By: Ashley Sewall, Jenny Jacoby and Lauren Ferrer
This is a developing story.
A newly-leaked video appears to show Sigma Alpha Epsilon members engaged in an act of hazing in their fraternity house backyard in the middle of the day.
In the video, one member of the fraternity steps into a trash can and crouches down while three others stand around him downing large amounts of milk. They then spit or vomit the milk onto the student in the trash can, leaving milk and what appears to be vomit running down his back.
The four students, likely pledges, are surrounded by several onlookers, believed to also be members of the fraternity. They watch, take pictures and laugh at the hazing activity.
The video was taken from the neighboring Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house, determined based on the angle of the video and reports from students.
“Oh no not him going in the f—ing thing. That’s nasty. Are they going to f—ing yak on him?” the person taking the video said. This person has not been identified.
The video has been widely disseminated among students. The Hurricane has chosen to not publish the full video at this time, but a clip of the beginning can be seen on social media. The video has also reached the University of Miami administration.
“The Dean of Students Office is aware of the incident. We take these situations seriously and are looking into the matter,” the University said in a statement to The Hurricane.
The actions in this video could be categorized as a felony or misdemeanor violation under the Florida anti-hazing law, known as the Chad Meredith Act. This law considers hazing as “any action or situation that recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student.”
The act was signed into law in 2005, following the death of Chad Meredith, a University of Miami student, who drowned in Lake Osceola after several hours of drinking with two Kappa Sigma officers. He had a blood alcohol level of 0.13 at the time.
The alleged SAE hazing incident follows the closure of the UM Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter in 2022. The closure occurred after a video was leaked showing members of the fraternity chanting about raping and murdering women and alleged drugging.
The president and vice president of SAE were contacted for comment and have not yet responded.
This is a developing story. If you have any information please contact editor@themiamihurricane.com or fill out the news-tip form at this link.