Looks like the University Press has hit a nerve with this week's article about hazing at Florida Atlantic University fraternities. Editor Devin Desjarlais, who also works part-time for Juice, reports that since the paper came out Tuesday, more than 900 issues of the paper have been stolen from the bins on campus.
"We've refilled them, and they've been emptied again," says Desjarlais, who filed a police report yesterday. The culprits are obviously fraternity members anxious about being shut down -- and they should be, judging by the details in the UP article.
Check out the hazing rituals allegedly performed by Pi Kappa Alpha -- the fraternity of "Pikes" whose alumni include Gov. Charlie Crist:
"Pike treats you shitty. They would make everyone drink in a kiddie pool, and if they threw up, they would have to stay in the kiddie pool and keep drinking -- nasty shit like that."That according to Dan Gootner, who was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the fraternity that was suspended after a pledge reported being kidnapped and tortured, basically. Another frat, Sigma Alpha Mu, reportedly hazes by putting hoses in its pledges' rectums.
The fraternity leadership denies everything, of course. And Desjarlais says that the Interfraternity Council is going to publish a letter to the editor next week in response to the UP report. My guess is that they hope to persuade university officials not to embark on a more thorough investigation of the campus' Greek life -- which is exactly what ought to happen.
