65° and Sunny
Image
Warrants are being typed up for eight Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers after an SAE pledge was hospitalized with severe "alcohol related sickness" during a get-together on Nov. 10.
The fraternity, as a whole, already has been punished. "Both the national organization and GCSU have suspended the Georgia College chapter of this fraternity, and in conjunction with the national organization, Georgia College has issued the student-members a cease-and-desist order, already in effect, which forbids any further fraternity activity until the matter is finally adjudicated," according to a campus-wide e-mail that circulated after the incident.
This is the second very similar incident involving SAE in Georgia in the last three years. The University of North Georgia chapter of SAE was suspended for four years in February 2019 after "an underage student was taken to the hospital after drinking too much," according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The chapter already was on greek probation at the time.
Now, facing criminal charges here in Milledgeville are:
- John Kiersznowski – hazing; furnishing alcohol to a minor
- John Ryan – furnishing alcohol to a minor
- Shaun Beller – furnishing alcohol to a minor
- Stewart Hillson – furnishing alcohol to a minor
- Mitch Ledford – furnishing alcohol to a minor
- Dustin Gaultney – furnishing alcohol to a minor
- Marion Cole – furnishing alcohol to a minor
- Cade Gantt – furnishing alcohol to a minor
Although it happened a thousand miles away and six years ago, SAE made national headlines in 2015 after a racist viral video from the Oklahoma University chapter...
Wrote GCSU president Cathy Cox in the wake of the GCSU incident last month: "There is no time and no place at which hazing activity is acceptable or tolerable on or around the GCSU campus or involving GCSU students. Likewise, the Georgia General Assembly has recently strengthened laws against hazing to solidify the public policy in our state against this type of activity. We are cooperating with the local law enforcement agencies that are investigating this matter, and our Student Life staff are likewise investigating it from a student disciplinary standpoint. At the request of law enforcement authorities, we have refrained from making any statements about this matter before today in order to further facilitate their investigative work, which is ongoing. We are deeply concerned about the health, safety and well-being of all Georgia College students, and will do our part to hold accountable those who jeopardize the well-being of our students. We will also expand our anti-hazing programs to help prevent conduct like this from ever happening here again.
But we also need each and every one of you to take an equally strong stand against conduct that has no place in civilized society; it is dangerous and criminal, not fun or funny."
