UConn bans fraternity after hazing incident

STORRS — An investigation into a “hazing” incident in February led the University of Connecticut to permanently ban a fraternity from campus, school officials said Monday.

The leadership of Phi Gamma Delta, commonly known as FIJI, was notified Sept. 30 that it had been “permanently separated from the university with no opportunity to return in the future as a recognized student organization,” UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said.

“This decision stems from an investigation into hazing that occurred during a pledge event on Feb. 24 involving members of the fraternity,” Reitz said.

One student was hospitalized for acute alcohol intoxication, she said.

The fraternity was established at the school in 2011 and chartered in 2013, according to UConn’s website, but the history of the organization dates back

to its founding at Jefferson College in Pennsylvania in 1848.

A letter to the fraternity notifying its members of the decision concluded that

fraternity members violated seven sections of the student code. The letter also summarized some of the findings of the investigation into the Feb. 24

pledge.

During that incident, a student “reached four times the legal limit of intoxication,” before being hospitalized, according to

Kristen Carr, a UConn student activities staffer who served as chairwoman of the committee overseeing the disciplinary proceeding.

“Phi Gamma Delta, while stating that alcohol was not common at pledge events, admits that underage drinking is part of their culture,” Carr’s letter said. “It is also evident that hazing has been a central and longstanding aspect of Phi Gamma Delta’s culture.”

Under the school’s student code, registered organizations that are accused of wrongdoing can have their leaders go before a five-person “ad-hoc committee” of student affairs staff members to share their side of the story. The process also allows any victims to give an impact statement.

The letter pointed to hazing through “many different dehumanizing methods” that were “degrading, dangerous, and fully incompatible with the organization’s own values and those of the university.”

The violations outlined included hazing, endangering behavior and serving, distributing or obtaining alcohol.

The four other violations listed in the letter involve tampering with the investigation and disciplinary process. Those included “influencing or attempting to influence another person to commit an abuse of the student conduct system,” and “tempting to discourage or retaliate against an individual’s proper participation in, or use of, the student conduct system.”

The letter cites the severity of the student’s intoxication as well as allegations of hazing in previous years and the fraternity’s failure to address it as a “serious danger” to members and the school community.

The fraternity has until 5 p.m. Wednesday to appeal that decision.

Emails sent to the fraternity’s leadership listed on its website have not been returned.

Reitz said UConn takes a “zero tolerance” approach to behaviors that endanger others. The actions of some students are also being reviewed “with some of those cases still under way,” she said.

“The ongoing culture of hazing at Phi Gamma Delta’s UConn chapter and last February’s incident could have produced tragic results,” she said “Such severe misconduct warrants the strongest possible action proposed under UConn’s conduct process.”

Jessica Hill / AP Phi Gamma Delta, commonly known as FIJI, was notified Sept. 30 that it had been “permanently separated from the university with no opportunity to return in the future as a recognized student organization,” UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said.