Police: 37 frat members expected to be charged in hazing death of Baruch College student

(Image credit: Twitter.com/NBCInvestigates)

published 15 September 2015

Authorities in Pennsylvania said Tuesday that a Baruch College student who died during a hazing incident in 2013 was "singled out" and "treated harsher than other pledges" by members of the school's Pi Delta Psi chapter.

On Monday, authorities announced that 37 current members and alumni of Pi Delta Psi are expected to be charged in connection with the death of 19-year-old Chun "Michael" Deng, ABC News reports. Police say that along with other pledges, Deng was blindfolded and forced to run across a frozen field carrying a backpack filled with 30 pounds of sand during a December 2013 retreat in the Poconos. He was also pushed and tackled, and at some point during the ritual, Deng fell and hit his head. Fraternity members brought an unconscious Deng back to the house they were staying at, police say, but did not call 911; instead, they allegedly looked up Deng's symptoms on the internet, changed his clothes, and put him by the fire. Two hours later, three fraternity members took him to a local hospital, where Deng later died. Police say the fraternity members then tried to cover up what happened.

Five students will face charges of third degree murder, prosecutors say. Baruch College, which is part of City University of New York, has disbanded the school's Pi Delta Psi chapter, and said in a statement it conducted an internal judicial review of the students involved in the incident, and brought disciplinary proceedings against all of those who remain enrolled, adding, "We owe it to Michael and his family to hold accountable those who were responsible for the senseless death of this promising young man." Through an attorney, the Deng family said it wants to see fraternities "change so that other parents will be spared the loss of a precious child."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.