How We Investigate the Fraternity Chapter

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Our firm believes that fraternity hazing, in addition to being a crime in 44 states, is inconsistent with the goals of higher education in that it promotes a sense of “elitism” and discrimination toward those that do not belong to one of the “Greek houses.” To this end we will gladly represent victims of fraternity hazing to insure that they will have their day in court and, further, to punish those who promote these barbaric practices.

 

When we accept a fraternity hazing case we follow a set of practices to insure that both the rights of the victim and the alleged victimizers are protected. On this page we describe the general outline of our procedure for investigating the alleged role of a fraternity in a hazing case.

 

 

We Protect the Identity of the Source of a Hazing Complaint

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Our firm realizes that, in a culture that allows hazing to go unpunished, there is always the possibility that some members of the fraternity or some other group might plan to harm or intimidate the person making the allegation of hazing.

 

In order to insure the personal safety of the individual making the allegation of hazing, we will not divulge that person’s name or any information that could lead to his or her identification unless 1) that person gives us permission to reveal his or her identity or 2) the person’s name has been revealed in publicly-available sources such as legal documents or news media.

 

 

Our Investigation Process

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Our investigation of a fraternity hazing allegation begins with an in-depth interview of the person who came to us with a complaint that he was the victim of hazing that took place at a fraternity chapter house or at another location but under the direction of fraternity members and/or officers of the fraternity. From this interview we will learn:

 

 

• The location where the incident took place

• Who took an active role in the incident and their positions of authority within the fraternity, if any

• The details of the hazing incident

• The names of any witnesses to the incident or to its consequences

• The type and location of any documentation or other evidence supporting the allegation such as police reports or Emergency Room records

 

If this initial stage of our investigation supports the allegation, we will move on to a collection of information from outside sources. In this second stage we will ask for, and subpoena if necessary, the following information:

 

 

• From the campus police, any records of dispatches to the fraternity house as well as the results of any investigations of possible criminal activity such as violations of local and state alcohol laws involving the fraternity

• From the city and county police departments, the same information requested from the campus police

• From the college or university administration, all records related to complaints received by the administration or any of its offices regarding the fraternity or any of the fraternity’s officers or members

• From the fraternity chapter, a copy of its charter, rules, bylaws, or codes of conduct

• From the fraternity’s national headquarters, copies of its guidelines for conduct by members of its local chapters and copies of all correspondence related to the activities of the fraternity chapter under investigation

 

In both these early stages of our investigations we inform all parties we interview that we are pursuing a civil investigation rather than a criminal one and, thus, there is no right against self-incrimination and that we will only share our findings with law enforcement if it is subpoenaed.

 

After the completion of the first two stages of our investigation, and if our findings support the original accusation of fraternity hazing, we move on to the third stage and the computation of the types and amounts of damages that we will ask for on behalf of our client.

 

 

How We Investigate Fraternity Hazing Case Summary

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At the Doan Law Firm we have found that the above procedure is the most effective way to investigate a claim of fraternity hazing while protecting our client as well as the fraternity and school from unwanted identification and/or publicity. At the same time, this general outline also gives us the flexibility to dig deeper into promising findings and to postpone, or even omit, investigations that will yield very little in the way of information that will prove to be relevant to our case.