PBS hazing victim sues

[hoosier]

Ex-student at NSU sues frat, member over hazing
By LOU MISSELHORN, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 21, 2002

NORFOLK -- Michlen Robinson has painful memories of fraternity life at Norfolk State University: paddle swats on his backside, double-fisted punches to his chest and a two-week hospital stay for a punctured lung.

In a lawsuit filed this month in Circuit Court, Robinson says he was a hazing victim of Phi Beta Sigma on Sept. 21, 2000. He's suing the national fraternity group and a local chapter member for $500,000.

Criminal charges were never filed, and Robinson left school soon after the alleged assault.

But the incident that September night has left a lasting impression at the school.

The fraternity's national organization, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., booted the local chapteroff campus that December amid reports of hazing.

Then, in November 2001, one of the victims who left NSU and transferred to Towson State University in Maryland filed a police report there. He told police that Sigma members from Norfolk drove to his new school to assault him again.

Since then, four Norfolk State students, including three Sigma members, have been expelled, school officials said.

The Maryland incident may have been payback after the fraternity was removed from campus, said Larry Curtis, NSU vice president for student affairs.

``I've never seen anything like this -- not in my five years here,'' Curtis said.

Robinson's legal complaint marks at least the fourth claim of hazing in three years at South Hampton Roads universities. In each case, someone was hospitalized or died.

Reliable national statistics on hazing incidents are unavailable.


State law classifies hazing as a misdemeanor and requires colleges to expel students who ``cause bodily injury.''

At Norfolk State, fraternities' members must vow in writing that they won't take part in hazing, Curtis said.

Robinson was being initiated into the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity in September 2000. Norfolk State does not allow fraternity houses on campus, though members sometimes live together off campus.

Fraternity members used their hands and wooden paddles to assault Robinson, according to court papers. The lawsuit names the defendants as the fraternity and Curtis Anderson, a former student and group member.

About a dozen pledges were lined up, assaulted and berated for several hours, said Robinson's attorney, John Watts.

Part of the abuse was dished out in ``thunderclaps'' -- two-fisted punches that Robinson believes punctured his lung, Watts said.

Watts agreed to be interviewed on behalf of Robinson. He said his client never told police or university officials of the incident because he was embarrassed.

Anderson was in charge of pledging and is the only individual named in the lawsuit because Robinson didn't know the others' names, Watts said. He no longer attends Norfolk State, according to school officials, and could not be reached for comment.

Although no police report was filed, the parent fraternity learned of the hazing allegations, and by December 2000, the chapter was suspended.

``The list of violations in this undergrad chapter are (too) numerous to mention,'' reads an e-mail, dated Dec. 4, 2000, to Scherod Barnes, 21st Eastern regional director for Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.

The Virginian-Pilot obtained a copy of the correspondence from the school through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The students confirmed they were ``paddled, kicked and punched,'' according to the e-mail. They also were denied study time and sleep and forced to run errands during all hours of the night.