Police to investigate alleged UA hazing
Barred fraternity could form new colony
Posted: December 12, 2009 at 2:25 a.m.
LITTLE ROCK — FAYETTEVILLE - The University of Arkansas Police Department launched a formal investigation Wednesday into an alleged Nov. 12 hazing incident at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house.
The International Phi Delta Theta fraternity suspended the charter of its Arkansas Alpha chapter at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville on Dec. 3 in response to the incident, in which a potential new member was hospitalizedfor two days with suspected alcohol poisoning after a “big brother-little brother” event at the house on Stadium Drive.
On Friday, the fraternity’s international organization announced tentative plans to allow the suspended chapter to “recolonize” or seek a new charter with limited membership starting in the spring semester.
UA police opened a criminal investigation this week at the request of the Campus Judicial Board, which is completing a separate investigation, said Lt. GaryCrain, spokesman for the department.
“Hazing is a criminal offense,” he said. “Whether it’s a felony or a misdemeanor, we’ll have to determine from that investigation.”
Officers will interview those present at the party before determining potential charges or how many people will be charged, Crain said.
Bob Biggs, executive vice president of the international fraternity, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that about 100 fraternitymembers and 40 pledges drank alcohol at the event, a violation of general policies forbidding alcohol in the fraternity’s facilities and hazing policies forbidding drinking at new member events.
The department initially said it did not plan to investigate the incident.
UA police provided medical assistance when the student, identified in police reports as Nicholas Brown, 18, was found unresponsive in the hallway outside of his seventh-floor dorm room in Humphreys Hall early Nov. 13.
A release from the international fraternity said Brown had a blood alcohol level of 0.68 percent.
In Arkansas, a driver is considered driving while intoxicated if he has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent.
The Campus Judicial Board will not provide specific details of its investigation, citing the Federal Educational Rights Privacy Act. The group is investigating the incident as hazing, although it won’t confirm hazing took place.
Monica Holland, director of the Office of Community Standards and Student Ethics, did not return a message left at her office Friday.
Biggs said Friday the fraternity plans to gauge interest in recolonizing starting in the spring semester. In the three-phase process, interested students work for two to three months to form a colony, which works for about nine months to prove financial and academic stability. Members of the colony would then apply for a new charter with the overseeing organization.
If the process goes as planned, the chapter could be reformed in the spring 2011 semester, Biggs said.
“The university is very anxious to see this chapter reformed,” he said.
The process of obtaining a new charter can take somechapters up to four years, but the fraternity expects a shorter time frame with the Fayetteville chapter because of high campus interest and a large, supportive alumni base, Biggs said.
Former members of the Arkansas Alpha chapter will not be allowed to recolonize, but pledges will be considered if they weren’t disciplined as part of the November incident, he said.
The new colony will likely live in the Phi Delta Theta house, which was recently remodeled using $4.5 million of alumni contributions, he said.
The UA Office of Greek Life canceled all Inter-Fraternity Council events for the remainder of the semester in response to the incident and to a separate investigation of a rape claim made by a female student against three UA basketball players after an unregistered party at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house on Aug. 27.
To contact this reporter:
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/12/2009
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