Georgia College & State University announced Friday it has dissolved a fraternity due to hazing and other student code violations.
Milledgeville police in December charged eight people involved with Georgia College’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity chapter with hazing and furnishing alcohol to a minor. The alleged victim was hospitalized and later returned to school, according to the college.
The school began its own investigation, which resulted in dissolving the chapter. Student conduct proceedings are ongoing, a Georgia College official said Friday.
“I would like to remind all members of the campus community that we have a zero-tolerance policy toward hazing and other behaviors that jeopardize the health, safety, and wellbeing of our students,” Shawn Brooks, Georgia College’s vice president for student life, said in a message to students Friday.
The fraternity’s national organization has also revoked the chapter’s charter.
About 5% of college students say they’ve been hazed, according to some statistics. Most hazing incidents consist of students pressuring classmates — particularly those hoping to join a fraternity or sorority or on an athletics team — into excessive drinking or enduring physical abuse.
A state senator recently introduced a bill that includes maximum five year prison sentences for anyone convicted of hazing a college student in Georgia.
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