A fraternity at Clemson University is under investigation for its treatment of new members, which allegedly involved sleep deprivation, personal servitude and giving new members chemical burns, according to a letter from the school.
Alpha Gamma Rho allegedly hazed new members in the basement of the off-campus chapter house in early April.
The incident report accused the fraternity of line-ups, sleep deprivation, personal servitude and “some sort of ‘chemical burn’ to new members.”
The fraternity was told to stop all chapter business, including social activities and any meetings on or off campus until the investigation is over. Any violation of the suspension would result in more serious charges.
Clemson’s hazing policy dictates that the investigation must be completed within 75 days of the receipt of the complaints, which means it is set to conclude in late June.
Clemson’s chapters of Delta Tau Delta and Pi Kappa Phi are currently suspended from campus until 2024 and 2025, respectively, for alcohol and hazing violations, according to the university’s conduct case reports.
Fraternity behavior at Clemson was scrutinized after the high-profile death of a student, Tucker Hipps, in 2014. It was one of several incidents that led to many South Carolina schools rethinking Greek life on campus. Hipps was pledging the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity when he died. Pledges had gone on an early-morning run across a bridge on S.C. 93 when Hipps went missing. Hipps’ body was found floating in Lake Hartwell. No one has come forward with details of his death, and no one has been arrested. The case remains open.
Sigma Phi Epsilon’s suspension from Clemson expired in 2019, but the fraternity did not petition to be reinstated. Hipps’ parents claimed he was the victim of hazing and sued the university. The lawsuit was settled in 2017.
The Tucker Hipps Transparency Act was named in the student’s honor. The legislation, which was signed into South Carolina law in June 2016 by then-Gov. Nikki Haley, requires four-year public institutions to maintain public reports of misconduct by fraternity and sorority organizations.
