US: Five college students charged over fraternity hazing in Alabama

Houston, Oct 19
Five students of the University of Alabama in the southern US state of Alabama have been arrested and charged with hazing in incidents at a fraternity house in August, local media reported.

Court documents cited a video showing pledges on their hands and knees being "yelled at, stepped on, pushed, had items thrown at them and had beer poured on them," according to Xinhua, citing a report from the WVTM-TV, a Birmingham-based television station affiliated with NBC.

The video also showed pledges in what is believed to be an initiation where they're lined up doing wall sits and pushups and being yelled at by "active members" of the fraternity, said the report on Friday.

"I think hazing, especially for fraternities, is really big at a lot of big schools," Abby Griesemer, a University of Alabama student, was quoted as saying.

"I think it takes a big mental toll on a lot of the guys I've met, a lot of people who had just acted completely different after they were getting hazed," the student said.

Lizzie Ehrle, a member of a sorority but now no longer affiliated, believes this is just the beginning of more hazing allegations surfacing.

"I was shocked that they were arrested," she said in the report, "There's like a lot behind the scenes that I think people don't know, and it's probably going to start to be uncovered because of a result like this. They're going to start doing more investigations, I think."

"The University of Alabama strictly prohibits hazing and thoroughly investigates allegations, including appropriate coordination with law enforcement and Greek chapter national organisations," said the University of Alabama in a statement.

The investigation remains underway.