WSU Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity shut down until 2030 for hazing

Washington State University (WSU) is shutting down one of its fraternities for the rest of the decade due to multiple hazing violations.

An investigation found new members of WSU’s Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity were pressured to consume alcohol and drugs, forced into physical activities as punishment, and subjected to a power imbalance within the fraternity, according to The Seattle Times.

In addition to the fraternity being shut down until 2030, the university also ruled that it will have to be alcohol-free until 2032, once reinstated.

Another WSU fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, was stripped of its recognition until 2026 after an appeals court decision ruled that the university was liable for the death of student Sam Martinez.

Sam Martinez’ death

Martinez, a freshman student originally from Bellevue, died of alcohol poisoning while pledging the fraternity Alpha Tau Omega at WSU. An appeals court decision ruled that the university was liable for his death in January.

This ruling marks the first time a university within Washington has been held accountable for a hazing-related fatality. This ruling differed from a King County Superior Court decision in 2022, when a judge dismissed the case against the university, citing that WSU did not owe Martinez “a duty of care.”

“Because WSU has a special relationship with its recognized fraternal organizations, we conclude that it owed a duty to use reasonable care to control the fraternity and protect Sam from the foreseeable harms of fraternal hazing and alcohol misuse,” the Washington Court of Appeals, Division 1, wrote in its decision, obtained by The Seattle Times.

In 2019, a fraternity member gave Martinez and another “pledge” a half gallon of rum and told them to drink it in less than an hour during the fraternity’s annual Big Brother Party, KIRO 7 confirmed through court documents. Martinez died of alcohol poisoning, police and university investigations confirmed.

“Nobody called 911, and they woke up to a nightmare, and so did we,” Martinez’s mother, Jolayne Houtz, told KIRO 7. “He’s gone, and I can’t stand by and be worried every time a school year begins that another family will have to go through this because it’s wrong.”

Prosecutors charged 15 students with furnishing alcohol to a minor, which, as a gross misdemeanor, was a tougher charge than hazing. Some served jail time between one and 19 days, while others were sentenced to probation.

One of the reasons the appeals court ruled against WSU was that the court found the university knew of, and neglected, multiple instances of troubling behavior, according to KING 5. In 2013, the WSU conduct board found the fraternity made pledges clean up raw sewage and drink excessive amounts of alcohol. In 2017, the fraternity was documented forcing pledges to drink excessively and endure “aggressive hazing.”

The university also had evidence that Alpha Tau Omega humiliated new members by forcing them to stand in toilets.

“They had a terrible history. University leaders knew that all the way to the top, and they did nothing,” Houtz told KING 5. “If I had known a quarter of what I now know about Alpha Tau Omega, there’s no way Sam would have wanted to join and, furthermore, we wouldn’t have allowed him to join. They knowingly put Sam and other students in harm’s way.”

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