The ZBT fraternity is being investigated by both its national organization and the university in connection with an alleged hazing incident.

Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life Director Mike Hayes said his office received an anonymous complaint about the incident, which is being investigated by the Office of Student Conduct.

At the same time, Zeta Beta Tau’s national organization said that it is conducting its own investigation but declined to specify whether it potentially involved hazing or if anyone was reported injured.

Hayes confirmed the incident is being investigated as hazing. He said his office receives four or five complaints similar to this one a semester and many of them turn out to be either an individual act or nothing at all.

The details of the incident, which has been the subject of rumors in the media-shy Greek community, remain sketchy.

ZBT’s executive director Jonathan Yulish and Hayes both declined to give specifics about the incident, citing ongoing investigations. Nor would they pinpoint the date of the incident, though Yulish said it happened within the last two weeks.

“We need to let our process take place,” Yulish said.

Yulish said the investigation of ZBT should be completed by Friday, and the organization will release a statement then. The investigation is being carried out by a member of the fraternity who previously worked as a high school principal and now works in Greek life at the University of Colorado, he said.

The president of the university’s ZBT chapter, Jonathan Jacobs, declined to comment, referring all questions to the national organization.

Yulish said that ZBT will cooperate with the university’s investigation.

Hazing is illegal in the state of Maryland, and depending on the findings of the two investigations, the fraternity could face stiff penalties. Yulish said possible sanctions range from issuing a warning to shutting down the chapter.

Hayes said that the penalties the university could issue ZBT would ultimately be decided by the Office of Student Conduct and would depend on whether an individual or the fraternity as a whole is deemed responsible for the incident.

A brochure distributed by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life said that “aggravated” violations of the hazing policy can result in suspension or expulsion from the university, as well as the revocation of university recognition.

ZBT does not have traditional pledges, Yulish said. Instead, potential recruits are simply nominated by fraternity members, and are initiated without any pledge period. So any victim of hazing would be a new member rather than a pledge. The national office banned pledging in 1989 in an effort to end hazing. The last fraternity hazing incident at the university occurred in 2004, when Sigma Alpha Epsilon was kicked off the campus, Hayes said, adding that the hazing incident was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

The Epsilon chapter of ZBT had its national charter revoked in 1991 after a five-month investigation found that members of its freshman class were forced to steal property during a scavenger hunt. Officials at the time cited “violations of pledging rules and violations of hazing policies.”

The current chapter of the fraternity, Beta Zeta Epsilon, was established at some point in the 1990s, though the exact year is not clear.

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