iStockphoto / JillianCain
Two fraternities at the University of Central Florida, Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon, have been under investigation recently after charges of dangerous hazing rituals. Now there are reports that some brothers were having pledges line up in the street and hitting them with cards as part of a UCF frat hazing ritual.
As a graduate of the Florida state university system myself, specifically from Florida State University, I didn’t realize that hazing at UCF had reached these levels. But a report from Steven Walker first shone a spotlight on the hazing last Friday and a new report from him in the Sun Sentinel adds a lot more context.
According to the report, a sorority member witnessed one of the frat members hit a pledge with a car and then heard screaming. That portion reads “A sorority member whose house sits next door to Sigma Chi’s told police she heard yelling, saw a car strike a young man and then heard someone shout “help!” and “my bones, my bones, they’re broken,” the report said.”
More details were added, suggesting it was a grey Kia traveling around 10-15 MPH leaving the Sigma Chi House. Sorority members later reported to the police that “one of the boys got hit by a car” which led to a police report stating “Sigma Chi brothers had allegedly forced new members to stand in front of cars while members of the organization hit them with cars.”
Police did not identify a victim but later stopped a Kia vehicle which matched the description of the car allegedly used in the UCF frat hazing ritual. They also checked with local hospitals to see if anyone came in having been hit by a car and found no leads.
According to the Sun-Sentinel report, Sigma Chi’s UCF chapter had been suspended 8 times between 2015 and 2020 with 4 suspensions in 2019 alone. While the investigation remains underway, Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon have both been suspended by the university and by their national chapters.
It remains unclear where things go from there but ‘hitting pledges with cars’ at UCF is a level of hazing I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before in the state of Florida. I witnessed pledges pelted with eggs and flour when some of my roommates took over the bottom floor of our house for their pledge kidnapping ritual and myself and the other GDI roommates were stuck upstairs unable to witness it until I was on the back porch and saw one of the pledges spill out of the room and look like the human version of homemade pasta covered in eggs and flour.
I heard LOTS of very gross stories about pledging at UF and FSU but again, nothing like ‘pledges line up and get hit with cars.’ These could, of course, all be rumors. No victim has been identified yet and in this country we’re innocent until proven guilty.
To read Steven Walker’s original report in the Orlando Sentinel, follow that link.