The pledge class of the Syracuse University fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which was found guilty of hazing by the Interfraternity Peer Review Board on Tuesday night, had ‘kidnapped’ one of the brothers as part of rush, said Roy Baker, associate dean of students.

‘It was a tradition the fraternity has,’ Baker said. ‘They tell the pledges they have to kidnap a brother.’

A passer-by witnessed the SAE brother getting kidnapped and, thinking something was wrong, called Public Safety.

‘A student witnessed it, and it scared them and called the police,’ Baker said.

Capt. Drew Buske of Public Safety said Public Safety officers responded to the incident at 10:30 a.m. March 3 at the fraternity’s house, 206 Walnut Place.

After investigating, the officers concluded there was a ‘probable cause that members of the organization were engaging in a hazing incident,’ Buske said, who would not comment in detail nor confirm a kidnapping took place.

As a result, 10 students were referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs for violating the Code of Student Conduct, and SAE was referred to the Office of Greek Life and Experiential Learning, Buske said.

The SAE pledges and brothers said they would not comment on the incident until Friday, after their hearings with Judicial Affairs.

The IFC president was unavailable for comment Wednesday night.

When a fraternity tells a pledge class to do anything that has potential harm, like a kidnapping, it is considered hazing, Baker said. The emphasis is on risk-management. It’s not necessarily the act itself, but the harm it could cause and the fact that it is done in the name of the fraternity. If a person were kidnapped and put into a vehicle, for example, a car accident might result.

David Flagg, a 1965 SU graduate, disclosed to The Daily Orange a private e-mail that Baker sent him Wednesday.

In the e-mail, Baker told Flagg that four fraternities and one sorority were being charged with hazing for ‘pouring liquor down pledged (sic) throats, walking on their stomachs, requiring them to perform exercises, depriving them of sleep, running errands for members in the middle of the night and other useless behaviors.’

Baker would not reveal which greek organizations he was referencing. He said he received some 100 e-mails Wednesday about The D.O. article ‘Board finds two fraternities guilty of hazing,’ including the e-mail from Flagg, and was responding to them to clarify some of his comments.

‘I actually probably miswrote the e-mail (to Flagg) for writing they were being charged for hazing for doing this because I don’t have any specific information that they were doing this,’ Baker said.

In his e-mail, Flagg asked Baker about a comment he made in the article about how the definition of hazing could include making pledges wear pledge pins.

‘In my view, he was suggesting we were holding people accountable for or charging people for wearing pledge pins, so what I was doing was giving David examples of hazing,’ Baker said.

‘I wanted him to understand there were extreme examples of hazing, as opposed to what could be considered a non-extreme example of hazing,’ he said.

Juanita Perez Williams, director of Judicial Affairs, said she could not comment on the specifics of SAE’s case because it would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal policy that states students’ education records must be kept confidential. Disciplinary files are considered part of the education record, she said.

In the case of a hazing incident such as a kidnapping, it is possible those involved would face suspension, Williams said.

‘Hazing in itself is not only a violation of the Code of (Student) Conduct, it’s a violation of state law, and so any sanction would probably be a more serious outco

Published on April 5, 2006 at 12:00 pm