Texas A&M students sue fraternity for hazing after experiencing alleged severe burns

[ASTalumna06]

https://www.statesman.com/story/news...ng/6177727001/

Two students at Texas A&M University are suing a fraternity after they say they faced serious bodily injury when industrial strength cleaner was poured on them.

The students, Patrick Close and Jose Figueroa, filed a complaint in state District Court in Harris County against Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity Inc., Texas A&M’s chapter of SAE, and members of the Texas A&M fraternity at the time for violation of the anti-hazing statute in Texas.

Close and Figueroa were chosen to pledge SAE after going through rush at the beginning of the spring 2021 semester, according to the lawsuit, filed last week. In March, the lawsuit alleges that they were forced to do “various kinesthetic activities” and escorted to a barn, where fraternity members poured “foreign substances” on the two freshmen, including human spit, raw eggs, paint, food condiments and an industrial strength cleaner. Close and Figueroa experienced severe burns as a result of the high alkaline cleaner being poured on them, the lawsuit states.

“As a result of the burns they endured, Close and Figueroa were transported to Houston, Texas, to undergo emergency skin graft surgery and eventually underwent a second skin graft surgery,” the suit states. “Close and Figueroa are both permanently disfigured as a result of the burns they endured at the hands of the Defendants.”

The two students are seeking at least $1 million in damages and a jury trial.

Texas A&M spokeswoman Kelly Brown said the university's chapter of SAE was suspended on Wednesday for two years, and the organization will be on probation for two more years when its suspension ends.
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The lawsuit follows several hazing incidents at Texas A&M.

The university has found 10 organizations responsible for hazing since fall 2018, including various sororities and fraternities, according to a public list on the university’s website. The list does not include Texas A&M’s chapter of SAE.