A fraternity at the University of Arizona has been booted off campus for at least four years for allegedly hazing pledges by forcing them to assemble puzzles while boozed-up and blindfolded — and witnesses were warned that “rats” would be killed.

Pledges of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity at the university in Tucson were blindfolded by frat brothers during a “puzzle night” in March designed to bond prospective members by having them work together in groups of three. The lined-up pledges were then led down a hallway to a dark room while one student was violently shoved into a pillar, causing serious injury, according to a letter to the fraternity from the school’s dean of students.



“A witness was allegedly told by members of the fraternity the night of the assault, that ‘we kill rats,’ and stated that new members were forced to consume alcohol and placed in a room where music was blaring,” the letter reads.

The pledges had been playing a game that required them to drink alcohol during a game called “Don’t F— Your Brother” during the March 23 event that violated the university’s code of conduct and led to the arrest of a 19-year-old student identified by the Arizona Republic as 19-year-old Cody Ward.

University officials announced Tuesday that they pulled the fraternity’s university recognition through May 31, 2021, as a result of the investigation. That means the chapter, which has until May 25 to appeal the decision, cannot conduct any activities on campus or recruit new members.

“When asked if alcohol was present at this new member event, [the frat’s president] stated that it was, but that no one was required to consume alcohol,” the letter reads. “[He] stated that he understood that not everyone present at the new member event was of legal drinking age.”

The frat’s president blamed the hazing incident on larger changes within the Greek system, specifically that the “new member process has strayed,” according to the letter.

“[The frat’s president] stated that the incident happened because the new member process has strayed, and that in the future, the fraternity will work to have more involvement in the community, and Greek Life, and that there is no tolerance for physical assault,” the letter reads.

A witness told university officials that several text messages were sent to at least one new member after interim disciplinary measures had been put in place on March 31, violating school policy.

The university’s police department has declined to release police reports on its ongoing investigation, according to the newspaper.

A representative from the frat’s local chapter could not be reached for comment, the Arizona Republic reports. Calls seeking comment from the organization’s national headquarters in Indiana were not immediately returned Wednesday.

It’s not the first time the fraternity has gotten into trouble on Arizona’s campus. The fraternity violated alcohol policy last fall and had to give presentations on alcohol safety to some members and was also placed on probation for part of the 2015-16 school year for student conduct violations, the Arizona Republic reports.

A total of 18 students were charged last week in Pennsylvania following the death of a Penn State University student who died after a booze-fueled frat party at the school in February. Timothy Piazza, 19, had a blood alcohol content more than four time the legal limit for operating a car and fell down a flight of stairs before being left there for 12 hours by his would-be frat brothers, investigators have said.