Latest news with #SigmaNu
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
University of Utah terminates recognition of Sigma Nu fraternity citing ‘egregious' hazing violations
SALT LAKE CITY () — A University of Utah fraternity chapter officially lost its recognition with the university after an investigation the U's anti-hazing policies. According to , the Sigma Nu fraternity had engaged in all three types of hazing recognized by the University of Utah – subtle, harassment, and violent – during the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 recruitment cycles. The hazing allegations included several instances where new members of the fraternity were forced to drink alcohol or use illegal substances such as marijuana during the initiation process. In one instance, new members were allegedly forced to sit in a circle and drink a large amount of beer and liquor. If the alcohol was not finished by the time it reached the last new member in the circle, they would be forced to drink the remaining amount alone. Two Utah campgrounds included in list of 50 Favorite Places to Camp in America Right Now: Hipcamp Members were also allegedly given several new chores to complete in the early morning, requiring students to arrive at the chapter facility as early as 3 a.m. on school days to clean the entire facility. The investigation also reportedly found that new members were forced to camp out in the chapter's facility on the weekend of initiation week. During the time, new members were reportedly forced to sleep on the floor, required to clean and sing songs, with limited food provided. In , Vice President for Student Affairs Lori MacDonald said the findings of the investigation were 'undisputed,' adding that she did not have any confidence the chapter would follow policies laid out in a suspension. 'Therefore, termination of the university recognition of the chapter is warranted,' McDonald said. Carp chaos at Utah Lake as carp overpopulation becomes serious problem Sigma Nu will not be able to reapply for recognition with the University of Utah until Summer 2031. The Greek Council Executive Board responded to the termination, saying hazing is harmful, unacceptable and has no place in its community. 'The actions that led to this decision do not reflect the values or true purpose of Greek life. Greek organizations should stand for leadership, service, friendship and personal growth,' the Executive Board said. 'As a council, we are committed to promoting education, accountability, and a culture where every member feels safe and respected.' Since 2002, only three University of Utah fraternities have lost their official recognition from the institution. All three were later allowed to reapply and return to operations. The most recent was Kappa Sigma, which after the school found the fraternity had held several events while on suspension for in 2022. Following its year-long termination, the University of Utah confirmed Kappa Sigma had successfully reapplied for official recognition. Riverton teen allegedly shoots uncle three times during dispute, police say Judge blocks Trump administration Job Corps centers' suspension University of Utah terminates recognition of Sigma Nu fraternity citing 'egregious' hazing violations Supreme Court throws out Mexico's lawsuit against US gun industry Supreme Court unanimously revives straight woman's 'reverse discrimination' lawsuit Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The plush suburban rehab where Jon Hamm recovered from booze and hazing shame
Jon Hamm completed a rehab program for alcoholism that costs up to $100,000 just weeks before his college hazing scandal was first exposed. The Hollywood actor spent 30 days at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut, in February and March 2015. His rehab stay was part of a turbulent year after his career-making Mad Men role of ad-man Don Draper ended, and he struggled to 'recalibrate' himself. Hamm also broke up with his long-term girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt that year, and the hazing scandal began in April 2015 when old police files were unearthed. The future star was one of seven Sigma Nu brothers who bullied and tortured a young pledge at the University of Texas at Austin. Mark Sanders was hit so hard during the warped 1990 initiation that he suffered a fractured spine and nearly lost a kidney. He said a gang of bullies that included Hamm dragged him around with a claw hammer hooked onto his genitals. The actor's charges were later dropped after he completed probation in a deal with prosecutors. Hamm emerged from Silver Hill in late March and had eyes swollen like a bee sting when he was photographed near his home in Los Angeles in following days. The facility offers a Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Substance Use program that costs about $104,000, though it is not known exactly what Hamm did there. His entry into the facility was very well-timed as it prepared him for a firestorm of outrage over his disgraceful college behavior. Silver Hill's website advised prospective patients that its services are usually covered by insurance, so the actual prices would be far lower. 'Addiction is a complex disease with both emotional and physical components. It requires skilled and sensitive treatment to repair deep impacts to the many aspects of your life,' it read. 'We focus all the strengths of Silver Hill on building your individual course of treatment. We do it by deeply understanding who you are and what you are struggling with. Everyone is unique. 'DBT is designed to build skills and strategies for managing intense emotions, navigating interpersonal relationships, and making positive behavioral changes to lead emotionally healthy lives.' The program includes extensive group and individual therapy, as well as 'a range of additional therapies and activities'. The hospital is set among lush woods in a tranquil suburban area of the small New England town to provide a relaxing healing experience. Hamm opened up about his rehab experience several times in the years the followed, most recently in a New York Times profile this week. 'It's like anything else, there's no way over but through, right?' he said of his post-Mad Men struggles generally. 'You can avoid it, or you can not deal with it, but it doesn't make it go away. You have to kind of go through the steps.' Hamm directly addressed the rehab stint in a Mr Porter interview in 2016. 'It has all these connotations, but it's just an extended period of talking about yourself,' he said. 'People go for all sorts of reasons, not all of which are chemically related. But there's something to be said for pulling yourself out of the grind for a period of time and concentrating on recalibrating the system. And it works. It's great.' Hamm has said in several interviews that many of his issues date back to watching both his parents die from illness - his mother when he was 10 and father when he was 20. 'After I'd lost my dad, I had this horrible paralyzing inertia and no one in my family was capable of dealing with it,' he said. 'So what do you do? Go and see a professional. I preach it from the mountaintops. I know it's a luxury and it's not something everyone can afford. But if you can, do it. It's like a mental gym.' The program includes extensive group and individual therapy, as well as 'a range of additional therapies and activities' He told GQ in September 2015 that his father's death sent him into spiraling depression that made it hard to get out of bed. 'I started drinking; it was a rough time,' he said. Despite his struggles with alcohol and rehab stint, he told the NYT this week that he still drinks, though much less than before. 'I've never claimed to be a sober person,' he said. Though, even at his worst, he played down similarities between himself and Draper - famously morose and often seen with a whisky in hand. 'I don't drink as much as Don Draper,' he told The Mail on Sunday in 2013. 'I would be unconscious if I did.' Hamm is alleged to have 'tortured' Sanders, humiliating him beyond belief. Sanders dropped out of school as a result. Hamm has never apologized publicly and insisted previously that Sanders' claims were 'sensationalized' and not entirely 'accurate'. The shocking account resurfaced this week amid renewed calls for him to face public scrutiny. When the Daily Mail contacted Hamm by phone on Wednesday, the stunned actor ordered a reporter to contact his PR rep in the hopes of brushing us off with a sanitized statement. 'I think you should call my rep, who are you? This is inappropriate, it's a very odd choice for you to call me,' he snapped. 'They are claims that have been around for years. No, I don't want to respond! 'I'm a little bit offended that you called my personal line, that's why we have representatives,' he said. Hamm was later spotted looking pensive while walking his dog in New York City. Sanders previously gave an agonizing interview to prosecutors about how he was beaten with a paddle, dragged around a room by his genitals and had his pants set on fire during the hazing ordeal. He was left with a fractured spine and nearly lost a kidney due to the damage he suffered. Hamm only discussed the scandal at any length with Esquire magazine in a 2018 interview, and was angry when asked about it. 'I wouldn't say it's accurate,' he began. 'Everything about that is sensationalized. I was accused of these things I don't... It's so hard to get into it. 'I don't want to give it any more breath. It was a bummer of a thing that happened. I was essentially acquitted. 'I wasn't convicted of anything. I was caught up in a big situation, a stupid kid in a stupid situation, and it's a f**king bummer. I moved on from it.' Hamm has never expressed any public remorse for his behavior or indicated that he feels bad for the man whose life he helped ruin. The scandal was then largely forgotten, with Hamm going on to land plum parts in prestige movies and TV shows including Top Gun: Maverick and The Morning Show.
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Read heartbreaking words of pledge who was tortured by Jon Hamm
A young fraternity pledge described brutal torture he allegedly suffered at the hands of Hollywood actor Jon Hamm. Mark Allen Sanders' heartbreaking account details how he was beaten with a paddle, dragged around a room by his genitals and had his pants set on fire during the horrific hazing ordeal, of which Hamm was the ringleader. Golden Globe winner Hamm was identified as one of seven Sigma Nu brothers who tormented and humiliated Sanders when he was a young pledge at the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. Hamm was arrested for alleged assault in 1993 and while the charge was dismissed, he completed a period of probation instead of receiving a conviction for hazing. Sanders shared chilling details of his nightmare with investigators at Travis County's Attorney's Office, which were recorded in a transcript obtained by and our columnist Maureen Callahan, who is also the host of The Nerve podcast. He described how he was beaten so savagely for forgetting to use Hamm's nickname, MC Hammer, that he sustained a broken spine and kidney damage. 'He hits me right over my right kidney. I mean, square over it. Good, solid hit. And that stood me up,' Sanders said. 'I'm hurting bad. I mean, being hit right where the kidney is, it's killing me.' Mark Sanders was hit so hard during the warped 1990 initiation that he suffered a fractured spine and nearly lost a kidney Hamm was accused of carrying out horrific abuse against a Sigma Nu pledge while a frat boy at the University of Texas at Austin in the 1990s The star and an accomplice then allegedly wrenched Sanders' underwear and moved it back and forth in a painful sawing motion. 'The more they pulled, the way they were pulling was one would be pulling up,' Sanders continued. 'I don't know how far underwear stretches, I don't know how far I was off the ground. 'I was hurting really bad and I remember I was looking up at the ceiling and I was gritting my teeth and squinting my eyes ... it was sawing and it was hurting.' But the ordeal did not end there, with Sanders forced to cram into a dirty, confined space known as 'the pit' and perform pushups. 'They were actually pushing my face to get in the dirt. He told me to get my face in the dirt,' Sanders recalled. 'And then all the pledges are taken out of there, except me. I'm left in there with Jon Hamm.' He describes how he began struggling to stand due to the excruciating pain. 'This is when Jon Hamm pulls out a lighter, and he puts his lighter on. And I was wearing designer jeans, and I have this loop on the front, and he took the lighter and caught that on fire,' Sanders explained. 'My head is down. I mean, my chin is in the chest at this point, I see him light the lighter and put it to my pants. 'I was kind of panicking, because I was wearing a cotton t-shirt. I actually tried to put it out with my hands, and Jon Hamm wouldn't let me. He made me blow it out with my mouth.' Finally he was led upstairs to the 'party room' when Hamm hooked the claw of a hammer underneath his testicles and pulled him around the room 'for at least a minute'. The abuse left Sanders with severe internal damage, bruising and even broken bones. 'My kidney spasms and it re bruises itself,' Sanders said. 'He told me it was from being hit right over the kidney. I can remember feeling being hit hard right over this.' He also described how he was beaten with a broomstick, 'right over my rib cage whenever I breathe, my lung actually can't go all the way because it's pinned between my rib cage from I assume it was beaten down some beaten into me'. Sanders subsequently withdrew from the university and sought counselling to cope with the shameful episode, which resulted in a police inquiry and the fraternity chapter being disbanded. Students Matthew Dennis, Richard Asel, Todd Bowden and and Christopher Temple pleaded no contest to hazing charges over the savage ordeal, My San Antonio reports. Dennis, Temple, and Asel were ordered to jail time and fined $500 court costs as part of a plea deal. Bowden received a probationary sentence and a $500 fine. Charges were filed against Hamm and two other fraternity members. Hamm received deferred adjudication and completed probation in connection with the charges. Sanders later launched a lawsuit against Sigma Nu seeking 'unspecified actual and exemplary damages for willful and wanton misconduct'. It was dismissed with the agreement of both parties, however, in 1993, possibly signaling that an out-of-court settlement had been reached. Hamm didn't comment on the story when it emerged in 2015. In 2018, Hamm issued a half-baked non-denial. He summarized the bullying and torture as a 'bummer of a thing that happened' and insisting Sanders' claims are not all accurate, without elaborating further.
