Sigma Gamma Rho Incident Dominates News

By Mark Andrews
College News.Com
College students have been dominating news headlines lately, all for acting poorly. Let’s count them down, shall we?

According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, six members of Rutgers University’s Sigma Gamma Rho sorority were arrested Wednesday and charged with paddling pledges and restricting their food intake over eight days.

The hazing allegedly took place a university student apartment building during the middle of January, and that there were three victims, one of whom had to go to the hospital for “non life-threatening injuries”, according to Rutgers police Lt. Richard Dinan. CBS News reports that one student’s buttocks were left “bruised and bleeding”, and that the six students who were arrested are now free on bail.

The pledges themselves were unofficial pledges, as their hazing took place during Rutgers’ official pledge period. Rutgers University student newspaper The Daily Targum reports that the campus immediately suspended the sorority and that the national Sigma Gamma Rho organization has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Rutgers chapter.

Vice President for Student Affairs Gregory S. Blimling told the Targum that Rutgers “takes allegations of hazing very seriously” and would try and stop incidents such as these from occurring in the future.

Below is an article about the sorors who were arrested:

By Ariel Nagi

Associate News Editor

The Daily Targum

Six members of the University’s Sigma Gamma Rho sorority were arrested and charged with aggravated hazing, causing a victim to be hospitalized, Rutgers University Police Department Lt. Richard Dinan said.
Four members — Vanessa Adegbite; Kesha Cheron, a School of Arts and Sciences junior; Ilana Warner, a Livingston College senior; and Joana Bernard — were arrested on campus Tuesday by RUPD and taken to the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Facility, Dinan said.
The four women were later released on a $1,500 bail, he said.
The two other members — Marie Charles, a Douglass College senior, and Shawna Ebanks, a Rutgers College senior — were arrested yesterday, also facing a $1,500 bail, Dinan said.
The location on campus where the incident occurred could not be confirmed and whether the victim filed the police report could not be released at press time, Dinan said.
All six women are facing aggravated hazing charges, he said.
The sorority members allegedly hazed pledges by paddling them, he said.
Members also allegedly restricted the amount of food the pledges could eat within an eight-day period.
While only one victim has been confirmed, the police suspect there are more, but could not release the exact number at press time, Dinan said. The hospitalized victim has non-threatening injuries.
“The investigation is on-going,” he said. “We could confirm one victim at this time … and there could possibly be [more victims].”
Vice President for Student Affairs Gregory S. Blimling said the University learned of the allegations on Tuesday and that they were received with great concern.
The University immediately suspended the sorority on campus and contacted the national organization, which has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sigma Gamma Rho.
“The University takes allegations of hazing very seriously and is acting aggressively to stop [the hazing],” Blimling said.
The University requires every chapter to go through hazing training programs and every student is required to sign anti-hazing statements.
Despite the efforts to educate students and prevent physical and psychological hazing, he said that the University has learned that the hazing may have occurred on more than one occasion at the sorority.
Depending on the type of hazing, the most severe punishment could include expulsion of a student and not allowing a chapter to return, Blimling said.
The University has one of the largest fraternity and sorority systems in the country with more than 50 chapters and about 2,000 students in Greek organizations, according to the University Web site.
Blimling said that he hopes this incident will not overshadow the volunteer service work, which fraternities and sororities provide to the community.
“I would hate to think that this decision by a small group of women, [exercising poor judgment], would overshadow what hundreds have done over a number of years,” he said.
— John S. Clyde contributed to this article