College senior E. Martyn Griffen has taken further measures against two Penn individuals who he says beat and branded him in an alleged hazing incident last fall.
Griffen filed a private complaint that now has the two facing criminal charges from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.
These charges are in addition to a lawsuit that Griffen filed against the two fraternity brothers, as well as the national and Penn chapters of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
College senior Kelechi Okereke and Education graduate student Lionel Anderson-Perez will attend criminal hearings Nov. 22, and the civil lawsuit filed against them will likely be put on hold until after all criminal proceedings conclude, Griffen's lawyer Robert Sachs said.
Griffen alleges that the two lacerated him with a rubber band and severely beat his legs during pledging in the spring.
Anderson-Perez is criminally charged with harassment and simple assault. Kelechi is also charged with harassment. An original hearing date for Aug. 7 was postponed earlier this summer at the request of the defendants.
Both the defendants and their lawyers declined to comment for this article.
Sachs said that the civil lawsuit has been moving forward slowly, in part because the defendants have asked not to give sworn testimony while under criminal investigation.
Additionally, the national fraternity has filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit filed against it. According to the motion, Griffen signed a membership form for the fraternity in which he agreed "to submit any and all disputes [with the fraternity] to binding arbitration," a legal process that allows a third-party arbiter to resolve a dispute.
Sachs said that "he cannot begin to guess" how the court will rule on this motion but that he is awaiting the response.
"At this point it certainly seems that we are going to trial after the criminal case is over, but a lot rests in the hands of the judge," he said.
Meanwhile, the fraternity has been expelled from campus.
"They suspended the chapter until at least July 2008, and they would be required to meet a variety of conditions" before returning to campus, University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman said.
She added that she does not expect this ruling to change.
Griffen, who took some time off from classes at the end of last semester, plans to return this fall, Sachs said.
The national fraternity declined to comment on the matter.
