The University of Virginia has banned a second fraternity from campus after a school investigation found new members were punished, ridiculed and forced to eat concoctions that made them sick, according to a university report.
The school severed its relationship with Theta Chi Fraternity after a two-month investigation into hazing allegations. The action follows a similar investigation into Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, which was banned from the school in April.
Neither group is allowed to operate on campus until the 2028-2029 school year, U-Va. officials said in a report.
End of carouselGreek life has been under close scrutiny at the Charlottesville university this year. The school’s Inter-Fraternity Council put its 30 fraternities on a three-week suspension in February amid allegations that a student was injured by hazing. The Kappa Sigma Fraternity chapter remains under suspension, according to the school’s hazing misconduct report.
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This spring, the university launched an investigation into Theta Chi following reports of hazing. Investigators found that new members were coerced or required to perform “personal acts of servitude” for the fraternity, such as cleaning the chapter house or running errands for active members, the report said. Students also were forced to eat a “mixture of heinous/unknown items and habanero peppers,” which caused some of them to vomit, feel fatigued, become ill or lose sensation in their limbs, according to the hazing report.
Students were also quizzed on information about the fraternity or its members — and punished for failing to answer correctly with squats, push-ups and other exercises, the report says. New members were confined in certain areas of the chapter house, told to wear costumes and ordered to carry out “pointless tasks and embarrassing activities,” investigators found.
The national Theta Chi Fraternity said Wednesday that it had revoked the chapter’s charter following U-Va.’s investigation and “confirmed violations of Theta Chi’s policies prohibiting hazing.”
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“Hazing runs contrary to Theta Chi’s mission of developing Resolute Men and has no place within the fraternity experience,” the organization said in a statement.
The report also details incidents that investigators said occurred this spring within Pi Kappa Alpha.
According to the university report, new members in Pi Kappa Alpha were slapped on their face and chest, forced to strip down to their underwear and wear blindfolds, told to eat cat food, and had hot sauce placed on their bodies and genitals.
In one instance, a member’s arms were taped to a wooden cross and they were “force-fed a mixture of cottage cheese and hot sauce and had hot sauce placed on their body, including their genitals,” the report says.
Pi Kappa Alpha’s national organization did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
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Most Virginia colleges and universities are required to publicize reports of hazing misconduct to comply with a measure known as “Adam’s Law.” The law is named after Adam Oakes, a Virginia Commonwealth University freshman who died in 2021 after a fraternity hazing incident.
The 19-year-old died of alcohol poisoning after a fraternity party. His death led to criminal charges.
VCU suspended three fraternities from campus this spring following student conduct code violations, according to its misconduct report. Its chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha was placed on interim suspension, which prohibits the organization from hosting social events and events with alcohol.
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