Tuesday, February 28, 2012
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
A Youngstown State University fraternity is suspended for 15 years after an investigation into allegations of its members’ assaulting two young men.
Kappa Alpha Psi will be on probation for an additional 10 years after the suspension.
The ruling was issued Monday after a hearing by the Student Judicial Board, a panel consisting of a student, a faculty member and a member of the administration.
The hearing came after nine men — two current students and seven alumni fraternity members — were charged with two counts each of felonious assault. Eight of them turned themselves in to police, and their cases have been bound over to a grand jury. The ninth man, Raheem Satterthwaite, 22, of Illinois Avenue, remains at large.
They are accused of beating two university students over a period of days at a house on Woodford Avenue.
One of the victims was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center on Feb. 2 and spent time on a ventilator. Members of his family told police and the university that they believed he was a victim of hazing.
The board’s decision follows a hearing.
“They hear evidence, weigh the evidence and come up with a determination of what, if any, violation occurred,” said Ron Cole, a university spokesman.
The 10-year probation after the suspension will include monthly review meetings for the first five years.
A representative of the fraternity attended the hearing and entered a response of “not responsible” for all of the violations, according to the university.
No one could be reached Monday afternoon in the fraternity’s international office in Philadelphia.
“The decision of the Student Judicial Board sends a clear message across campus and the community that YSU will not tolerate such behavior and will work to ensure that any student organization or individual that participates in such behavior is removed from the university,” Jack Fahey, vice president for Student Affairs, said in a news release.
Kappa Alpha Psi was responsible for violating seven violations of the Student Code of Conduct, including hazing and “physical abuse, verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, stalking, bullying and/or coercion which endangers or tends to endanger the safety, health, or life of any person [including self].”
The code defines hazing as “an act which endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student, or which destroys or removes public or private property, for the purpose of initiation, admission into, affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in a group or organization.”
Earlier this month, President Cynthia E. Anderson announced that Kappa Alpha Psi had been suspended indefinitely while an internal investigation was under way.
It is the first black and oldest fraternity on campus.