ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The University of Maryland has lifted the suspension of most fraternities and sororities following an investigation into hazing and alcohol-related activities, the university said Friday, although five chapters remain under investigation and will remain subject to limited restrictions on activities.
Court records made public Friday include reports of forced heavy drinking, beatings with a paddle, cigarette burning and exposure to cold.
The university, based in College Park, Maryland, announced March 1 that it was suspending fraternity and sorority activities, citing allegations of misconduct. During the suspension, events involving alcohol and recruitment activities were prohibited.
“As a result of evidence indicating involvement in hazing or other incidents that endanger the health and safety of our campus community, the university is continuing its five-chapter investigation through the Office of Student Conduct,” the university said in a statement. The university added that individual students will also be referred to the office for possible conduct violations.
This week, a group representing several fraternities filed a lawsuit against the university in federal court, seeking a restraining order against the ban. Attorneys for the four fraternities that filed suit did not immediately return a telephone message and an email seeking comment on the university’s announcement.
The lawsuit has the support of the national Fraternal Forward Coalition, which said in a statement that it will continue to pursue it.
“Administrators who participated or were complicit in this blatant erosion of student freedoms must be held accountable,” Wynn Smiley, a spokesperson for the coalition, said in a statement.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office argued in court documents filed Friday that as a result of the university’s decision to lift restrictions, the fraternities’ request for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction is now moot and must be dismissed.
Brown’s office also argued that even if the court does not find the issues moot, it should deny the restraining order because the university has shown that it had the authority to impose restrictions under its student code of conduct some chapter activities while she investigated “serious problems.” and persistent allegations of hazing and alcohol abuse across multiple departments that endangered the health and safety of students.”
“Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that their interest in ‘collegiality and social involvement,’ which has not been infringed, outweighs the university’s strong and compelling interests in maintaining public safety and preventing hazing ,” Brown’s office argued in its filing.
The order applied to the 37 groups that make up the university’s Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association. It did not apply to the university’s 13 multicultural Greek organizations or five historically black fraternities and sororities.
The university announced that 32 chapters have been cleared to return to normal operations. That includes three of the plaintiff’s four chapters, Brown’s office said in a lawsuit, including Theta Chi, Alpha Sigma Phi and Alpha Tau Omega. As a result, the court said, there are no pending restrictions on their chapter activities.
The university has continued its investigation against one of the fraternities that filed a lawsuit alleging serious allegations of hazing and alcohol abuse, the court said.
The university’s Office of Student Conduct received two referrals for conduct violations in February, with a local principal reporting that he found multiple controlled substances and drug paraphernalia in a dorm, according to court records.
The office also received an anonymous report from a parent that their son was exposed to harmful hazing by being left outside in the cold for hours, requiring him to be taken to the University Health Center for suspected hypothermia.
Later that month, the office received an anonymous email alleging that multiple unidentified fraternities were hazing new members by beating them with a paddle, burning them with cigarettes and making them lie on nails, according to court records. According to the documents, they were also forced to consume live fish, chewing tobacco and urine.
The person who sent the anonymous email also reported that he had personally experienced being forced to attend a ‘Line Up’ where he was ‘abused for hours on end’, forced to sit on the wall, push doing ups and planks and being ‘naked/in black’. underwear for the purpose of public humiliation, and to be physically abused,” according to court documents.
“At one of these events, one person fainted because they refused to provide us with water and forced us to drink straight vodka. They did nothing to help him. In fact, they hit him in the face with a plastic bat and poured beer on him. until he woke up,” the student wrote in the email.
A court hearing is scheduled for Monday. It was not immediately clear how the university’s move to release most fraternities for normal activities would affect the lawsuit.
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Associated Press writer Denise Lavoie contributed from Richmond, Virginia.