FarmHouse hazing activities revealed

The hazing rituals that led to the suspension of a University of Minnesota fraternity included sleep deprivation, beatings with a strap and visits to livestock pens where students believed they were to have sex with animals, a school department said Friday.

The Student Activity Office released a memorandum of its findings to The Associated Press on Friday. It was based on interviews with students and leaders of FarmHouse Fraternity, a fraternity on the university's St. Paul campus, university spokesman Daniel Wolter said.

According to the memo, sleep deprivation was part of the fraternity's pre-initiation rituals, which also included cleaning at all hours of the day or night with toothbrushes. Some fraternity members were beaten on their backsides with a strap and also hung over a balcony in their boxers as water was poured over them.

Some members were taken to livestock pens and given condoms. No explanation was given, "but the new members perceived that they were to have sex with animals," the memo said. However, they were stopped before entering the pens and told it was a joke.

Fifteen students are being investigated and could be punished with a letter of reprimand or expulsion from the university, officials said this week.

FarmHouse, suspended through spring semester 2007, could also face more severe sanctions including the closing of the chapter, the university said. No criminal charges have been filed.

FarmHouse Fraternity International also said it has suspended the Minnesota chapter through the 2006-07 academic year for violating the fraternity's hazing and risk management policies. The parent organization, in a news release on its Web site, said the practices outlined in the university's report must be ended and the fraternity's pre-initiation practices "scrapped and rebuilt."

A woman who answered the phone at FarmHouse Fraternity International, based in Kansas City, Mo., said the organization had no further comment. The Minnesota chapter deferred calls to the FarmHouse Fraternity International.

The investigation began when two former fraternity members made a complaint against the fraternity in late February. During the suspension, the chapter will not be able to participate in social events or official recruiting events or be allowed to send mass mailings through the university.

The group's Web site said FarmHouse Fraternity is an agriculturally oriented fraternity for men with chapters on 30 campuses in the United States and Canada.

By Gregg Aamot, Associated Press Writer

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