Ugly hazing in the news

[hoosier]

The campus investigates and suspends Psi Chi Omega after a pledge is hospitalized.

12:25 AM PST on Friday, February 20, 2004

By MARISA AGHA / The Press-Enterprise
UC Riverside police have determined that a 20-year-old man hospitalized with liver injuries in November was a victim of hazing.
The fraternity involved, Psi Chi Omega, has been suspended from campus temporarily, said Mike Lane, UCR assistant police chief. A judicial affairs investigation is still pending. A student conduct board still could expel the group from campus, UCR officials said.
"We are not going to excuse conduct that is deplorable," Lane said Thursday.
The finding comes after interviews with the victim and fraternity members, he said.
Dann Ryan Banaag was pledging Psi Chi Omega Nov. 5 when he sustained liver injuries during some kind of initiation activity, Lane said. Campus police said they could not release details about the activity, but it did not appear to involve alcohol, Lane said.
The incident happened about a mile from campus in Hunter Park, Lane said.
Banaag, who was hospitalized for eight days at Loma Linda University Medical Center after the incident, did not return phone calls Thursday.
UCR would not release names of the students involved in the hazing.
The fraternity has been taken off the campus registry of student organizations. The group cannot meet or recruit members, officials said.
UCR police were working with the Riverside County district attorney's office, but Banaag decided not to pursue criminal charges against the fraternity, Lane said.
"That doesn't relieve the organization or the students involved from student conduct," Lane said.
UCR is considering disciplinary action against the fraternity, but not individual students, officials said. A student conduct board hearing date was not available.
Lane described the hazing incident as one of the most serious in recent years, but he added that he believes the problem still goes unreported.
Campus police made their finding based on state code, which defines hazing as a group activity that places an individual in a situation that causes physical harm.
UCR senior Michael Walker, 27, said that he was not surprised to hear of the hazing charges.
"You're never going get rid of hazing," said Walker, an economics major. "The more underground it gets, the more dangerous it is."