Investigation into Hazing at Texas SAE

[jon1856]

And more follow-up from local news paper-which IMVHO is a bit slanted:
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
UT, frat reach agreement after hazing death

Settlement comes in response to hazing incident in fall 2006.

A year and a half after an 18-year-old University of Texas fraternity pledge fell to his death from a fifth-floor balcony, the university and the local chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon announced Tuesday that they've reached an agreement that will allow the fraternity to keep operating if it changes its pledging process and social activities.
But the parents of Tyler Cross say they are disappointed by the agreement. Cross was a freshman from Marietta, Ga., when he died. He had followed in his older brother's footsteps in attending UT and pledging Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
"We are definitely surprised by this agreement and disappointed that we were not contacted or consulted regarding this agreement by either the university or the SAE fraternity advisors and alumni given that our precious son, Tyler, was the victim of the hazing incident that prompted this action," Debbie and Don Cross said in a written statement Tuesday.
http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...416hazing.html

From the Daily Texan The Campus Paper:

Fraternity agrees to prohibit hazing, underage drinking
http://media.www.dailytexanonline.co...-3327933.shtml

Viewpoint: All eyes on SAE
http://media.www.dailytexanonline.co...-3327886.shtml

[exlurker]

Update April 25, 2008: Four Charged

Hazing-related charges have been brought by Travis County (TX). A Houston newspaper has an Associated Press article on the charges and some of the alleged actions. Other news sources in Texas have somewhat similar stories:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5731349.html

Edited to add: The Austin paper appears to have more details on the alleged actions:

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...0426cross.html

A reminder, please: people charged are presumed innocent.

[jon1856]

Brother Mac;
Best wishes to you and the rest of the Brothers during this time.
You are all in my thoughts.

[nittanyalum]

Holy crap! Cattle prods? Jesus, come on, guys.

[Elephant Walk]

Uhm...I believe I saw y'all got in trouble again.

edit: nevermind...the president, vice-prez, and pledge trainer were convicted of hazing...probably already mentioned though.

How does this chapter still have its charter? Schools and headquarters need to take a tougher stance on behavior and actions like these. I don't care who the alumni are or what connections they have these actions are disgusting and give all greeks a bad name.

...so says the Delta Upsilon from Ohio.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

Uhm...I believe I saw y'all got in trouble again.

edit: nevermind...the president, vice-prez, and pledge trainer were convicted of hazing...probably already mentioned though.

None of them are down here anymore either. Graduated, grad school, etc. Two had to come in from New York for the proceedings.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by macallan25

None of them are down here anymore either. Graduated, grad school, etc. Two had to come in from New York for the proceedings.

That sucks.

Not even involved with the chapter on a daily basis level anymore

Hazing laws are suppose to get rid of hazing but...I mean, they aren't going to haze anymore cuz they're long graduated. They should of just charged them with battery or something like that.

[breathesgelatin]

Daily Texan front page story today:

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.co...-3352775.shtml

Pretty awful stuff.

[Kevin]

Looking at those things they have been accused of (I don't know what they've actually admitted to, so a lot of this could be exaggerated), what jumps out at me is the fact that many of these activities are extremely unsafe.

A lot of this stuff, i.e., the "bows and toes," is really not unsafe, painful as hell, but not really unsafe, at least no more unsafe than flag football.

The forced drinking? That is unsafe. I often hear hazing proponents say that they "know where to draw the line," well, clearly, this is evidence that this is not always the case. At least here it wasn't. If what happened here happened as described, it's a real wonder no one was really seriously injured or died as a result of this hazing.

All that said, I don't expect these criminal complaints to amount to anything more than a few suspended sentences. I'll say what I said about the Alpha Phi Alphas at Oklahoma State -- these are likely good kids and society would be better served if they had a second chance and a clean slate.

[nittanyalum]

I'm glad they are at least being held somewhat accountable. In all, I think those guys are lucky they're getting off so light. I'm glad the 2 still in school will at least set foot in jail as an example to other current students and I'm glad the other two were yanked away from their professional lives to own up to their actions. Although considering their line of work, I'm not sure their professional environment will in any way look askance at this, it's probably much like a graduate fraternity environment in those places. I do, however, very much want to give both of them a haircut.

[DSTCHAOS]

Good grief, jon1856

She responded to YOU because YOU posted the article link. The article link had a photo of Chase Bolding. How could you possibly confuse that? LOL.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Good grief, jon1856

She responded to YOU because YOU posted the article link. The article link had a photo of Chase Bolding. How could you possibly confuse that? LOL.

Not how I first read it. But whatever-things like this happen when you can not see whom you are talking to.
News wrap-ups:
http://www.uwire.com/Article.aspx?id=789412

"The fraternity signed an agreement with UT officials on April 7 restructuring SAE's pledge process. Escamilla said his office could also press charges against the fraternity but has decided to wait to see if the agreement will hold.

"You can't send [the entire chapter] to jail, obviously, but you can fine them money," he said. "This organization has the financial resources; they could have paid a fine. I'm more interested in seeing their behavior change."

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=8240809
"Police ultimately ruled Cross' death was an accident. Cross' family, however, was pleased with the actions in court that addressed the fraternity hazing, Escamilla said.
Escamilla said he would wait to charge any additional members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He will be watching, closely, if they follow a strict agreement from the University of Texas to reduce hazing at that fraternity."

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by jon1856

Not how I first read it. But whatever-things like this happen when you can not see whom you are talking to.

Nah, you're just a dork.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Nah, you're just a dork.

I tell you Officer, they are all after me...help me.

[bowsandtoes]

Oh shit, he didn't use spell check! That definitely invalidates every one of his points. That's hilarious. He just slapped all you pseudo-brotherhood advocates in the face and the best you can do is nit-pick at his grammar?