GSU student injured in hazing

Police are also investigating the possibility that Ray Austin of Columbus was the target of hazing activities by Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity members over the last few months, said GSU Police Chief Connie Sampson.

Austin lay in a hospital bed at Crawford Long Hospital with serious injuries to his buttocks, stomach and legs. A police report showed he had blood in his urine as a result of his injuries. Austin told Atlanta police and Sampson that he had been caned by members of the fraternity at an off-campus site near Clark Atlanta University on Monday.

"It looks as if this was an organized initiation rite," Sampson said Thursday. "This is not supposed to happen. Hazing has been banned from this campus and from all of our organizations."

Hospital officials did not acknowledge Austin's presence there Thursday. A woman who identified herself at the hospital as Austin's mother said she and her son would not comment on the events that led to his injuries.

Hazing was originally banned in the early 1940s, said Richard Snow, executive director of Kappa Alpha Psi's international office, but it persisted nonetheless over the years on college campuses all over the country. Because of that, members of the nine predominantly black Greek-letter organizations--fraternities and sororities--agreed to ban hazing anew in 1990 after reports of several violent incidents surfaced, Snow said.

Monday's beating prompted Snow to issue a "cease and desist" order of GSU's chapter. GSU spokeswoman Yvette Upton said the fraternity's room, where members socialize or relax when not in class, was locked Thursday and won't be opened until the police investigation is completed.

But hazing goes on regardless of the ban and the penalties leveled against organizations that defy the rules.

"They can't come out in the open and say it doesn't exist, but it is a well-known fact that it happens," said Latricia Nation, a 24-year-old GSU senior.