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What follows below is an exact duplicate of something I posted in a parallel thread in the "Greek Life" forum. I will add something drawn on what ktsnake said above, though: Even if they aren't drinking, we owe it to our brothers and sisters to watch out for them, in all kinds of activities.
== what I posted elsewhere: ==
I suggest that we take the approach of the officers who are investigating this incident and not jump to conclusions about whether or not it was hazing.
If they were forced (pressured) to swim in a dangerous, unlit lake in the middle of the night, when the dangers should have been obvious, then there would be grounds for charges of hazing, reckless homicide (manslaughter or third degree murder), and maybe even homicide by wanton disregard for the value of human life (second degree murder, assuming Nevada's codified the "depraved heart murder" rule).
But it's also entirely possible that these guys just decided to go down to the lake and fool around for fun, because sometimes groups of people decide to do crazy things in the middle of the night. I don't know where the lake is in relation to campus, so maybe that idea seems less likely to people who know the area. However, it's a possibility we shouldn't throw out just because a fraternity is involved. If we discard that possibility and jump to the conclusion that it was hazing because of the fraternity connection, we're making the same kind of jump to conclusions that we loathe when the general, uninformed public makes it.
A clearer picture will form with time, and then we'll have a better idea of whether this was some sort of hazing event.
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