A recent highly publicized lawsuit has raised questions about Greek initiation practices at Penn, but University officials maintain that existing anti-hazing measures are sufficient.
College junior E. Martyn Griffen has sued the national Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, its Penn chapter and two of the Penn chapter's members because, he says, the two members beat and branded him in a hazing incident six months ago.
Penn administrators involved with Greek life on campus would not comment on the incident and have not announced plans to update anti-hazing measures.
Inter-Fraternity Council President Max Dubin said strong precautions are already in place.
"We do a lot of work on training our new-member educators, getting out the message on proper new-member education and anti-hazing policies," Dubin said.
Penn has been tight-lipped about the incident but released a statement acknowledging that the University was aware of the allegations and that an investigation had found that the fraternity chapter violated anti-hazing regulations.
Penn spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman said the Penn chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha has been suspended until at least July 2008.
Holtzman added that the fraternity will have to meet certain terms before it is allowed to re-establish at Penn, such as providing each member with training on hazing and recruitment procedures.
Griffen is suing College junior Kelechi Okereke and Education graduate student Lionel Anderson-Perez, saying Anderson-Perez punched his thighs and Okereke snapped a rubber band on his arm until it cut him, leaving deep scars.
Robert Sachs, one of Griffen's lawyers, said Griffen has since withdrawn from Penn due to the emotional and psychological effects of the incident but plans a fall return.
A doctor at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who examined Griffen said he had a "hard mass running the entire length of the front of the left thigh," measuring about 5 inches by 1 inch by 1.5 inches. The cause of such an injury, Sachs said, is severe trauma. Photos of Griffen's arm also show the scars left by the rubber band.
Sachs said other pledges were also beaten that night as part of a group punishment that occurred when a pledge divulged fraternity secrets to a non-member.
Alpha Phi Alpha has a policy that "strictly prohibits hazing in any form whether physical or mental as a term or condition of membership in the organization," according to the fraternity's Web site.
Neither Griffen, Okereke, Perez-Anderson nor any member of Alpha Phi Alpha has returned phone calls for comment.
Michael Pegues, lawyer for the Alpha Phi Alpha national organization, said the fraternity has suspended Penn's chapter, prohibiting the group from having meetings.
He said that while there have been isolated hazing incidents in the fraternity's history, "it is by far the exception and not the rule that these types of things occur."
Griffen's civil suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. It claims that Griffen was the victim of assault, battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks more than $75,000 in damages.
Sachs said he expects the case to go to trial within a year.
Staff reporter Deena Greenberg contributed to this article.
