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Cal Poly rules alleged fraternity waterboarding was not hazing

Cal Poly administrators ruled an alleged incident of waterboarding was not fraternity hazing.

The Dean of Students Office received a video clip of the incident back in September.

It allegedly showed members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity hazing a recruit.

The video posted by Mustang News shows an unrestrained student under a faucet with water pouring over a cloth on his face.

The method is similar to the tactics used for waterboarding.

It also has a caption saying, “when you troll in beer die you get waterboarded”.

The university says it immediately began investigating after administrators received the video.

The school met with the chapter, the national fraternity, and the students in the video.

It found that the video was shot in September 2018, before Greek Life recruitment began for the school year.

The school also determined that it does not depict hazing and was not filmed at a fraternity event.

The university says no fraternity recruits were involved, the event did not take place at a registered fraternity house, and was not a registered fraternity gathering.

There was also no evidence that chapter leaders knew of what happened that day.

The university released a statement saying, “Hazing is not tolerated in our campus community.
Cal Poly takes the health and safety of its students very seriously, and the university responds promptly and appropriately to all reports it receives of any activities that would threaten the health and wellbeing of any of its campus community members. Privacy laws preclude us from discussing or acknowledging any specific student conduct investigations or sanctions. Speaking generally, we investigate all reports of student misconduct. Where misconduct has occurred, the university applies appropriate sanctions aimed at holding students accountable; educating them; and helping them to stay safe and healthy and to avoid future violations of university policies.”

KEYT 2019

Article Topic Follows: California

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