Fraternity Scandals in Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Renew Scrutiny of Greek Life

Separate incidents at the University of Mississippi, Penn State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have put fraternity culture under fresh scrutiny this week, prompting a hazing survivor and author to warn that a longstanding “code of silence” continues to shield dangerous behavior inside Greek organizations.

At Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, two students were found dead in recent days: Ryan Strang, a member of Phi Delta Theta, and Robert Aidan Hamilton. Strang was found at an off-campus home. Authorities recovered packages of kratom, a commercially available substance sometimes called “gas station heroin,” at both scenes, though its role in either death has not been determined. Phi Delta Theta has not been accused of wrongdoing.

“The loss of two young lives is a profound tragedy,” the fraternity said in a statement. “Phi Delta Theta joins the University of Mississippi and the broader Ole Miss community in mourning Robert and Aidan Hamilton and extending our deepest sympathies to their families, friends, chapter brothers, classmates, and all those who knew and loved them.” The statement added that the losses “reinforce the importance of a collective commitment to health, safety, and well-being on college campuses today,” and asked the Phi Delta Theta community to keep the Strang family and the Mississippi Alpha Chapter in their thoughts.

In State College, Pennsylvania, prosecutors allege in court documents that pledges at a Penn State fraternity were coerced into cutting and packaging cocaine as part of an organized drug ring allegedly led by former Sigma Chi member Agostino Abbatiello.

And in Madison, Wisconsin, police said officers responding Wednesday night to the Alpha Epsilon Pi house found roughly 30 partially clothed young men packed into a sweltering basement, covered in food, condiments and other liquids, with several pledges showing signs of physical assault. Two people were arrested, and the Madison Police Department is investigating the incident as hazing.

Jonathan Pierce, chief communications officer for Alpha Epsilon Pi, said in a statement: “AEPi Headquarters takes the allegations involving our Pi Chapter in Madison, Wisconsin, extremely seriously. We will cooperate fully with the authorities investigating this matter.”

“Hazing is a betrayal of everything our fraternity stands for. There is no place for it in AEPi. No exceptions. No excuses.”

Andrew Lohse, a 36-year-old Dartmouth graduate who exposed hazing rituals inside the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter there and later wrote “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy,” said the recent headlines echo patterns he has tracked for a decade.

“You need a code of omertà if you’re trying to create an organization that’s essentially like a criminal organization,” Lohse said. “For years and years — [the last] 10 years — it’s like whenever someone dies in a frat, that’s when my phone rings.”

Lohse noted that the drugs involved in today’s incidents are far more dangerous than what existed during his own time in a fraternity. “There was no kratom, no tranq, no smoking bath salts, no fentanyl. Back then, the cocaine was more or less just cocaine. It wasn’t like every time somebody did cocaine they could die,” he said.

Of the Penn State allegations, he said: “When I was reading that the pledges were in the background doing that, I thought that was sort of amazing — but in a bad way, but also extremely brazen.”

Lohse described his own hazing at Sigma Alpha Eprsilon as including being forced to “swim in a kiddie pool full of vomit while being urinated on,” made to chug vinegar or milk until he and other pledges would vomit in a tarp-covered room, and confined to a small basement crawl space, on top of coerced binge drinking he said sometimes reached “10, 15 plus drinks.” Following hazing incidents during his time as a student, SAE was suspended from Dartmouth for a decade and was re-recognized in August, according to student newspaper The Dartmouth.

He argued that fraternities today bear little resemblance to their 19th-century origins. “Essentially, you can look at a modern fraternity like a criminal organization,” Lohse said. “In most states, the unique behavioral attributes of a fraternity cross into criminal statutes — whether misdemeanor hazing or serious felony drug trafficking. You need a code of silence to protect that.” He added that such organizations force members “to compromise their own identity for the collective, taking something from its members to ensure the system perpetuates itself over time.”

Asked what he would tell students weighing whether to join a fraternity, Lohse did not tell them to avoid Greek life outright but urged them to weigh the “opportunity cost.” “Consider that the upside benefit, while maybe not zero, pales in comparison to the downside risk,” he said. “Think about what you actually want out of college. Who do you really want to be around, and who is actually going to be there to help you? I think you’ll find that a fraternity isn’t going to provide that.”

Judson Horras, president and CEO of the North American Interfraternity Conference, said student safety remains a top priority for member organizations. “The NIC has adopted enhanced health and safety guidelines and co-led advocacy to pass tougher anti-hazing laws in more than a dozen states, as well as the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act,” he said. On the Ole Miss deaths, Horras added: “We are heartbroken by the loss of two University of Mississippi students, one of whom was a fraternity member. Our sympathies are with both families and the Ole Miss community. We will continue working with universities and families to keep every student safe.”