Carroll fraternity denies any hazing
10 cited in late-night 'abduction'
By SARAH LARIMER
slarimer@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 26, 2006
Waukesha - In plain view of neighbors who thought they were witnessing an abduction, eight Carroll College students carried out an apparent hazing incident that led to their arrest early Thursday, police said.
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Hazing
Quotable
Hazing is a thing of the past. Its for comedy movies and old stories.
- Adam Baumann-Neylon ,
fraternity president
Background Coverage
11/15/05: Carroll student denies hazing
But the Beta Pi Epsilon fraternity president said police and college officials blew the escapade out of proportion and called hazing a relic of the past. Fraternity pledges, he said, were turning the tables on their house brothers by taking an active member away in a car.
Police say it was a fight witnessed by neighbors outside the Steele and Swarthout residence halls that got them involved in the incident.
Police were called to respond to the scuffle about 1:08 a.m., Lt. William Graham said. When officers arrived, witnesses weren't forthcoming about the fight but did give a description of a vehicle they saw at the incident.
Police later located the group and vehicle on I-94 in the area of Brookfield Road, Graham said. He said the group indicated that it planned to abandon someone in Milwaukee and force him to find another way back to Waukesha.
"Should people have gotten in trouble, yes," fraternity president Adam Baumann-Neylon said. "Nobody should be wrestling around in other people's property late at night, and that was a mistake. But hazing has nothing to do with what happened last night."
The fraternity's pledges tried to take an active member away in the car as a joke, Baumann-Neylon said, not the other way around.
He said the group was goofing around outside the residence hall and witnesses overreacted. Baumann-Neylon, a member of the school's baseball team, said he and other fraternity members have been suspended from the college and must meet with the dean of students.
"It's surprising how big this was blown out of proportion," he said.
Citations issued
Eight people were issued citations accusing them of disorderly conduct, and two more, including Baumann-Neylon, were given citations on suspicion of obstruction, Graham said.
Disorderly conduct citations were issued to: Jason Lotzer, 23; Adam Arredondo, 18; Craig Forrestal, 18; Benjamin Johnson, 18; Brendan McGee, 20; Andrew Eckhorn, 18; Christian Mennel, 18; and Derek Fictum, 19. Baumann-Neylon identified Lotzer as the active member who was taken by the pledges.
Obstruction citations were issued to Baumann-Neylon, 21, and Otis Barrol, 21
In a statement from the college, Carroll spokeswoman Claire Beglinger said the college is "conducting an investigation into the incident and is cooperating with local law enforcement authorities in their investigations."
In 2005, Waukesha police responded to a report that a hooded man was being pulled from the trunk of a car and led into the Fox River. Police said members or alumni of Carroll's Delta Rho Upsilon fraternity had forced the hooded man to do sit-ups and push-ups near the river.
Baumann-Neylon said he thought his organization was a victim of stereotypes because of the past actions of fraternities.
"Hazing is a thing of the past," Baumann-Neylon said. "It's for comedy movies and old stories."
From the Oct. 27, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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