BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — An on-campus fraternity at LSU has been suspended after allegedly kidnapping and endangering members.
LSU has suspended Sigma Alpha Epilson after Kyrsti Wyatt, assistant director and senior case manager for the Student Advocacy and Accountability (SAA) office, determined that the fraternity was responsible for violating the LSU Code of Conduct for coercive behavior, endangerment and hazing.
According to official documents, the fraternity participated in “Hell Week” where pledges “engaged in various levels of personal servitude” such as cleaning member houses cars or buying food and “were also forced to eat condiments, do line ups and do calisthenics” from 2017 through 2020.
In October of 2020, an active member was allegedly kidnapped and assaulted. The document says that this was a tradition within the chapter as a part of “Hell Week.”
The LSU Sigma Alpha Epilson student leadership and members allegedly provided false and misleading information to authorities and SAA.
“Based on the facts of this case, Sigma Alpha Epsilon has violated the policies of Coercive Behavior,
Endangerment, and Hazing. Per Louisiana State Law, a violation of the Hazing policy must result in an outcome of suspension,” the document reads.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is suspended now until May of 2023. When the suspension is lifted, the fraternity will enter a probationary period which will last until May of 2025. Until then, the group can’t participate in any campus activities, initiate new members, or live in or use the organization’s residence.
If the fraternity chooses to decline the outcome, the case will be heard by the University Hearing Panel.