ARLINGTON - A hazing incident has led to the four-year suspension
of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority's chapter on the campus of the University of
Texas at Arlington.
The sorority was investigated after two students reported the hazing during the spring semester, said Austin Lane, UT-Arlington assistant dean of students.
"We're fortunate that no one was hurt," he said. "We had two
students who brought forth the allegations and acted with integrity in the face
of adversity."
Individual students were also penalized, including nine members of the sorority
who have been suspended from the university for one year, Lane said. Eleven
others in the 22-member sorority were given probation. Four students appealed
the decision but did not deny the hazing, he said.
"They took responsibility for it; however they still want to receive a
reduced penalty," Lane said. "They have the right to do that."
Lane said he could not give any details of the hazing.
For the next four years, the sorority will not be recognized by the university,
cannot hold activities and cannot recruit new members, said Elizabeth Wade,
assistant director of student activities.
"Typically they lose all recognition from the national organization as
well," she said.
The Delta Sigma Theta national chapter was unavailable for comment. But Lane
said it, too, has suspended the UT-Arlington chapter.
Nakeisha Adams, who was the sorority's faculty adviser last year, said the suspension
came as a shock.
"It has hurt alumni and current members," she said. "Everybody
who has come through this chapter has been affected by this in some form or
fashion."
Although there's a heavy emphasis on preventing hazing, some students fail to
recognize the seriousness of it, Wade said.
Every year since 1970 in the United States, at least one fraternity or sorority
member or pledge has died because of hazing or alcohol abuse, said Hank Nuwer,
author of the book "Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities, Hazing
and Binge Drinking."
"Delta Sigma Theta to the best of my knowledge has never had a death,"
said Nuwer, of Indiana. "At the top, the executives have been really no
nonsense about hazing."
In 2000 the UT-Arlington chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha was suspended for three years
after hazing incidents that included spraying people with a fire hose.
The two UT-Arlington students who reported the recent hazing could pursue criminal
charges. But UT-Arlington police said they have not filed any charges because
no one has reported the hazing to them.
An anti-hazing law was enacted by the Legislature in 1987 after the 1986 alcohol-poisoning
death of a student at the University of Texas at Austin. The law prohibits any
physical activity that subjects a fraternity or sorority member to unreasonable
harm and carries a fine of $500 to $10,000 and imprisonment of as long as two
years.
Lane said UT-Arlington wants students to understand that hazing is not the way
to become part of an organization.
"We are trying to send the message that hazing will not be tolerated on
this campus,"he said.