A fraternity at Rutgers University has been suspended amid an investigation into potential hazing after a 19-year-old student was hospitalized in critical condition earlier this week.
University officials have placed a cease and desist on all fraternity activities for the local chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi, located on the New Brunswick campus, NJ Advance Media reported. The fraternity will also be on organizational disciplinary probation until May 18 and social probation until Nov. 3.
The suspension comes after police responded to the frat house on College Avenue in the early hours of Wednesday morning, a visit prompted by an emergency call that was immediately disconnected. When officers arrived at the residence just after midnight, they found an unresponsive 19-year-old, who was then rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in critical condition.
Few specific details have been provided about his injuries, but a source close to the investigation told ABC 7 that someone came into contact with electricity, suffering a serious burn injury or shock.
New Brunswick officials have since posted a notice on the front of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity house, declaring it an unsafe structure.
While neither the university nor police have confirmed it was a hazing-related incident, the national fraternity chapter has emphasized that “hazing has no part in the Alpha Sigma Phi experience. It is not condoned nor is it tolerated.”
“We are currently gathering information as to what happened that evening but to be very clear … if it is determined by the fraternity, the university or law enforcement that the undergraduate members hazed that evening, the chapter will be closed, any member who directly or indirectly participated in those activities will be permanently expelled and the fraternity will encourage the university and law enforcement to pursue the maximum penalties allowed,” Gordy Heminger, a spokesperson for Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, Inc. told NJ Advance Media.
