Posted on 12/16/2017 6:29:10 AM PST by Oak Leafer
Updated at 3:15 p.m. ET
A grand jury tasked with investigating broad issues of hazing at Penn State has issued a blistering report asserting that leaders at the university were well aware of pervasive misbehavior in the Greek system and failed to take action.
Penn State, responding in court, said that the university has "shown an unwavering commitment to promoting safety and accountability" and that alcohol abuse at college is a "national problem," not a university-specific one.
The report, made public by the Centre County, Pa., District Attorney's Office, was released after the death of 19-year-old fraternity pledge Timothy Piazza earlier this year. It includes numerous descriptions of fraternity practices that violate the law, campus policy or basic safety principles. Numerous allegations of sexual assault were detailed.
Hazing is "rampant and pervasive" and includes "sadistic" rituals that "surge to unfathomabl[e] peaks of depravity," the report says. Penn State fraternities require excessive drinking to the point of being life-threatening or demand that pledges exercise to the point of exhaustion on floors covered in vomit, bleach or broken glass, according to the report. Some hazing rituals allegedly involved pledges being forced to drink concoctions designed to make them ill or required pledges to kill and skin animals.
Efforts to deter dangerous activities, through the criminal system or through the school, have "clearly failed," the report found.
Penn State administrators were "remarkably undisturbed" by complaints about excessive and dangerous alcohol abuse at fraternities, the report says, and "it was only a matter of time before a death would occur during a hazing event."
Powerful alumni with ties to the Greek system, many of whom were substantial financial supporters of the university, helped push against any actions that would change the culture on campus.
The jury, initially tasked with investigating a single deadly incident, "determined it would be failing its duty to the Commonwealth as a whole if it did not report to the public" what it learned about hazing dangers in general.
"Whatever values Greek life previously held dear, the Greek life the Grand Jury saw focuses mainly on excessive drinking and social debauchery," the report states...
“I’m not an officer anymore, but I’m still a gentleman.”
After your post 18? Not a chance.
you protest too much
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