Michigan State University’s student life administrators had an urgent tip for the university’s misconduct hotline.
The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, known as Pike, had been hazing pledges in the basement, and possibly sexually abusing them too, the cadre of top administrators — including then-Senior Vice President Vennie Gore — claimed in an October 2023 report, which was forwarded to MSU Police.
They weren’t the first or last to report Pike to campus cops, according to a collection of campus police reports, which were obtained by The State News through public records requests.
There were also allegations of a Halloween-night "curb stomping," a violent basement hazing incident that ended in the emergency room, and a vague claim about people being hit in the face with a "boxing glove."
Beyond Pike, The State News also obtained similar police reports detailing allegations of hazing and sexual violence at three other MSU fraternities and one sorority.
MSU charged The State News hundreds of dollars and took nine months to comply with public records requests seeking the reports about Pike and the other organizations, among other campus police documents.
The only throughline in the collection: the lack of resolution.
In every case, MSU’s independent campus police department and Title IX office chose not to pursue an investigation, citing a lack of named victims looking to participate.
Asked to explain, a university spokesperson said that the incidents were actually not pursued because they were outside campus police’s jurisdiction, something that’s never mentioned in the reports. She said that at least one was forwarded to local police, and declined to answer questions about others.
But, a spokesperson for East Lansing Police asked about her claim told The State News "no one is aware of what you are referring to."
Pike, for its part, vehemently denied the truthfulness of the allegations in the reports.
The fraternity’s listed president, Frederic Fresard, claimed that they had all been "investigated and proven untrue by the University and the Intrafraternity Council (sic)," a statement that conflicts with information provided by an MSU spokesperson.
Fresard suggested bad-faith motives in those who report allegations of this sort against fraternities.
"This could be a mad ex girlfriend, somebody joking around, or, as in most cases, another fraternity," he said in a statement to The State News.
Reports of hazing, sexual abuse at Pike
The report filed by MSU administrators in October 2023 said that "for the past month, there has been hazing occurring at the Pike fraternity."
It then says that two people — whose names were redacted by MSU — "forced the pledges" to do something in a basement, though the description is redacted. The report includes redacted PID numbers for those people, which are unique identifiers given to students.
The report also said that "there have been some groups (names and job title unknown) monitoring fraternities and have suspected Pike Fraternity has been hazing as well as committing sexual abuse against it’s pledges (sic)."
It’s unclear who those groups are. MSU declined to answer questions about it and all of the administrators who filed the report either did not respond to requests for comment or declined to answer questions.
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The administrators who filed the Pike report are:
- Gore, the then-senior vice president for student life and engagement who recently received a controversial promotion to executive vice president for administration
- Allyn Shaw, the dean of students
- MacKenzie Fritz, the director of the Office of Student Support and Accountability
- Tamera Dunn-Perry, the assistant director for Student Organization Conduct
- ShirDonna Lawrence, the director for Fraternity & Sorority Life
They made the report "in fulfillment of their duties as mandatory reporters," said Student Life and Engagement spokesperson Kat Cooper, who did not respond to further questions.
Their report was not investigated by MSU Police because there was not a named victim, according to the police report.
MSU spokesperson Amber McCann, however, said their report was "gathered and provided" to the East Lansing Police Department. Such a referral, she said, is standard protocol for cases involving alleged criminal misconduct that occurred at the off-campus frat houses, and thus, in the city of East Lansing’s jurisdiction.
But East Lansing Police questioned her claim.
Lt. Adrian Ojerio, a department spokesperson, reviewed the police reports in question, then said he "asked a few staff members, and no one is aware of what you are referring to."
The State News filed a public records request with ELPD seeking more information.
Another report filed against Pike in March 2024 describes a violent hazing.
"(Redacted) smacked (redacted) in the face and the (redacted) received an open hand twice leaving a mark across his face and neck," the report said, which was first given to MSU’s Office of Audit, Risk and Compliance before being forwarded to MSU Police and the Title IX office.
The report goes on to say "he was hazed just because he did not (redacted)" while others watched.
It said someone was then "thrown down into the basement and his phone taken away."
What happened next is redacted, except for the phrase "..put their hands on…"
It ends by saying someone told the victims "they needed to tough it up after being hit," according to the report, which then says someone was taken to the emergency room.
MSU Police did not investigate the report because of a lack of participating victims.
In another report filed about a month earlier, someone alleged that people at Pike were being hit in the face with boxing gloves.
The reporter in that case, whose name is redacted, appears to work in Student Life and Engagement, as they reference finding the identity of an involved student in a software called Advocate. The case-management program is used by MSU housing staff when dealing with conduct issues, disputes in dorms, and students in crisis.
Though the reporter did name the student they found through the software, MSU Police did not pursue an investigation, citing a lack of victim participation, according to the police report.
Another report about Pike filed in April 2024 describes an incident months earlier on Halloween night.
The anonymous reporter said that they "witnessed a poor kid get curb stomped and absolutely beat up for no apparent reason" at Pike.
"I could hear screams coming from the kid," they wrote. "They beat the living s— out of him, not letting him stop until he was almost passed out."
The reporter said they waited months to come forward because they did not know the names of the perpetrators and because "I am scared for my own personal safety."
They eventually reported the incident because they were "scared that this may happen again to some unfortunate kid," the report said.
"There needs to be someone watching these boys for the rest of the semester or they need to be off."
The report, like the others, was not investigated by MSU because of a lack of victim participation.
Fresard, Pike’s president, told The State News that all of the reports were investigated and proven untrue by the "University and the Intrafraternity Council (sic)."
McCann, the MSU spokesperson, said that the Interfraternity Council does not investigate such claims. That is done by the Office of Student Support and Accountability. McCann did not respond to several emails and calls from The State News asking whether that office investigated any of the reports in question.
Fresard did not respond to repeated emails and social media messages asking for clarification on his assertion that the reports were proven untrue and seeking copies of the formal letters of resolution that MSU sends fraternities at the conclusion of an investigation.
While exactly how the new reports against Pike were handled is largely unclear, the fraternity has been previously investigated by ELPD. That investigation was launched in February 2020 after a former member of the fraternity spray-painted a swastika outside of the fraternity house.
A new federal law could bring more transparency to hazing cases like the ones concerning Pike that are currently at issue.
The Stop Campus Hazing Act, which was signed into law late last year, requires colleges to publicly post more statistics and information about hazing on campus or by affiliated organizations like Greek Life.
McCann, however, declined to answer questions about how, or if, the university would handle these issues differently in light of the new law.
Reports against other fraternities, one sorority
Pike isn’t the only Greek Life organization to be reported but not investigated by MSU.
The State News also obtained similar police reports raising concerns about hazing and sexual violence at the fraternities Theta Delta Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Tau Gamma, as well as sorority Alpha Phi.
A report filed with MSU’s Title IX office and sent to campus police in October 2023 describes an alleged sexual assault at Theta Delta Chi. The name of the person who reported it is redacted in the police report, but they do list a ZPID number, which is an identification system for MSU employees.
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Their report describes a young woman walking out of the Theta Delta Chi house around 7 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. The woman told the reporter, who was walking by, that she had just been sexually assaulted inside.
The person inquired further, according to the report they later filed, but the woman said she didn’t want to talk about it and sat down on the ground.
"I felt uncomfortable asking her for her information," their report says. "I still wanted to report, in case anything else could possibly be done."
Nothing was done, according to the police report, because police and the Title IX office chose not to investigate, citing the lack of a named victim. They made the decision "in the interest of being victim-centered," the report says.
Reached for comment, Aaron Williams, the listed president of the frat, said "we are extremely shocked and disappointed by this." He added that it will "start an internal investigation immediately."
"These actions are not indicative of our organization or its members and we strive to treat our fellow Spartans with respect and empathy," Williams said in an emailed statement.
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In October of 2023, someone also approached campus police with "third or fourth hand" information about the Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat and Alpha Phi sorority, including an apparent video of the reported conduct.
The report, which was heavily redacted by MSU, says that "a fraternity, possibly SAE, had their pledges (redacted)" and that "a sorority, possibly Alpha Phi, gave their pledges (redacted)" and that pledges were "told to (redacted)."
The reporter said they have a related video, though the description is redacted.
The investigation into the report was promptly closed, according to the report, because the report only named organizations, not individual suspects. Officers also noted a lack of evidence connecting the video to specific suspects.
Alpha Phi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
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Another report filed with MSU Police describes an alleged sexual assault at Sigma Tau Gamma during welcome week in fall 2022.
About a year after the alleged assault, a man approached the victim asking "if he was kicked out of (redacted) due to her," according to a police report. The victim reported that confrontation to an MSU employee who, as a mandatory reporter, was compelled to report the whole story to campus police and the Title IX office.
That report included both the victim's name and the name of the alleged perpetrator. But, like the other reports, no investigation was pursued.
The police report says that officers attempted to reach the victim but didn’t hear back, prompting them to close the investigation "in the interest of being victim centered."
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The State News reached out to Sigma Tau for comment. The campus chapter did not respond, but the national organization’s CEO W.P. 'Buz' Barlow Jr. did send an emailed statement.
"To our knowledge, no member of Sigma Tau Gamma was removed from membership in connection with a possible August 30, 2022 sexual assault that might have occurred at the Sigma Tau Gamma house," he said.
Barlow also said the "Greek community" would "appreciate it" if The State News wrote "a well deserved positive review of philanthropy and campus service activities that dominate all fraternity and sorority communities."