UConn fraternity suspended amid ex-president’s arrest, hazing probe
The University of Connecticut has suspended and is investigating a fraternity chapter whose former president is facing charges related to hazing, an official said Thursday.
Stephanie Reitz, a spokesperson for the school, said members of the Lambda Theta Phi fraternity at UConn were notified Thursday that its chapter has been suspended and must cease operations amid the investigation. The fraternity has operated a chapter at the Storrs campus since 1991, Reitz said.
“The university takes a zero-tolerance approach to behaviors that endanger others, and is committed to providing safe, healthy and respectful environments in all UConn organizations and on UConn’s campuses,” Retiz said Thursday.
The suspension comes days after the chapter’s former president, David Vallejo, 23, was accused of assaulting and choking another student who was pledging to the fraternity at an off-campus residence. State police arrested Vallejo on May 3 and charged him with thirddegree assault, third-degree strangulation, second-degree unlawful restraint, and disorderly conduct.
According to Reitz, UConn police investigated a separate complaint against Vallejo from an incident in March, when he is accused of holding his arm across the neck of person who owed him money, causing them to be unable to breathe. He turned himself in on Tuesday evening and was charged with third-degree assault, third-degree strangulation and disorderly conduct in that incident.
According to the state police warrant for Vallejo’s May 3 arrest, the victim reported the assault took place on Feb. 8 and 9 when pledging to the fraternity. The warrant said Vallejo hazed, pushed, choked and physically assaulted the victim.
The warrant states the victim was on the fifth day of the pledging process, Feb. 8, when Vallejo picked him up and another pledge at their UConn dorm. He drove them to a house in Willington, where the pledges were lined up “military style” and forced to do pushups while reciting things the pledge masters were saying, according to the warrant.
Every time one of them became unable to do pushups, the warrant says, the pledge masters made the pledges start over. The warrant says Vallejo started to get angry at the victim for being unable to do pushups and picked up the victim and threw the person across the room into a wall.
The warrant says the victim stood up and Vallejo put his forearm against their throat, pushed them into the wall and started yelling. After the pledges successfully recited the fraternity’s code, it says, they were allowed to go home for the night.
On Feb. 9, the warrant says, the victim went back to the home and the pledge masters made them learn and recite new information about the fraternity. When they failed to remember it, the warrant said, they were made to do pushups.
The warrant says Vallejo got mad at the victim when he was unable to do pushups for long, adding he threw them across the room again. It said he then tried to get the victim to quit, and when that failed, he made the victim get back in pushup position and recite the fraternity code.
After that, the warrant says, Vallejo pushed the victim up against the wall and choked them again with his forearm. The victim quit the next day, it said, and Vallejo assaulted him a month later when he returned his pledge uniform. That incident was reported to UConn police.