Zeta Beta Tau will face probation until next year after a university investigation found the fraternity guilty of hazing a new member last semester.
Mike Hayes, the university’s director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said the office didn’t intend to send a message with the punishment, but acknowledged that it serves as a reminder that hazing is still a reality on the campus.
“This is a good wake-up,” he said, adding, “It’s out there. It’s unspoken … It’s not just the fraternities.”
An OFSL memo released in October found that Zeta Beta Tau leaders injured a new member in an induction ceremony earlier that month.
The leaders seated inductees in a circle and forced them to chant the names of Zeta Beta Tau’s founders. If they misspoke, senior fraternity brothers poured water over their heads. At one point in the night, the water mixed with the Shout gel placed in a new member’s hair, injuring him.
OFSL yesterday responded with a 10-month probation, which means Zeta Beta Tau will see more severe sanctions for future violations and will be excluded from university awards competitions, Greek Week and Homecoming. The fraternity will also have to fund an anti-hazing flier and organize an anti-hazing event for the rest of the Greek community.
The fraternity’s national headquarters previously removed the chapter’s executive board and placed them on probation in December.
But the university will allow Zeta Beta Tau to stay in its Fraternity Row residence, although past, more severe hazing incidences have led the university to kick other fraternities off the campus.
“I’m not sure you can say X gets Y,” Hayes said. “It’s not an algebraic equation.”
In 2004, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity lost its campus residence following a hazing incident. In 2006, Beta Theta Pi was kicked off the campus after a pledge was arrested for driving under the influence on his way home from an event. A previous chapter of ZBT had its national charter revoked in 1991 after pledges were forced to steal property during a scavenger hunt.
Although hazing is a crime in Maryland, the university has not contacted law enforcement about the violation.
“It didn’t rise to that level,” said Tammy Saunders, who led the university’s investigation for the Office of Student Conduct, when asked why the university didn’t contact police. She said the office determines whether or not to contact police on a “case-by-case basis.”
Hayes compared the incident to not contacting police after a student is cited for underage drinking and said the university could handle the situation.
“There’s an understanding,” Hayes said. “There’s a confidence level that it’s going to be dealt with.”
Hayes said the fraternity’s headquarters represented them and didn’t contest the charges. The national organization was cooperative, which he said was “absolutely” helpful to the local chapter.
“It’s contextual,” Hayes said. “It’s about how the university, the chapter and headquarters interact. If it had been adversarial relationship, it might have been uglier.”
robillarddbk@gmail.com
