A Georgia Tech fraternity that has been part of campus life since the early 20th century has been suspended for two years after reports of a hazing, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The Gamma Eta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity is losing its privileges, its house on campus and more as a result of last month’s incident.
“You have this intense academic environment and people try to counterbalance that with partying, trying to prove they're socially worthy,” Tech student Roxanne Moore told Channel 2. “I guess from that perspective it's not entirely surprising.”
The fraternity had been on interim suspension since April 30, according to a notice posted on a Tech website. The suspension resulted from violations of Tech's student code of conduct, the notice said.
“During a suspension, a chapter ceases any organizational activities, including any planned social functions at its campus residence. The investigation, assigned to the Dean of Students’ Office of Student Integrity, is ongoing,” the notice stated.
A letter to chapter members from the fraternity’s national office, obtained by Channel 2, said “hazing has permeated the chapter,” and that as a result of an investigation in collaboration with Tech, “a period of closure of the Gamma Eta Chapter is the most appropriate response.”
The letter does not go into detail about what happened last month to pledges.
In addition to the fraternity being suspended, individuals have been disciplined, with some facing academic suspensions of one year.
“A lot of times it will take some major event like this to send a shock through the whole community so that no one will have to go through something like this again,” Tech student Nathan Rakitt said.
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Tech said the fraternity violated the school’s student code of conduct, but that it can appeal the university’s decision.
Hazing has been in the news and a top concern to college administrators since the death last November of a drum major at Florida A&M University.
Robert Champion, a 2004 graduate of Southwest DeKalb High School in Decatur, died of injuries sustained in the alleged hazing. Longtime FAMU band director Julian White resigned last week, and 11 people – four from metro Atlanta – have been charged.
After Champion's death, police learned of another hazing victim, Bria Hunter, also a graduate of Southwest DeKalb.
Hunter told officials that she had suffered a broken bone in her thigh during one of several brutal hazing sessions she underwent while trying to get into a band subgroup of Georgians known as the "Red Dawg Order."
Drum major Aaron Golson, charged in both incidents involving Champion and Hunter, and another band member, Sean Hobson, on Thursday pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hazing in a Tallahassee courtroom in Hunter’s beating.
Golson and Hobson were ordered to serve 30 days in a work camp followed by one year’s probation.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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