Update September 24, 2008: Four-Year Suspension Upheld

Story from the Daily Northwestern's site:

http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.c...-3448862.shtml

Excerpts:
After losing all appeal attempts this summer, Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity received a four-year suspension from Northwestern, said Jim Neumeister, director of judicial affairs. The sanction was the result of a hearing in front of University Hearing and Appeals System last spring.

The board found the historically Asian fraternity violated four university rules, Neumeister said: hazing, a rule prohibiting violence or threatening the safety of any person, restrictions on recruitment until Winter Quarter of a student's freshman year and failure to cooperate with the investigation and student conduct hearings.

Knowledge of the hazing practices became widespread after an April story in The Weekly. . . . They [former pledges] said members of the fraternity forced them to perform all-night calisthenics . . . and drink gallon jugs of thick liquid appearing to be a mixture of ketchup and Tabasco sauce.

The fraternity is prohibited from any on-campus or off-campus activities until at least the 2012-2013 school year. . . .

I just received this email today from AST National Staff about the newly-initiated Lambda Phi Epsilon who died at The University of Texas...


As part of our commitment to Hazing Prevention, we are proud to announce the creation of the Hazing Prevention portion of our website. This story, along with many others, will be profiled on the site.

We now invite you to meet Jack. We hope you learn what he was unable to - A pattern of heavy drinking in alcohol initiations can and will kill you.

Who is Jack?
Phanta Jack Phuommarath entered the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 as a pre-Computer Science major. Just like every college freshman, he created his Facebook profile, met new friends and decided like each one of us, to join a fraternity/sorority. Unfortunately, Jack's life was cut short on December 10, 2005 - eight hours after his fraternity's initiation.

What happened?
Jack was required, with the rest of his new member class, to drink alcohol provided to them by the active members at initiation. Jack became incapacitated as the result of the consumng alcohol and left alone, unattended. Jack died that night.

It was found that the drinking was only a portion of what Jack and his fellow new members had to endure. Jack had shaved his head as part of the initiation and also reportedly had markings that apparently were drawn on him at the fraternity after he passed out at the party.

His Legacy
Jack's family have taken proceeds from the settlement of their cases and have created an endowment in honor of their son to promote alcohol awareness and to educate other students about the dangers of hazing and binge drinking. The family also developed a professionally produced video regarding the dangers of hazing and binge drinking. His family hopes their efforts will make a difference and prevent others from losing a child in such a senseless tragedy.

Watch the Videos
The message is clear. Jack Phoummarath was an incredible young man, who unfortunately, trusted men he was supposed to call his "brothers", and it cost him his life.

The Pledge http://www.stophazing.org/nuwer/july08column.htm (see bottom of webpage)
Jack's Website http://www.inmemoryofjack.com/
StopHazing.org