Omega Phi Psi: Southern: ditto

[hoosier]

Alleged Omega victim talks

by Nicole Dorn
March 01, 2005


The Beta Sigma chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., was accused of hazing and the accuser is offended by the actions that members of this organization are saying took place.

Dean of Student Life, Robert Bennett reviewed all of the information concerning this case and the "not guilty verdict" given by the Southern University Pan Hellenic Council Judicial Committee and made the decision to place the Beta Sigma chapter on a three-year suspension.

The chapter has recently appealed this verdict, which according to Melvin Robinson, chapter adviser, the appeal was not granted and they are still facing the punishment set by Bennett.

The accuser said the incident began when he was contacted by telephone by an Omega to meet at a specific location and park his vehicle. He got in another vehicle in which he was then blindfolded and taken with two other people to another location. Once he got to the location, his blindfold was taken off and excessive beating then began to take place. He said a similar situation took place the next night also.

"Saturday night I went to the doctor's office, by the time I parked my truck and walked up to the double doors, blood just started coming out," he said. "The doctors came down from upstairs and cut open my shirt. They had to stick tubes down my throat."

According to the accuser, after the Feb. 18 issue of The Southern DIGEST, he began receiving phone calls from the Omega's involved petitioning for a deal. With the help of an SU faculty member they agreed to pay his rent for six months along with all accumulated doctor bills to persuade him to drop the charges he said.

He agreed to the alleged deal and told Deion Dorsett (chapter Basileus and friend) and the Pan Hellenic Judiciary Committee on Feb.14 that the charges were dropped.

_"The day that the meeting (Pan Hellenic Judiciary Committee) took place; no calls, no show," he said referring to the deal._ "So I felt like a fool because I was trying to help the fraternity and a friend, which I have known since '96-97.'"

The accuser said that Dorsett did not acknowledge their friendship at the hearing.

_"So the charges are not dropped, I have brought no legal form from downtown saying that those charges were dropped," he said. "Deion Dorsett is one of my best friends and Deion did not say anything about us being best friends. That really hurt me to see how he is trying to protect his fraternity. And that really bothered me. Deion Dorsett that's my friend; I'm going to love him for life. But something's got to be done."

The accuser said that what he did not mention at the hearing is that due to the alleged beating, he almost died.

"I was throwing up blood and the doctor told me that if I didn't come in on Saturday that I would have went home and died because I was bleeding so much internally."

In the Feb. 22 issue of The Southern DIGEST, Dorsett said, "I, in no way deny that this man was hazed-the pictures of his bruises prove that. However, it was not my chapter that did it."

Along with the unfortunate physical harm that the accuser endured, he is also hurt by the friendship that was lost because of it.

"Me and him (Dorsett) have been through a lot," he said. "For him to try and protect his fraternity knowing that I almost died I have lost all respect for Deion. I knew who called me that night; it was my friend Deion Dorsett. And because I knew this was coming from him, I didn't know that they were going to do what they did that night. That was a real shock to me. Deion was the one that blindfolded me."

The accuser said that in the past he would think about what it would be like to be an Omega. This was something he longed for.

"Do I still want this...no I really don't," he said. "I would advise no one to join this fraternity."