Monday, August 10, 1998
Omega Sigma Tau won’t face charges
INVESTIGATION: Fraternity will
remain under suspension for Spring Break incident
By Diana Ting
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Omega Sigma Tau fraternity, whose hazing incident over
Spring Break resulted in the hospitalization of three pledges, will
not face any charges as a result of the incident, but will remain
under suspension.
Under the terms of the suspension, which will last until March
31, 1999, the fraternity will not be able to participate in any
social activities, scheduled events or intramurals, and will only
be able to hold one meeting per month for active members.
Details of the incident are still unclear; however, it is
suspected that fraternity pledges participated in a "boot-camp
experience," said Robert Naples, vice chancellor of student affairs
and campus life.
"Prospective new members were asked to endure physical activity
as an overall, what they would call, ‘personal improvement
preparation,’ in order to get into the fraternity," Naples said.
"We would view it as hazing."
The fraternity faced informal, out-of-court hearings before a
hearing officer of the City Attorney for the purpose of determining
what the causes of the incident were, and whether charges would be
filed.
"At this point, no charges will be filed," said Larry Webster,
assistant supervisor to the city attorney.
"Each (fraternity member interviewed) indicated sorrow and
regret," Webster continued.
He also said that the fraternity promised not to endanger the
lives of its pledges again.
"They have been advised of the laws and consequences of further
violation," he said.
Webster would not say what "further violations" they were to
avoid. He also would not say exactly what happened during that
weekend.
However, University Police Captain Alan Cueba, in an April 11
statement to the Los Angeles Times, provided what information he
could.
"Pledges were instructed to take long runs on a beach, do
push-ups, sit-ups, and leg lifts, and run stairs" on UCLA’s
trademark Janss Steps, Cueba said.
As the result of the April incident, two pledges, Marshall Lai
and Derrick Koo, suffered kidney failure due to exhaustion and
dehydration, and endured extensive stays at the hospital.
A third pledge, a 19-year-old from Orange County, was admitted
to the UCLA Medical Center for treatment of "massive dehydration
and exhaustion," but was released soon afterward.
Lai and Koo’s kidney failure was the result of "muscle breakdown
from extreme or long-term physical activity," said Nancy
Greenstein, UCPD director of community services.
"Alcohol was not the cause of it," she continued.
The fraternity was put on suspension in May.
According to an agreement reached by the fraternity and Joan
Brown, associate director for the Center for Student Programming/
Fraternity and Sorority Relations (CSP/FSR), there are six
provisions for the chapter to meet in order to be taken off of
suspension and put on probation.
The provisions include the development of a program that deals
with hazing and peer harassment that will be presented to both the
UCLA Greek system and the Southern California Asian Greek
Council.
If the fraternity is put on probation, activities and events
will have to be approved by CSP/FSR.
Naples is satisfied with the terms of the suspension and assured
the community that the measures taken would exemplify that hazing
will not be tolerated by UCLA.
"The community needs to know that the actions we have taken
indicate that we are going to be hard on hazing," Naples said.
"Any time that the students are put in jeopardy or are degraded
in any way, we just won’t accept that."