Texas A&M Univ. investigating photos showing possible hazing of BAND MEMBERS

[SATX*APhi]

Texas A&M University investigating photos showing possible hazing
Photos of naked, bound students thought to be band members were found on yearbook computer

By Associated Press
June 20, 2002

COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M University police are investigating a dozen photos found at the yearbook office which show students, believed to be members of the Aggie Band, naked, gagged and bound with duct tape.

Bob Wiatt, director of the University Police Department, , said his office opened an investigation Monday after the pictures were discovered on a computer at the yearbook's campus office last week.

"There are about a dozen pictures and it would certainly appear to be hazing," Wiatt told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Wiatt said it is believed the pictures were taken in April, but the police department hasn't received any complaints from students believed to be involved. He said the pictures are of a number of different individuals the department is trying to identify and contact. Many students have left campus for the summer, he said.

The police department will turn its findings over to the Brazos County Attorney's Office, which will determine if charges should be filed, Wiatt said.

The Bryan-College Station Eagle reported Tuesday that Tamara Adams, the yearbook's editor, found the photos, which had been scanned electronically and saved onto a computer in the office. She notified the head of the university's journalism department who turned the photos over to a university administrator, according to the university's student run newspaper, The Battalion.

The university will await the findings of the police investigation before proceeding with its own inquiry and considering any disciplinary action.

"It's disappointing," J. Malon Southerland, vice president for student affairs, told the Eagle. "The photos were relatively explicit, so it was clear it should involve a University Police investigation."

University rules and state law prohibit hazing. Southerland said hazing will not be tolerated at the university, which had 44,618 students last year.



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