Pledges In Apparent Hazing Ritual May Have Been Sexually Assaulted
ORLANDO, Fla. -- School officials investigating an apparent hazing ritual at a fraternity house on the University of Central Florida campus in which pledges were found in diapers, fairy wings and women's panties told Local 6 News that several of them may have been sexually assaulted.The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at UCF was suspended by its national office and has become the subject of a police investigation after three students were recently found so drunk that they had be rushed to a hospital.
University police, acting on a tip, said they noticed loud, aggressive screaming and moaning coming from the SAE fraternity house.
"At first, students would not let police into the fraternity house because they said they were performing a ritual," Local 6's Louis Bolden said. "Apparently, that ritual included male students dressing up like women and drinking until they had to be hospitalized."
Friday, Local 6 News reported that a university official close to the investigation confirmed that a police investigation has been launched into whether the men were sexually assaulted.
"There were some things confiscated by police inside the SAE fraternity house that leads them to believe that they may have been sexually assaulted," Local 6's Samantha Knapp said.
An incident report indicated that a male in the fraternity was spotted wearing pink fairy wings and women's underwear and was not able to walk on his own.
The report also said the officers found a man wearing a pink tank top, women's underwear and a blond wig who was lying on the floor and vomited several times. Another male was sobbing on the floor wearing a rainbow-colored wig and a diaper, the report said.
Officers said the common area had a strong smell of urine and vomit.
"The University is looking into three possible concerns: misuse of alcohol, possible hazing and possible disorderly conduct," Director of UCF News and Information Linda Gray said. "The last thing in the world we want is for those kinds of things to happen."
Local 6 News reported that depending on the blood-alcohol levels of three students transported to a hospital, the senior members of the fraternity could face criminal charges.
Members of the fraternity will meet with school officials to discuss the allegations Friday.
posted by The One Ocean @ 12/11/2006 10:20:00 AM
2 Comments:
Nothing new that homoerotic activities occur on campuses and in frat houses. But this amounts to sex abuse and sex assault committed by sexual offenders, and must be recognized as such by school administrators, student bodies, police & prosecutors. These types of crimes can't be continually covered-up by calling them "hazing" or "pranking."
Same-gender campus sex-crimes have often been hidden by calling them hazing, pranking or simply kids-being-kids. It's time for administrators, students, police & prosecutors to recognize these sex abuse/assault cases as crimes committed by sexually motivated predatory offenders.
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