Bad news for Iowa Phi Delts

[IowaHawkeye]

Ex-pledge alleges hazing


By Sara Faiwell




The Daily Iowan



Iowa City police are investigating allegations of hazing at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity after a former member filed a complaint saying he and others were forced to binge-drink and were psychologically harmed.

The UI sophomore says he and fellow pledges were forced into one room in September 2000, where they had to drink several bottles of alcohol in a 20-minute period. The student said the members came in shortly and showed their disapproval that the bottles were not empty, according to his statement to police.

In his eight-page statement, the student ticked off a variety of activities he considers to be hazing -- from being asked to simulate his first experience with masturbation in front of other members to receiving wide-ranging oral abuse. He also says pledges were deprived of food for periods of time. Other times, they were forced to eat unusual foods in large amounts, his statement says.

"It's tough for pledges, especially when they're under these extreme circumstances," said the student, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "The pledges are brainwashed to think it's OK for actives to haze them."

UI President Mary Sue Coleman said Tuesday she is aware of the investigation, and there is no choice other than to carry out a full probe of the matter. The local adviser of the fraternity called the allegations false.

The one-time Phi Delta Theta member talked to Iowa City police in August about his assertions of harmful hazing activities, but he did not file a written complaint about the matter until Nov. 30. The student had shared a two-hour tape recording of alleged hazing activities this fall, called Hell Week, with Phillip Jones, the UI vice president for Student Services. Jones encouraged him to file a formal police complaint.

On Nov. 29, Jones wrote: "I would advise you once again to consider filing a formal criminal complaint with the Iowa City police." He also told the student to contact authorities if fraternity members retaliate against him for blowing the whistle.

Chapter adviser Steve Snyder said he found no evidence of hazing after investigating. The complainant was kicked out of the house last year because his grades were not high enough to be in the fraternity for two semesters, he said.

The former pledge then audio and video-tape recorded what he thought was hazing, Snyder said, because he knew he was getting kicked out of the Phi Delta Theta house. But Snyder says pictures the former member took with alcohol and drug paraphernalia were set up.

"There is no hazing," Snyder said. "If I could find hazing, I would throw people out because it would make my job easier."

Snyder, who works in conjunction with the national Phi Delta Theta chapter in Ohio, said this man is on a mission to close the fraternity. "I think he will end up in a nice orange jumpsuit," Snyder said.

UI fraternities voluntarily banned alcohol consumption in its houses in 1998, following the drinking-related death of Matthew Garofalo in 1995.

Under the Iowa hazing law, any person who commits an act of hazing is guilty of a simple misdemeanor.

Two pledges who left the fraternity last year refused to comment on hazing allegations; they cited financial reasons for leaving the organization