Tulane PIKE fraternity had history of criminal conduct
Frat’s reputation is hardly brotherly
Allegations include drugging, sex assaults
Thursday, May 08, 2008
By Brendan McCarthy
The Times-Picyaune
The Tulane University fraternity at the center of a hazing controversy has weathered several disciplinary complaints over the past several years, including allegations of sexual assaults and drugging of female students.
In March 2006, Tulane’s student government group asked university officials to investigate the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity for a litany of alleged misdeeds, following complaints from several young women that they were unwittingly drugged at the fraternity’s annual bacchanal. The student group also sent a letter to the fraternity’s national organization, in which the Tulane chapter is chartered.
On Wednesday, Tulane officials issued a statement that acknowledged the 2006 complaint. The university said a judicial board found the fraternity “to be in violation of the Code of Student Conduct and sanctions were imposed.”
The sanctions included temporarily suspending the fraternity and ordering members to complete community service, said university spokesman Mike Strecker.
But the university acknowledged it subsequently received the letter from the student government group requesting an investigation. “Apparently, there was no response from Tulane to this letter, which we regret,” the university said in a statement.
The fraternity, commonly called PIKE, now faces allegations that members poured boiling water on the bodies of pledges and caked them with flour, crab boil, vinegar, cayenne peppers and wasabi sauce. The victims were treated at a local hospital with second- and third-degree burns, according to New Orleans police.
Arrest warrants were issued for 10 students on Tuesday and all had turned themselves in by Wednesday afternoon, a police spokesman confirmed. …
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