Last week’s death of a Chico State student in a fraternity hazing incident has brought renewed interest to the possibility of similar situations at Sacramento State.

Tom Carroll, program advisor for student activities at Sac State, said he believes that “hazing is very limited.” He did, however, say that it is hard to measure hazing because unless there is a victim or an eyewitness, no one ever hears about it.

“It is not something we take lightly,” Carroll said.

The punishments for hazing range from suspension to expulsion, depending on the severity of the offense. There are no “slaps on the wrist” where hazing is concerned.

When he found out about the death of the Chico State student, he walked over to the fraternity and sorority booths in the library quad and made sure they were aware of what had happened.

He said that he had also talked to the governing council of each group at least two to three times about hazing prior to the incident.

Student Activities currently has no plans to have a general meeting with Sac State fraternities and sororities regarding the incident.

The student died after attempting to drink 5 gallons of water. Carroll said he has not heard much about this as far as hazing goes and does not believe it is a trend.

Joe Wills, the director of public affairs and publications at Chico State, said he did not know much about this before last week.

He did say that a student in New York died of water intoxication, known as hyponatremia, and that there were two non-fatal instances at Southern Methodist University.

The fraternity the student belonged to, Chi Tau, was not recognized by Chico State, already having received the strictest penalty of expulsion. The local chapter of Chi Tau is not recognized by Sac State due to past problems with hazing, an outstanding debt and an insufficient number of members.

Josh McGee, the president of the Interfraternity Council at Sac State and a senior studying business real estate, said that Sac State is one of the better campuses as far as hazing goes.

He attributes the lack of reported hazing incidents to required all-day seminars on hazing for new pledges and the administration’s efforts to prevent it.

McGee had heard of water intoxication in the past, but not related to hazing. He said that what happened in Chico was “absolutely absurd and outside the realm of anything that’s constructive during pledging.”

Nick Ellert, a member of Omega Phi Zeta and a Sac State student, does not believe hazing is a problem at Sac State. “There’s a no-hazing policy,” he said.

Though he would not discuss specific initiation rituals, he did say that if at any time someone feels the need to stop what they are doing, they can. He explained that this does not result in any negative actions against them.

His fraternity stresses “loyalty, brotherhood and academics.”

He said they’re looking for leaders, not people who can drink the most. “If they feel like they’re doing something wrong, then we’re doing something wrong.”

Ellert had not heard of the type of hazing that occurred in Chico before that story became public. Omega Phi Zeta has not had any meetings since the incident, but the members have been discussing it amongst themselves.

Alex Molinaro, a member of Alpha Phi and a junior at Sac State majoring in communication studies, agrees that hazing is not a problem at Sac State. She said she thinks it used to be a problem but has “never heard any truthful stories about hazing now.”

Molinaro said that prior to rushing, everyone must go to an all-day class about hazing that is required by Sac State.

“It’s taken very seriously,” Molinaro said. “They can’t even make you wear a certain color because that’s considered hazing.”

The specific rules regarding hazing can be found by doing a search for “hazing” at csus.edu or in the student code of conduct.

Also, the specific laws each state has enacted against hazing can be found at StopHazing.org.