Hofstra Fraternity Suspended Amid Investigation Into Hazing Claims Including Strippers, Burning Hair: Report

A fraternity at a Long Island college has been placed on suspension amid an investigation into hazing claims that feature strippers and burning hair, the school’s newspaper reports.

The Sigma Alpha Mu frat at Hofstra University in Hempstead was placed on interim suspension on September 24, according to the Hofstra Chronicle. The newspaper had interviewed a student who brought the allegations of hazing to the attention of the school’s Department of Public Safety, as well as two other people.

The frat, also known as Sammy, held a series of “private rush events” that included hiring strippers and having physical contact with them at an off-campus house, putting pledges in a steaming hot bathroom for an hour, and an event called “big night” where the victim had two inches of his hair burned off after members of the fraternity said “His hair is too long. It’s like a girl. Maybe we should just cut it off.”

After the alleged victim had his hair burned, was spit on and had cigarette butts thrown at him, according to the paper, he rushed to a friend’s house where he told them what happened. They recommended he tell Hofstra’s public safety officers.

The student told the paper that the fraternity has a system called C.U.P.S., which stands for Cooperation, Unity, Pride and Secrecy. “Every time they said secrecy, one of the brothers would go, ‘This is how we got away with what we do for so long. If we find out that you said anything, we will find you and we will beat the shit out of you because we have eyes everywhere on campus,’” the student said.

The school condemns hazing of any matter, they said in a statement to the Chronicle.

This is not the first frat at Hofstra to get in trouble for controversial behavior this year. In May, the school’s chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi after a video surfaced on social media showing a dog being held upside down and sprayed in the mouth with beer from a keg.