Hazing at AEPi-Muhlenberg??? Nope

[hoosier]

November 13, 2004

Muhlenberg fraternity off suspension
Investigators find no evidence Alpha Epsilon Pi was hazing.

By Christina Gostomski
Of The Morning Call

Three days after suspending a fraternity for reports of hazing, Muhlenberg College on Friday lifted the sanction after an investigation failed to substantiate the claims.

Officials at the Allentown college suspended Alpha Epsilon Pi on Tuesday, one day after the fraternity's national headquarters suspended the group for incidents that reportedly occurred during new-member initiations.

The suspensions — which prohibited the fraternity from conducting meetings, social events or community service — were lifted after an investigation by the national organization failed to prove hazing happened.

''They found there was no actual hazing,'' said Chris Jachimowicz, the college's director of student leadership development and Greek life.

Jachimowicz had received an anonymous call from someone claiming to be a parent of a student joining Alpha Epsilon Pi. The caller wanted to know how long the initiation for new members would last, Jachimowicz said.

During the conversation, the caller mentioned initiation events that Jachimowicz believed could be ''physical hazing.'' Physical hazing, which is prohibited on campus, could include incidents such as forced calisthenics, throwing objects at people or tying them up.

Jachimowicz would not say what incidents the caller mentioned and said it was unclear whether they actually occurred. The caller did not give any dates or times and did not identify any students as being involved, he said.

The lack of details and anonymity of the call made the reported hazing hard to investigate, Jachimowicz said.

On Friday, the national organization submitted a report to the college saying its investigation didn't find evidence of physical hazing.

Comments by fraternity members led some new members to believe physical hazing might happen and ''led to the report from the parent,'' Jachimowicz said. He said the college and national headquarters would work with the fraternity next year to improve its new-member initiation.

The Alpha Epsilon Pi complaint marks the seventh anonymous tip about a fraternity or sorority the college has received since the start of the academic year.

Alpha Epsilon Pi's suspensions came just weeks after Phi Kappa Tau completed its two-year probation. The fraternity had been placed on probation for vandalism, providing alcohol to minors, underage possession and consumption of alcohol and harassment of students.

None of Muhlenberg's four fraternities or four sororities is now on probation.