21 NY college students charged with hazing frat pledges

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Twenty-one students at a New York college have been charged with hazing fraternity pledges by making them drink alcohol, forcing them to eat food off the floor, and vomiting and urinating on them.

State University of New York at Plattsburgh authorities say campus police were told in late September that pledges to the Pi Alpha Nu fraternity had been subjected to demeaning and abusive behaviour that included being hit on the buttocks with a paddle.

University officials say the charges include hazing, criminal nuisance and unlawfully dealing with a child, which pertains to providing alcohol to people under 21.

University police say the abuse happened off-campus in February and September. Six former Plattsburgh students are also expected to be charged.

The college has suspended the fraternity. The Associated Press sent an email to the fraternity’s president seeking comment, but it wasn’t immediately returned.