The IU chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu has been given extensive punishment and sanctions after reports of hazing, Assistant Dean of Students Steve Veldkamp said in an email.
Hazing complaints were reported in mid-January through the anonymous website Student Life and Learning, Veldkamp said.
“Following the allegation, we conducted an investigation with members and past members of the organization,” Veldkamp said.
University headquarters members and staff participated in these investigations.
The hazing incidents pertained to activities in the spring and fall semesters of 2015, Interfraternity Council President and former Sammy President Ryan Zukerman said.
Sammy’s infractions involved subjecting new members to “servitude, mental hazing and physical hazing,” Veldkamp said.
This was the first report of hazing in the chapter’s history at IU.
While Sammy is currently not suspended, Veldkamp said they will be if any similar reports are made before Dec. 31.
The sanctions placed on Sammy will include anti-hazing education and bystander intervention programs, Veldkamp said. These are the first practices of an amendment recently made to the IFC constitution.
Student Life and Learning, the Dean of Student’s Office, the Office of Student Ethics and the Student Organizations Ethics Board placed these sanctions on the chapter, Zukerman said.
This is the third incident in this academic year of a fraternity hazing. Previous reports led to the revoking of Alpha Tau Omega’s chapter and the suspension of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter. Veldkamp said these statistics are “above average.”
ATO and Phi Psi lacked internal accountability and a leadership education program, he said.
“Most fraternities and sororities who prioritize leadership and accountability have moved passed having to humiliate and demean their peers to achieve some artificial status,” Veldkamp said.
Despite these allegations, Zukerman said he is optimistic about the improvement of behavior from now on.
“I am excited about the future of the chapter and the potential for the chapter to become an exemplary chapter at Indiana University,” Zukerman said.
The decision to place sanctions on Sammy didn’t involve IFC input. Zukerman said there was no room for any sort of biased opinion based on his former status as Sammy’s president.
However, given the development of IFC Standards Procedures, he said there may be a conflict of interests between the IFC vice president of standards and his own chapter. In this case, he said the position of the IFC vice president of standards will be temporarily filled by the IFC director of standards.
