A student who said he was hazed by off-campus fraternity Alpha Delta Phi, formerly chartered as Sigma Alpha Epsilon, filed a complaint against a member of the group before a magistrate Aug. 9.
Sophomore Daniel Klufas was treated at Duke Hospital for hypothermic shock and a seizure following an April 25 pledge event in which he was allegedly forced to remove his clothing while being doused with frigid water. Attorney Stephan Seeger said that when his client began to shiver, one of the fraternity brothers tried to aid him by following the cold water with hot water, sending Klufas into "uncontrollable shivering and shock."
Klufas did not finish pledging, and he wrote in an e-mail that he will take a medical leave of absence from Duke this semester.
"There's really no hope of normalcy upon returning to Duke," Seeger said. "People in Daniel's position who speak up on behalf of themselves so bad things don't happen in the future are always met with a certain degree of scorn. This is especially true because we are dealing with a fraternity, an alleged brotherhood."
The Durham Police Department closed its investigation into the hazing incident and informed Klufas that under state statute, he could pursue his case through a magistrate, said Kammie Michael, public information officer and public relations coordinator for DPD.
The complaint names one fraternity brother in particular, but there may eventually be enough evidence to charge at least six to seven members of Alpha Delt, Seeger said. Hazing is a misdemeanor in North Carolina, and Seeger noted that a civil suit may also be filed in the future.
The University has policies against hazing, and the maximum penalty is expulsion.
The Greek Judicial Board has heard 14 cases of hazing since the body was reinstated in January 2003, according to the Student Affairs Web site. The board, however, does not monitor off-campus fraternities like Alpha Delt. The group affiliated with Alpha Delta Phi nationals in 2006, after it had been expelled from the national Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity in 2002 after violations of risk management, including hazing. The expulsion automatically disaffiliated it from the University. For unrecognized groups like Alpha Delt, responsibility for the violations lies solely with the individual students involved, Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek explained.
Alpha Delt President Michael Shaughnessy, a senior, declined to comment on the complaint.
Private investigator Vito Colucci of Colucci Investigations, who was hired by Klufas's family in May, obtained Internet communications and text messages exchanged by fraternity brothers. The correspondence was presented to the magistrate to help clarify the events of that April night, Seeger said.
"We have all the information," Seeger said. "It smacks of a cover-up and it really tells a story about how not to act."
Seeger said he opted to present Klufas's case before a magistrate to determine probable cause in order to accelerate the progression of the investigation, which he felt had stalled under DPD's control.
He noted that DPD initially told Klufas he could be prosecuted for his involvement in his own hazing, a statement Seeger said he suspects was meant to discourage his client from pursuing the investigation.
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prevents him from commenting on specifics of the case, but noted that his staff has been meeting with Klufas to help him work through the academic complications related to the investigation. Klufas was in Durham early August to take final exams and conclude his freshman year.
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