SEMO SUSPENDS SORORITY AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF HAZING

Southeast Missouri State University suspended a sorority Monday pending completion of an investigation by campus and Cape Girardeau police into allegations of hazing.

The allegations against Alpha Kappa Alpha were made by a student who pledged the sorority and ultimately joined it, school officials said.

It marks the second hazing incident at the school in the past two years and the second involving a black Greek organization.

Michael Davis, 25, was beaten during a weeklong hazing ritual while pledging Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Davis died Feb. 15, 1994, from head injuries suffered during the on-campus hazing session.

The university banned the fraternity and a number of fraternity members were convicted in the courts.

School officials refused to reveal the specific allegations in the latest case, saying the investigation is continuing. But Doug Richards, the school's public-safety director, said the latest hazing incidents were basically psychological as opposed to physical abuse.

University officials gave this account:

A member of the sorority told school officials last week that she was among five members of a pledge class who were hazed this semester.

The incidents occurred off campus, with some of them allegedly occurring at 920 N. Clark, the listed address of Donna Taylor, a Southeast Missouri State University employee and the sorority's adviser.

Telephone calls to Taylor's office and home went unreturned Monday.

A Southeast Missourian reporter and photographer found no one at home when they knocked on the door of the small frame house at the corner of Clark and New Madrid Monday afternoon.

Campus and Cape Girardeau police began the investigation Friday.

City police declined to comment, saying university police were in charge of the investigation.

At this point no arrests have been made, but officers have interviewed a number of people and hope to complete the investigation by the end of the week.

If the allegations prove true, those involved could face criminal prosecution as well as campus disciplinary action, including expulsion.

The president of the sorority chapter at Southeast, Shermone Kirkwood of Florissant, refused to comment.

The local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded in 1981 and has a dozen members. Nationally, the sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University and incorporated in 1913.

Richards said the alleged incidents could be considered misdemeanor hazing.

Hazing is a crime under state law. Hazing is a misdemeanor unless the act creates a substantial risk to a person's life, in which case it is a Class C felony.

Missouri lawmakers added the felony charge in 1995 in the wake of the hazing death at Southeast.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, said the university won't tolerate hazing in any form.

"Once we had a student who willingly came forward and made a statement and was willing to make a police report, then we felt we had sufficient reason to take the actions we have taken," said Dr. SueAnn Strom, student affairs vice president.

Universities have taken tougher stands on hazing in the past 10 to 15 years, Strom said.

In Missouri, hazing only has been a crime since 1986. Prior to that, schools were relatively powerless to tackle hazing beyond the adoption of campus policies.

"It is one thing to say you have a university policy and another to say, `Hey, gang, this is against the law. This is a crime in Missouri,'" said Strom.

Hazing is a crime even if the person who is pledging a fraternity or sorority consents to it.

Missouri law defines hazing as any activity that endangers the physical or mental health or safety of a pledge.

Among other things, it is illegal to paddle or whip a pledge, or force that person to consume alcohol, food or other substances. It is also illegal to deprive a pledge of sleep or force that person to take part in a humiliating activity.