A USC fraternity under suspension is being investigated for "an organizational conduct matter" after the hospitalization of a pledge, according to new information released Monday evening.
Via email correspondence, USC chief communications officer Wes Hickman said that the incident surrounding Friday’s suspension of USC’s Pi Kappa Phi chapter has "the potential for individual conduct charges.”
Hickman also confirmed rumors that a Pi Kappa Phi pledge was hospitalized as a result of the incident but was unable to comment on what caused the pledge’s injury due to student and patient privacy laws.
"At a time when conversations are ongoing about the future of fraternity recruitment and new member education, reports and allegations of chapter misconduct are of great concern,” Hickman wrote. “At USC we are taking a very proactive stance toward curbing these behaviors and the conversation around Greek life is just one example of that.”
Though unable to provide specific details about the incident, Hickman confirmed that the student involved is no longer hospitalized. He stated that USC campus police are working with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department on the ongoing investigation.
Pi Kappa Phi’s national headquarters in Charlotte offered a comment on the incident in an email.
"We are aware of the alleged misconduct and are working with the university to review the matter," said Todd Shelton, the fraternity's assistant executive director of communication and technology.
Hickman also wrote that Greek life staff have been provided with funds to assist in compliance with the Tucker Hipps Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Nikki Haley on June 9. Among other things, the new law requires that fraternity and sorority chapters of universities and colleges based in the state of South Carolina “maintain reports of actual findings of certain misconduct” committed by their members.
The act was named after the late Tucker Hipps, a Clemson University student who was found dead in Lake Heartwell on the afternoon of Sept. 22, 2014. According to a $25 million lawsuit filed by Hipps’ mother in March 2015, Hipps was forced to walk the railing of the S.C. Route 93 bridge by members of Clemson’s Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter and fell into the lake in the process. A toxicology report revealed that Hipps had not consumed alcohol or drugs prior to the incident.
Pi Kappa Phi is one of four fraternities currently suspended at USC, and they are one of three USC fraternity chapters to face some sort of discipline this semester.
Amidst this controversy, a letter reportedly written by the USC Sorority Council detailing new restrictions for social events put on and attended by sorority members began to circulate late Monday.