Penn State Student: Here's How 'Abuse Frat' Hazed Me

James Vivenzio files lawsuit over Kappa Delta Rho hazing
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 8, 2015 7:00 PM CDT
Penn State Student: Here's How 'Abuse Frat' Hazed Me
James Vivenzio, left, listens to his attorney Aaron J. Frewiald during news conference Monday, June 8, 2015, in Philadelphia.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Just last month, Penn State shut down a fraternity for three years over findings of sexual harassment and hazing. Now a former member of that frat, Kappa Delta Rho, has filed a lawsuit against the fraternity and Penn State saying he approached school officials in April 2014 about the abuse and saw his efforts ignored, USA Today reports. Only when he talked to college police this year did the school bother to investigate, he says. In the suit, 21-year-old James Vivenzio claims that during hazing he was burned with cigarettes and endured lineups that included "force-feeding bucketfuls of liquor mixed with urine, vomit, hot sauce and other liquid and semi-solid ingredients." He also played physically risky "gladiator" games and downed booze until he threw up, the suit says.

But school officials say they "strongly dispute" Vivenzio's version of events, the AP reports. Penn State's side: Vivenzio was unwilling to file a complaint, provide documents, talk to campus cops, or take part in a "formal disciplinary process ... despite repeated encouragement from University staff." The university adds that Vivenzio didn't show them a private Facebook page with photos of naked, unconscious women that fueled the abuse scandal; police did that earlier this year, the school says. Also today, Kappa Delta Rho's national office kicked out 38 members from the Penn State chapter for violating fraternity values in the scandal. But that won't affect the students' status at Penn State, the AP notes, and the Post-Gazette reports that school officials won't say whether any students have been sanctioned. (Read about nasty comments that surfaced on the frat's Facebook page.)

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