By Alex Robinson
State Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) has already started work on hazing legislation following a fraternity incident that led to the death of Baruch College freshman Chun “Michael” Deng from Oakland Gardens in Queens.
“The best way to honor the memory of Michael and other victims of hazing is to ensure that no college student is put in a situation in which their own safety is jeopardized. We must do all we can to prevent future senseless violence,” Weprin said in a statement. “That’s why, I’m introducing legislation to crack down on hazing and to prevent tragedies like this from reoccurring in schools throughout the state.”
Weprin’s new legislation would expand the state’s hazing laws to prohibit physical contact of any kind during pledge events.
Deng, a 19-year-old Pi Delta Psi pledge, died from head trauma after he participated in a hazing ritual called the “glass ceiling,” at a house in Tunkhannock, Pa., where more than 20 members of the fraternity had gathered for the weekend, according to an affidavit filed by Poconos Regional Police seeking a warrant to search the house.
Pi Delta Psi’s national office maintained it knew nothing of the pledge event and that it was not sanctioned by the organization.
In the “glass ceiling” ritual, pledges, who were blindfolded and wearing a backpack full of sand, tried to make it to a certain point in the house’s backyard while other members of the fraternity physically prevented them, court documents said.
Fraternity members interviewed by police said Deng was pushed, but they did not see by whom, court documents said. When Deng became unconscious and unresponsive, shortly after 5.am., members took him inside, where they changed his clothes and looked up his symptoms, according to the affidavit.
They eventually drove him to a hospital, where he arrived at 6:42 a.m. on Dec. 8. He died the next day from what the Monroe County district attorney described as “major brain trauma.”.
Pocono police said they retrieved Deng’s belongings, cell phones, laptops and Pi Delta Psi clothing from the house, according to the affidavit. They also found drugs in the house, but a toxicology report showed no traces of alcohol or drugs in Deng’s body, according to the affidavit.
The Pocono police and the DA’s office were still investing the death, but the DA told the Associated Press criminal charges would be coming.
“Police are still going through the connect-the-dot phases of this investigation,” the district attorney’s office said , but “there will be criminal charges filed.”
Last week, a minute of silence was held for Deng at the Bronx High School of Science, where he graduated this past spring.
“He was a good boy,” said Deng’s aunt, who added the family was not giving interviews when she answered the door in Oakland Gardens Dec. 19.
Deng’s friends and family have been reluctant to speak to the press and the fraternity’s Baruch College branch took down Pi Delta Psi’s Facebook page last week, a source attending Baruch College said.
Pi Delta Psi has cut ties with its Baruch College branch following the incident.
“Baruch Colony has violated the values and rules of our organization, including our strict no hazing policy. As such, they shall no longer be recognized as having any association with Pi Delta Psi,” said the fraternity’s president, Andy Meng, who is the brother of U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing), in a statement Monday.
Pi Delta Psi describes itself as an Asian-American cultural fraternity, which has more than 25 chapters, colonies and associate chapters nationwide. Its Baruch colony was established in 2010.
The fraternity’s chapters have had hazing incidents before. In 2009, a video surfaced of Pi Delta Psi pledges being hazed at the fraternity’s Cornell chapter. The video showed “an intoxicated new member being verbally quizzed and spoken to in a harsh manner. The individual was obviously highly intoxicated and was vomiting,” according to Cornell’s website.
Last year, the University of Florida suspended the school’s chapter of the fraternity for a year after a hazing incident. This is still an active chapter, according to the fraternity’s website, despite Pi Delta Psi’s no hazing policy.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
