A University of Kansas student says his time as a prospective member of Delta Upsilon turned into a brutal hazing ordeal that included being dunked headfirst into a bucket of cold water contaminated with human feces, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Douglas County District Court.
The student, identified in the petition as N. Miller, alleges he was forced to drink alcohol repeatedly, locked in a room with other pledges and made to consume 60 beers while doing fraternity members’ schoolwork. He also says he was kept in a pitch-black basement with loud music blasting from a large speaker placed near his head.
The lawsuit describes a string of degrading and violent treatment: wall sits and planks, ice cubes thrown at him while his head was pressed against a wall, and fraternity members urinating on his bed. Miller says the experience left him suffering extreme emotional distress from the “traumatic memories” of what the petition calls “the absurdly abusive conduct.”
Delta Upsilon, which KU placed on probation in April, was one of five fraternities sanctioned by the university for suspected hazing last school year. The chapter’s history at KU stretches back years; in 2018, it was banned from campus for four years.
The complaint names several defendants, including the national Delta Upsilon Fraternity, the Alumni of Kansas Chapter of Delta Upsilon, the Kansas Chapter of Delta Upsilon Educational Foundation, last year’s fraternity president and other leaders. The University of Kansas, Delta Upsilon and the Kansas Chapter of Delta Upsilon did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
Miller says he was drawn to the fraternity partly because it was promoted as the “world’s oldest nonsecret, non-hazing fraternity.”
“Nonetheless, Plaintiff was subjected to the very same such hazing, dehumanization, and acts of violence as which had led to the chapter/charter having been banned in the first place,” the lawsuit says.
The petition also says the hazing was carried out or overseen by a group of fraternity leaders named as defendants, and that those leaders “reasonably should have known that pledges, including Plaintiff, would be subjected to hazing by active members and officers absent reasonable supervision, enforcement, and intervention.”
After Miller reported the hazing and left the fraternity, the lawsuit says members retaliated. According to the petition, substances were smeared on his apartment door, loud music was blasted outside his sister’s apartment at 3 a.m. and sexual threats were made about his sister to him.
KU’s Student Conduct and Community Standards office began an investigation on Oct. 6 and found the fraternity responsible for hazing and harming people, the lawsuit says.
The filing includes six counts, among them negligent infliction of emotional distress and assault and battery. Miller is seeking a jury trial and $75,000 on each count, for a total of $450,000.
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