Hazing or Not? What do you think?
Fraternity under investigation for hazing
By Dana Hertneky
KSNW-TV
WICHITA, Kansas - The WSU chapter of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Wichita State University is under investigation after pictures of a tied up student were displayed on a website. University officials don't know yet if this was a case of hazing or simply students goofing around. Either way, they want to get to the bottom of what happened.
The fraternity is now under investigation by both the WSU Student Leadership Center and the national Phi Delta Theta organization. Both groups are looking into a number pictures posted on a national website that showed at least one student tied up.
"Some of the written content related to the picture were really demeaning," said Ronald Kopita, Ph.D., Wichita State University.
Dr. Kopita, who heads WSU's Campus Life Department and is in charge of the investigation, said it is just unacceptable.
"It's just not good. It's inappropriate behavior. It's demeaning behavior that we just don't promote at this university and we don't expect our students to exhibit."
If the investigation reveals this incident was hazing, the entire fraternity would be penalized and those involved could even face criminal charges. If the university determines the incident was students acting on their own, those students would be dealt with individually.
"Clearly these pictures illustrated demeaning and disrespectful behavior. Now what was the context? That is yet to be determined."
We tried to speak to local and national members of Phi Delta Theta but were unable to find anyone who was willing comment. The university's investigation is expected to wrap up early next week.
HAZING DEFINED
According to Kansas law, an act is defined as hazing if it is "intentionally encouraged" and causes "great bodily harm for initiation purposes." If that's the case, officials could charge the person with a Class "B" misdemeanor which could carry a penalty of six months in the county jail and a maximum fine of $1,000.
Kansas is currently among 44 states in the U.S. that has an anti-hazing law in the books.
posted by Gina @ 6:11 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
It's hard to say when the only info we get is from the media. It's certainly suspicious when the guy in the photos changes his story. We all know that there are secrets within fraternities and sororities -- not implying bad secrets, just things that are meant to stay in the house. Perhaps there's a level of horse-play that isn't normally known outside the house -- we know how frat boys like to horse around! ::grin:: Perhaps one of the brothers got torqued about something and decided to try to get the others in trouble. Even given my low opinion of Phi Delts, I can't imagine one of them would be so stupid as to post actual hazing pics on the web. Maybe an investigation will keep them (and others) honest.
Looks like they're going to get off with a bit of finger-shaking.
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