ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Police say nearly a dozen University of Georgia fraternity members face hazing charges after students were beaten with fists as part of an initiation ritual.
University of Georgia police on Thursday obtained arrest warrants for the 11 members of the school’s Zeta Iota chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi.
UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson says some of the students who were beaten were injured but none required medical treatment.
The beatings happened Jan. 27 at the home of a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, which doesn’t have a fraternity house in Athens, Williamson told The Athens Banner-Herald (https://bit.ly/1exlNbT ).
Police began investigating after receiving information from the school’s student affairs office about possible injuries at a pledge event, the police chief said.
Nearly all of the suspects had turned themselves in to police Friday morning, the Athens newspaper reported. Each student was charged with hazing, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Kappa Alpha Psi’s Zeta Iota chapter is under suspension while the matter is investigated internally by UGA’s Office of Student Conduct, said Victor Wilson, vice president of student affairs at UGA.
Wilson said he was “disappointed and saddened” by the allegations.
“This kind of behavior is not tolerated by the UGA community,” he said. “There is no acceptable excuse for purposefully putting students or any member of the university community in a potentially dangerous or harmful situation.”
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Information from: Athens Banner-Herald, https://www.onlineathens.com
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