Talk has gone on for sooooooooo many years about the dangers of fraternity hazing but the news stories don’t stop. And the latest one is utterly disgusting. The Smoking Gun:
Ohio cops are investigating a college fraternity hazing incident that left a 19-year-old pledge short one testicle, records show.
When I was in college at Colgate University I knew many people who would give anything to join a frat. But there was definitely a limit. And what occurred can’t be called an unfortunate incident during a limited hazing. To wit:
Three Wilmington College students seeking induction into Gamma Phi Gamma were subjected last week to a battering in the fraternity house, according to search warrant affidavits prepared by police.
As detailed by investigators, the blindfolded pledges were brought to the basement of the fraternity (which is known as “Gobbler House”), where about 20 frat members “were either watching or participating in the pledging.”
The basement of the house (seen at right) contained about three inches of water and the pledges were ordered to “lie on the floor and imitate a swimming action.” They were then directed to “strip completely nude except for the blindfold” and had “a substance described as being like ‘Icy Hot’ applied to their nipples, back, buttocks and scrotum.”
After having limburger cheese stuffed in their mouths, the pledges were each given a “ball of stuffing” and ordered to “simulate having sexual intercourse with it.” Specifically, the trio was told to “f— the sheep.”
The pledges were then hit with “towels and shirts that had the ends balled up in knots” or which had “items tied inside them to inflict pain.” Pledge Tyler Lawrence, 19, was struck in the testicles with “a towel fashioned as a weapon,” according to an affidavit sworn by Wilmington Police Department Detective Brian Kratzer.
Lawrence “went to the ground immediately in pain and was clutching himself in the groin.” Frat members eventually got Lawrence to his feet so they could conclude the hazing by stuffing vinegar-soaked bananas into the mouths of the three men (who were told the item was “poop or s—”).
After the initiation, Lawrence complained of significant pain in his testicles. He was transported to a local hospital where he underwent surgery to have a testicle removed as a result of “damage caused to him when he was struck by the towel.” Detective Kratzer also noted that Lawrence had “large bruising and contusions upon much of his upper torso resulting from being struck during the initiation.”
Go to the link to read it all.
And, of course, if this winds up like most incidents like this over the years 1)there will be an investigation 2)the frat will be suspended or expelled 3)there could be a lawsuit 4)we’ll read about more incidents like this year after year with more vows of ending hazing and more young people injured.
Or worse.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.