche sentenced the accused ringleader of the ritual, 28-year-old Dante Martin, 6 1/2 years in prison after a jury trial. She gave him a harsher sentence because he orchestrated the event, she said.

Jessie Baskin, another former FAMU band member, was sentenced to nearly a year in jail. The state is appealing that sentence. Baskin has since been released from jail.

Caleb Jackson, who pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge, has not yet been sentenced.

Washington and Lee suspends fraternity for hazing incident

By Associated Press March 12, 2015 8:45 am

Washington and Lee University has suspended a fraternity for three years following a hazing incident.

Media outlets report that Washington and Lee President Kenneth Ruscio announced the suspension of Phi Kappa Psi on Wednesday in a letter to students, faculty and staff.

Ruscio says a fraternity member used a Taser on a new member on March 5. The hazing was reported the next day through the university’s anonymous online hazing report form.

The Interfraternity Council had voted Tuesday night to suspend Phi Kappa Psi for a year and a half. Ruscio says he added another year and a half to the suspension. He called the incident “clear physical abuse.”

The Roanoke Times reported that Ruscio said in the letter “It was a specific act that occurred in a climate of intimidation that existed throughout the fraternity’s new member education program.”

The student who allegedly used the Taser has not been suspended, university spokesman Brian Eckert told The Times.