Penn State fraternity charged under hazing law named for victim

A Penn State University fraternity is facing criminal charges after police said its members subjected its pledges to physical and emotional abuse.

The Lambda Lambda chapter of Phi Beta Sigma was charged last week with conspiracy organizational hazing by Ferguson Township police, according to StateCollege.com. The charge is a misdemeanor under the state’s Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law.

Two members of the fraternity, Jacob D. Francis and Jayson Archer, were charged in May with assault and hazing after a student said new members were hit with wooden paddles and punched in the chest.

The new criminal complaint says that the chapter’s leadership and its members were present, oversaw and participated in hazing workouts that pledges were forced to do, which included physical beatings with paddles.

Many of these incidents were discussed in detail in group text messages by fraternity members, police said.

According to an affidavit, new members were forced to go to the basement of the fraternity house every night, where they would be asked questions about the fraternity. Those who gave wrong answers would be “punished” by being hit on the buttocks with a 24-inch long paddle.

They would also be hit with the paddle three times at the start and end of every session, police said, and could also include being punched in the chest 10 times with a closed fist.

New members were not allowed to talk to anyone other than their fellow pledges and were required to share their phone locations so fraternity members could keep track of their whereabouts.

University Public Relations Senior Director Wyatt Dubois told WTAJ that the university was aware of the situation and was taking action.

The Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law was signed by then-Gov. Tom Wolf in 2018. The law is named after Timothy J. Piazza, a 19-year-old Penn State student who died in 2017 of severe head and abdominal injuries after a series of falls after a Beta Theta Pi fraternity pledge party.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 13 in Centre County.