Thursday, Sept. 11, at 11:30 p.m., I had a very frightening encounter with what I later discovered was a drunken fraternity pledge, hiding in my backyard. He had been dropped off nearby after consuming a very considerable amount of alcohol and was tasked with making it back to the fraternity house. I, fearful of the unidentified man silently crouching by my window, yelled and approached him, brandishing a knife. Suddenly, I was looking at an 18-year-old boy who was incoherent and shaking with fear. “I’m (frat name)!”, he said. I should’ve known.
San Diego State University’s reports of hazing have become more frequent. As SDSU has been earning its title as a Greek life school, there is growing concern that these organizations are the only way to connect on campus.
This reputation has attracted crowds to fraternity and sorority rush, creating hordes of freshmen desperate for connection. Today, more than 11% of all enrolled SDSU students are in a Greek life organization. There are over 4,500 student fraternity and sorority members, in the context of the 40,000 students enrolled at SDSU and SDSU Imperial Valley campuses that accounts for at least 11.3% of SDSU’s population.
According to the Kappa Alpha Order Decision Letter, the fraternity’s violations to the Student Organization’s Code of Conduct include alcohol usage, several hazing behaviors and alleged violations of their interim suspension, namely by recruiting new members. In addition to these charges it was found that during a previous investigation that took place last May, the fraternity provided false information to SDSU staff and Kappa Alpha Order National Administrative Office. Due to these violations, KA is sanctioned to suspension in abeyance with stipulations through May 31, 2026, then to be followed by a probationary period through December 31, 2026.
This marks the eighth Greek organization at SDSU to be officially penalized for hazing since nearly a year ago, last January, when the news broke that 19-year-old pledge, Lars Larsen, was set on fire by his (then) future fraternity brothers.
While January 6 was the day the students involved in the Larsen case were charged and the story was made public, the burning occurred nearly a year before, on Feb. 17, 2024. According to SDSU’s ‘Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity Decision Letter,’ members indicated that hazing behaviors occurred “at least the Fall 2023 term through Fall 2024 term”.
At the time of the incident, the fraternity was already under probation status by the university for hazing, alcohol abuse and violations that threaten student safety. Larsen sued SDSU for its negligence stating that the institution “breached [the duty to prioritize student safety] by allowing the continued operation of fraternities with a known history of dangerous behavior, thereby creating and failing to remedy a dangerous condition on public property”.
In response to this suit, SDSU will be rolling out Prevent Zone later this fall, a 90-minute online course that attempts to empower students to prevent hazing.
“Overall, we are seeking to foster a community that balances both care and compliance,” the Office of the Dean of Students said in the written response
Completing the Prevent Zone hazing prevention course has been a common punishment that SDSU has issued in the past for related conduct violations. The newly mandatory course, Hazing 101, will be required for all students and leaders in fraternities/sororities.
The pattern of hazing, rooted within Greek life culture, can only be expected to intensify as SDSU develops its reputation as a school for Greek life. Students can only hope that administrators match this with a culture of accountability, or else we can all expect more run-ins just like mine.
