Southeast football players could face punishment for alleged hazing

At least 10 members of the Southeast Missouri State University football team may face discipline through the university's judicial system following an early morning hazing incident last week.

Hazing was reported to the Department of Public Safety on Saturday after an incident that began Friday morning in the Merick Hall football locker room. Team members duct-taped the arms, legs and mouths of several players and carried them out on to the football field in Houck Stadium, according to a statement sent to the Southeast Missourian on Wednesday afternoon by Diane Sides, assistant to Southeast president Dr. Ken Dobbins.

The university also released the incident report Wednesday after the Southeast Missourian submitted a Sunshine request to Sides on Monday. The incident began around 8:15 a.m. Friday according to the report. No names of students involved were included in the report. Sides wrote in a statement that no other information aside from what was contained in the statement could be released under the Sunshine Law and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

The Department of Public Safety referred the incident to the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney's office earlier this week. Prosecutors declined to press charges against any students. The incident has been referred to the university's Office of Student Conduct for a judicial review because hazing violates the university's code of student conduct.

Hazing at Southeast became national news in 1994 when student Michael Davis died after being beaten by members of the fraternity he was pledging. In 2007, three members of a sorority at the university pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and were sentenced to community service after forcing a student to eat garbage, spraying her in the face with a substance and hitting her. An annual lecture is held at the university to honor the memory of Davis.

eragan@semissourian.com

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