Rutgers sorority shut down for hazing

Rutgers sorority shut down for hazing

Rutgers University says it has suspended a campus sorority after six members were charged with hazing prospective pledges by paddling them and denying them food, evening injuring one woman to the point of hospitalization. Rutgers police said Wednesday the incidents involving members of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority occurred between Jan. 18 and Jan. 25. The six members who were arrested this week are charged with aggravated hazing, an indictable criminal offense, and could face disciplinary action and possible expulsion under the university's code of conduct. They are free on bail. Among the six sorority sisters arrested was Llana Warner, 20, of the Bronx, who was charged with felony aggravated hazing. "They told us there was no hazing, that they didn't believe in it," one of the battered pledges told the Newark Star Ledger. Once she and the other pledges were surrounded by the sadistic sisters from the New Brunswick campus, they were forced to submit to beatings with wooden paddles over an eight-day period. One pledge said she was struck more than 200 times, leaving her buttocks covered with blood clots and welts. In too much pain to sit, the student's mother took her to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where officials alerted the campus officials and police. University officials immediately suspended the sorority. Authorities say the beatings took place at a student apartment building in New Brunswick and at private homes in Newark and West Orange. Police say at least one student sought medical attention for her injuries. Also arrested were Vanessa Adegbite, 21, of Jersey City; Joana Bernard, 21, of West Orange, N.J.; Kesha Cheron, 20, of Newark; Shawna Ebanks, 21, of East Orange, and Marie Charles, 21, of West Orange. Sigma Gamma Rho, an African-American sorority founded in 1922, does not have an official Rutgers sorority house. The hazing occurred at a student apartment building and off campus, cops said.