1994-1999
In recent years, the BGLOs have faced an avalanche of hazing-related incidents and lawsuits. The most tragic incident involved the death of Michael Davis who was beaten to death while pledging Kappa Alpha Psi at Southeast Missouri State University in 1994. The Davis case resulted in several frat brothers being convicted, and a $2.25 million lawsuit against the Kappa's national organization and local officers.
Other notorious incidents include the 1995 hazing of an Alpha pledge, Sylvester Lloyd at Cornell University which resulted in the oldest African American fraternity being permanently banned from the campus where it was founded. The Alphas are still facing a $2 million lawsuit. Most recently, on July 30, 1999 a jury in Jefferson County Kentucky ordered Omega Psi Phi to pay $931,000 to Shawn A. Blackston a former University of Louisville student who suffered kidney failure after being severely beaten in April 1997.
— Paul Ruffins
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
