A University of Tennessee Police Department investigation found that members of the University of Tennessee’s chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity hazed pledges this semester after a concerned parent tipped investigators and sparked the latest turmoil to hit Fraternity Row.
The national leadership of Pi Kappa Phi reacted in tandem with UT by suspending the Alpha Sigma chapter of Pi Kappa Phi on Friday following its own investigation. The chapter will be allowed to recolonize at UT no earlier than August 2017.
Members of Pi Kappa Phi, or “Pong” as it is frequently referred to on campus, admitted to a hearing committee consisting of its national leadership on Nov. 24 that it engaged in specific violations of the fraternity’s risk management policy.
According to a letter signed by Dudley F. Woody, national president of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, members of the UT chapter accepted responsibility for violating the fraternity’s standard of conduct in regards to hazing.
Another admission included involvement in the use, sale and/or possession of alcohol or other controlled substances but was not further clarified.
A document from UT’s Office of Student Judicial Affairs signed by Pi Kappa Phi’s Assistant Executive Director of Education and Accountability Justin Angotti corroborates the findings of the hearing committee by stating the fraternity accepts responsibility for the allegations of hazing, which are in violation of the University of Tennessee Standard of Conduct.
UTPD learned of the hazing allegation when the father of a student pledging to Pi Kappa Phi reported it on Nov. 22.
The father advised that new members going through the pledging process were being physically and verbally attacked during fraternity activities. A photograph of a new member bleeding after an alleged incident was provided.
UTPD officer Benjamin Doty investigated and confirmed that “the new members were being hazed with some of the hazing resulting in injuries to the pledges.”
Men living in the Pi Kappa Phi house on campus will be permitted to stay in the house through final exams.
Daily Beacon Editor-in-Chief R.J. Vogt was a member of Pi Kappa Phi. He did not contribute to or edit this story.
