Student accuses frat of hazing violations
Andrew Lohse '12 has accused the College of taking inadequate action in response to his allegations of hazing at his former fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
By Laura Bryn Sisson, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Administrators failed to adequately respond to November 2010 allegations of “dehumanizing” hazing at a campus fraternity, Andrew Lohse ’12, the student who made the allegations, said in a statement to The Dartmouth. College administrators, however, said Lohse’s failure to provide adequate evidence and speak on the record about the hazing at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity limited their actions to contacting the national organization and alerting the Hanover Police Department of possible “Hell Night” activities during the 2010 Fall term.
Associate Dean of the College for Campus Life April Thompson said the administration took every possible action when Lohse presented the allegations a year and a half ago, but could not do more given Lohse’s insistence that his complaint remain anonymous.
Lohse first spoke to Thompson directly about hazing in November 2010, a year after his own pledge term, Thompson said, though they spoke “informally” before that time. Lohse requested anonymity and did not provide physical evidence, Thompson said.
“I was a member of a fraternity that asked pledges, in order to become a brother, to: swim in a kiddie pool full of vomit, urine, fecal matter, semen and rotten food products; eat omelets made of vomit; chug cups of vinegar, which in one case caused a pledge to vomit blood; drink beers poured down fellow pledges’ ass cracks; and vomit on other pledges, among other abuses,” Lohse told The Dartmouth.
The allegations originally presented to administrators were similar to those detailed in Lohse’s statement to The Dartmouth, Chief of Staff David Spalding said. Spalding said he did not recall seeing photographic evidence of hazing in a November 2010 meeting with Lohse and that Lohse did not present him with videos of alleged hazing incidents.
“It is most beneficial for us in these situations for a student to be willing to speak on the record, speak as a witness, identify individuals and provide evidence on that basis,” Spalding said. “[Lohse] was not willing to do that.”
Administrators also discussed plans for “Hell Night,” the culminating event of pledge term, with the then-president of SAE to ensure that the event would not violate the College’s hazing policy, Spalding said.
Hanover Police received information from the Dean of the College’s Office that hazing might take place near Bartlett Tower and the Bema on Dec. 1, 2010, and “staked out the area” on the night in question, Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
“One of the officers had night vision equipment, and we did follow and see people leaving from SAE, and they were found in the Bema area,” Giaccone said. “What we observed did not reach the level of hazing.”
Officers stopped and questioned a group of SAE pledges but found no evidence of hazing, Giaccone said.
Hanover Police also inspected SAE’s physical plant and interviewed its president that night, determining the tip they received was false, SAE president Brendan Mahoney ’12 said.
Lohse, however, said he felt the College’s response to his allegations was inadequate.
“They have yet to take decisive action to diagnose and cure the abuse that plagues Dartmouth,” Lohse said.
Claims in Lohse’s statement that suggest inactivity on the part of the College are “completely false,” Mahoney said.
Under New Hampshire state law, “student hazing” is defined as “any act directed toward a student, or any coercion or intimidation of a student to act or participate in an act when 1) such act is likely or would be perceived by a reasonable person as likely to cause physical or psychological injury to any person; and 2) such act is a condition of initiation into, admission into, continued membership in or association with any organization,” according to the College’s Student Handbook.
The College defines hazing as “any action taken or situation created involving prospective or new members of a group or as a condition of continued membership in a group (fraternity, sorority, team, club or other organization), which would be perceived by a reasonable person as likely to produce mental or physical discomfort, harm, stress, embarrassment, harassment or ridicule,” according to the handbook.
As such, the College maintains a lower threshold for hazing than state law, Giaccone said.
The College has a legal obligation to report hazing to the state, as it is a violation of New Hampshire law, Thompson said.
Since the investigation into the December 2010 “Hell Night,” “there have been other reports of hazing in the Greek system in general from the College, and we have looked into them,” Giaccone said. None of these complaints, however, have spurred investigations of the same extent, he said.
Lohse sent an email to Mahoney indicating his intent to de-pledge SAE on Jan. 20, Mahoney said. Following the exchange, Lohse ceased to be a member of the fraternity, according to Mahoney. Lohse gave no reason for his resignation of membership, Mahoney said.
“We give [our new members] the resources to report any hazing violations,” Mahoney said. “We would never put someone’s membership in question for reporting violations.”
Mahoney also said he had not personally experienced any of the hazing practices described in Lohse’s statement.
A preliminary draft of Lohse’s opinion column, published today in The Dartmouth, was in the process of being fact-checked by The Dartmouth when it was posted on the Dartblog website, an alumni-operated blog independent of the College, on Tuesday. The column posted was not the version Lohse intended to publish in The Dartmouth, according to Lohse.
During the 2011 Summer term, Lohse stated his approval of the response to his allegations in an email to Thompson.
“I think the hazing question at SAE has been answered — word got backchanneled through National that what was happening had to stop, scaring everyone, and now giving me and others who didn’t like hazing a big amount of leverage from the inside with which to end the practices once and for all,” Lohse said in the July 11, 2011 email.
In an Oct. 6, 2011 opinion column in The Dartmouth, Lohse cautioned readers against “thinking that Greek life will alter you deeply.” He urged students considering entering the Greek system to “remember that your brothers or sisters, and friends regardless of affiliation, will be there for you without fail.”
When Lohse originally brought his hazing complaint to the administration, he was not an enrolled student at the College, according to Spalding. His enrollment status, however, did not affect the administration’s treatment of the issue, he said.
Spalding and Thompson said they could not comment on Lohse’s current standing with the College.
Lohse pled no contest to charges of cocaine possession and witness tampering and guilty to a charge of unlawful possession and intoxication on July 14, 2010. The no contest plea legally states that a defendant will neither challenge nor claim guilt for a charge.
The incident occurred after another member of SAE reported seeing Lohse and several other students using cocaine at the fraternity’s physical plant. Lohse allegedly spat on the witness and poured out a beer on the door of his room following the initial incident.
Def. seems like he wasn’t willing to go on record what with publishing the article and making public statements. Oh, and the gratuitous (yet somehow obligatory) rehash of Loshe’s legal issues for the millionth time really adds to the story, doesn’t it? Doesn’t just serve to try and discredit him or anything like that. Nope, not at all. Great reporting, D, once again doing Dartmouth proud.
By Anon on Jan 25 | 6:26 am
Shouldn’t there be a line on how Andrew’s oped actually got into the hands of SAE and the admin prior to going to press?! Or does the D refuse to print information on its own egregious violations of journalistic ethics and conflicts of interest?
By Umm on Jan 25 | 7:26 am
What a dweeb. This guy is a snitch. The worst type of person. How he can call himself a friend to anyone is beyone me.
By bgaf on Jan 25 | 7:53 am
To the above commenter-
Investigating the credibility of a source is perfectly valid, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from the D.
Unsupported accusations of lying and flippant sarcasm, on the other hand, are less legitimate tactics. Do you think you’re doing Dartmouth proud?
By a on Jan 25 | 8:48 am
…and it’s impossible to rape a slut.
By Ad Hominem on Jan 25 | 8:48 am
Unlike the first commenter, I find The D to have done an exemplary job of refusing to take outlandish and convoluted accusations at face value. Instead, The D provided the full story and placed Lohse’s claims in proper context: Lohse is already known for a lack of integrity (namely, witness tampering tied to his arrest and prosecution for cocaine possession) and he also has a motive for making false accusations (namely, to harm the house, SAE, whose officers turned him in for cocaine possession). Between his reputation for dishonesty and his obvious motive, Lohse’s claims ring extra-hollow. How come no one else substantiates his accusations? Hanover police, no friend of the Greek system at Dartmouth, investigated his specific accusations and determined that they were meritless.
I was in a fraternity, albeit a different one than Lohse, during my 4 years at Dartmouth. We drank beer, we stayed up very late, we went on errands (food court runs, hikes in the snow), we engaged in other shared antics and ridiculousness. I’ve seen pledges tend bar naked, I’ve seen them wear the same clothes (washed) all semester, I’ve seen them shave dumb haircuts into their heads, I’ve seen them drink a lot…I never saw nor heard of any of the stupid fabrications that Lohse accuses his former house of. I also was a member of the OAC, and despite sitting on several hearings regarding hazing, I never heard of anything as severe as these allegations…in short, empirical and anecdotal evidence demonstrate that Lohse appears to be a liar.
Mr. Lohse, you are a real jerk.
PS-just google “Lohse Cocaine Dartmouth”…it will provide you with both campus and statewide news coverage, as well as the police affidavits used in the investigation.
By Bill ‘06 on Jan 25 | 9:33 am
@ Anon
With respect to the D attempting to “discredit him”: let us not forget that the past is never far. In this case, though Lohse lost himself somewhere out there, he is still attempting to be a star.
In his mind, April Thompson had said, “You could hide beside me and maybe for a while, I wont tell your name,” but in a time when everything’s meant to be broken, Lohse just wanted us to know who he was.
By Fred Lund on Jan 25 | 9:34 am
Although I fully understand how jurisprudence attempts to provide a fair and balanced system for both the accuser and the accused, it does bother me how difficult it can be to actually provide evidence of heinous actions and behaviors. If the organization does practice hazing despite school policy, then it is certainly going to take measures to make sure these practices are not found out. This includes actions that prevent disclosure of evidence (eg., coercion, threat, or maltreatment), and efforts to hide their practice. I’m certain that behaviors conducive of reprimand would likely not be done in a public setting, where the night-vision goggles of the Hanover police could see them.
While this article attempts to denounce Lohse’s accusations, it instead shines light on how difficult it really is to make such an accusation. Even moreso, the fact that his unpublished article became so widely circulated is a demonstration that regardless of whether or not his specific claims are true, there is something very wrong with this system that claims to denounce hazing.
By Kibby on Jan 25 | 9:40 am
^ Considering that whole thing with the coke happened during his sophomore spring, I bet that, unless they have close ties with SAE, most 14s and especially 15s dont know about any of it. Calm down dude.
By Backstory on Jan 25 | 9:46 am
I do not believe April Thompson, David Spalding, or Brendan Mahoney. They are all acting in their own interestsin this situation, as they do all the time. Thompson has a record of lying (river docks, meal plan) and Spalding doesn’t have the courage to stand up for the truth. Staying anonymous should not prevent the College from listening to a student. Mahoney absolutely went through the same things that Lohse described and I know for a fact that the rest of the 12s did that because many have discussed it with me. There must be an INDEPENDENT investigation into this matter and those found responsible must be fired immediately, including Jim Kim. Lohse did the right thing, now it’s time for the Administration to clean house.
By Concerned 12 on Jan 25 | 9:52 am
Oh, okay, I didn’t realize we were going to get the lowdown on every student reporter’s past criminal history for everything they publish now. Also, this is pretty much the first time I’ve ever heard of the D “fact-checking” (lolz).
Seriously – incendiary op-eds get published all the time, and no one ever “fact-checks” those by entirely discrediting them. Why not do it the regular way and publish a student’s concern, and let people write in to the editor or write response columns on subsequent days?
By Anonymous on Jan 25 | 10:18 am
Mr. Lohse has quite the agenda to get back at SAE and Dartmouth. Please google “Lohse Cocaine Dartmouth.”
By Anonymous on Jan 25 | 10:22 am
Anyone who denies the allegations he made, you’re either ingnorant, naive, or in denial. Maybe not all those things happen at every house, but its pretty widespread. Immersing oneself in boot-based concotions, whether in a trash can, kiddie pool, body bag, or otherwise, is pretty standard. People talk, you know? A drug problem 2 years ago doesn’t affect his credibility on this matter either. It’s amazing to me that so many brothers, even with something like this going around, will tell a straight faced lie to their friends when asked how common or how mandatory this kindo of stuff is.
By anon14 on Jan 25 | 10:29 am
People attacking Lohse (including the D): I really expected much more from you. Where’s the “Can’t take a little vomelette? WEAK, BRO” comments? The hazing allegations are probably true, if possibly exaggerated, as are the accusations that he has ulterior motives to lodge them. Can’t one have a slimy motive to cause harm to someone else’s reputation without having to fabricate the damning evidence to cause such harm? Y'all believe way too much in good guys vs. bad guys.
By Kathleen Mayer ‘11 on Jan 25 | 10:45 am
“One of the officers had night vision equipment, and we did follow and see people leaving from SAE, and they were found in the Bema area,” Giaccone said. “What we observed did not reach the level of hazing.”
Really HPO?By Anonymous on Jan 25 | 11:03 am
do the sororities on campus haze?
By anony on Jan 25 | 11:33 am
Perhaps the College could improve Greek life by expelling students that plead guilty or no contest to having done cocaine in common areas of their frat and engaging in witness tampering?
I’m surprised people are criticizing the D for noting Lohse’s criminal past in the article. That he has an ax to grind against the college and SAE couldn’t be more relevant to the story.
His current claims are not congruous with the op-ed he wrote in October. Was he lying then or is he lying now?
By Anon ‘05 on Jan 25 | 11:39 am
His cocaine possession and use on campus demonstrated he doesn’t care about Dartmouth’s reputation, so he has no trouble falsely besmirching it. But it is his willingness to meddle with an ongoing police investigation by inhibiting the truth that is the most damning evidence against Lohse’s character (in May 2010, Lohse pleaded “no contest” to the charge of harassing/tampering with the witness who had reported Lohse’s crimes). 18 months ago, Lohse conceded that he had engaged in witness tampering and thereby trying to prevent the truth to come out…I’m happy that the D didn’t assume that Lohse is honest this time. If people want to believe his fabrications, they first should realize: 1) He has a record of tampering with the truth 2) His reckless criminal activity at Dartmouth indicates he doesn’t care about embarrassing Dartmouth or his peers 3) He desperately wants attention (see a year-plus worth of columns about himself) 4) The Hanover police, who famously do not like the Dartmouth fraternities, investigated his claims, including a night-vision stake out predicated on a Lohse tip, and found them worthless 5)The SAE national investigated his claims and found them worthless 6) Dartmouth administrators (again, no fans of hazing) investigated his claims and found them worthless 7) Only Lohse, who has a motive to lie and a reputation for attempting to hide the truth, claims that these activities occurred.
Lohse is worse than the Sun God.
By Anon on Jan 25 | 11:40 am
Everyone knows this goes on. We’ve all either heard about it, experienced it, or witnessed it. Don’t pretend like he’s made all of this up out of thin air. Just because you’re trying to erase those elephant walks on hell night from your memory doesn’t mean you should make someone out to be a liar.
It’s not the actual hazing that is being presented as the problem, but the obvious hypocrisy of the administration to feign commitment to students' health and wellbeing while ignoring one of the biggest health issues on campus.
By alum10 on Jan 25 | 11:52 am
It’s so messed up that people are complaining that a news organization is checking its facts. Not checking facts is egregious in journalism. If the D didn’t confirm his reporting of the incident with the administration, if it were revealed Lohse was lying, they’d be in so much shit.
By anon13 on Jan 25 | 12:05 pm