LSU SAE Chapter That Was Kicked Off For “Sexual In Nature” Hazing Was Actually The Victim Of One Pledge’s HORRIBLE Mistake

Rob Fox12 years ago

Ed. Note: Before we get into the details of this story, my apologies to the men of LSU’s SAE chapter for some serious knee jerk writing earlier today. – Bacon

According to The Reveille, LSU’s student newspaper, back in November the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at LSU was suspended for undisclosed reasons by the university, and sanctioned by their national office.

It was also reported in that story, as well as a more recent Reveille piece, that the SAE chapter had been reprimanded for hazing, specifically hazing that was “sexual in nature” according to one member of LSU’s Greek community. A University official had this to say:

Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students K.C. White did not confirm or deny the claim, but said, “The way in which SAE was orienting new members was not in line with the with the principle of SAE: The True Gentleman. … The same behavior violates the University hazing policy.”

The rumor was that a pledge had completed a fraternity assigned task of having sex with a virgin. To prove that he had indeed had sex with a virgin girl, the pledge filmed the sexual encounter. Filming the sexual encounter was not said to be required by the actives.

However, one SAE from the LSU chapter emailed TFM and refuted this rumor, clearing up the misconception:

I can promise you they were not required to take a girl’s virginity. Pledge counsel told them they could paint the lions the colors of a girl’s sorority they deflowered (been going on for several years).

Some of the pledges would have a hard time fucking a hooker if they were given a fist full of cash, much less convincing daddy’s little girl to let them squirm around naked on top of them.

He also described the incident as a whole:

Hurricane Isaac week when school/power was out and all we had to do was drink (TFM, AMIRIGHT?). Pledge hooks up with a virgin sorority pledge and wants to prove it so he films a naked “post-game” video of her asking her about it… what sorority she was in, was she a virgin, etc. I have heard nothing about him roofing her (as some on TigerDroppings said they’d heard) and have no reason to believe that was the case. Anyway, dumbass pledge texted out the video to a few friends… and you can guess what happened after that.

LSU had been hearing rumors of hazing for a while (as I guess they do for most of the fraternities since they seem to set their sights on 1 house each fall, Sigma Chi last year, KA the year before) and when Greek Affairs heard about the video they launched their full scale investigation into the hazing and I guess the video. Nationals didn’t think the hazing+video (which goes to show how not severe the hazing allegations were) was enough to kick us off of campus but Greek Affairs didn’t give a shit what nationals thought.

So it would seem then that this chapter, according to this member’s account, has been suspended until January 2015 for hazing, despite the fact that they weren’t actually hazing.

Instead it appears that LSU and the school’s Greek Life office are covering their asses in an embarrassing and potentially costly incident, and now this chapter and its members are suffering because of the individual actions of one member, who they apparently had no control over.

It’s indisputable that what the pledge did was wrong, and that the poor girl he filmed is a victim.

However, the pledge did NOT do this at the fraternity’s request. It is not even clear that he did this to impress the actives, though that may still be the case. Regardless, punishing an entire fraternity for the actions of what amounts to an associate member who acted without their consent, encouragement, or even knowledge is absolutely ridiculous and outrageous.

What happened to the girl is terrible. The individual who perpetrated this act should be punished (he has been expelled from the fraternity). The organization he happened to be affiliated with should not.

LSU’s Greek Life needs to SERIOUSLY reconsider this decision. This is a potentially explosive, and seriously messed up situation, and there are real victims (the girl and her family) who deserve sympathy, compensation, and justice. Still, there is no reason a group of innocent people should be punished for the actions of one complete fucking moron.

I hope SAE, as a local chapter and a national organization reaches out to the girl’s family and helps in any way they can. I hope the idiot that did this is punished (he was already expelled). And I hope that the people who are being deemed guilty by association can avoid (or rather fight) becoming collateral damage, though I doubt the latter will happen, even if they tried.

But don’t worry, suspending the fraternity will (slightly) help diminish outrage over this story. It’s good to know that LSU does not tolerate people who know bad people. Principles are important. So is avoiding lawsuits.

[via The Reveille]