The Florida family of a College of Charleston student is suing the South Carolina college, a fraternity and eight fraternity members over repeated hazing activities that allegedly led to the student being hospitalized with severe facial hives and rashes.
Members of the Ide family filed the lawsuit April 30 in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Charleston County on behalf of Sarasota County, Fla., resident Will Ide, who pledged to the local Iota Epsilon chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity in the fall of 2021.
The lawsuit describes repeated incidents of forced intoxication, humiliation and ridicule, torture and mental anguish, concluding that the college and the fraternity were liable for the actions that led to the student’s apparent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the wake of the hazing incidents.
During a forced drinking game involving Ide and other pledges, Ide began vomiting, pleaded with fraternity members to stop their badgering and then descended into a sequence of “loud, dry heaving breaths.”
“When he was unable to control his breathing, the Local Chapter brothers began ridiculing Will for his tears and hyperventilating and made videos of Will in this condition, and then humiliated Will by publishing said videos to other Local Chapter brothers and other students at the College of Charleston,” the lawsuit states.
During his arrival at the fraternity house at the beginning of the initiation process, Ide and other pledges were told to remove their shoes and socks, whereupon a fraternity member stuffed his socks into Ide’s mouth and screamed and taunted the pledges with expletives.
“Thereafter, the Local Chapter brothers … poured syrup, ketchup, mustard and other kitchen condiments on Will and the other pledges, pelted them with beer cans, both full and empty, kicked and punched them, and threw eggs at them, all while continuing their insults and taunts,” the complaint says.
A College of Charleston spokesperson said the college is investigating the allegations.
“The college does not condone any form of hazing by any student or student organization,” the spokesperson said in a statement emailed to the Florida Record. “This lawsuit alleges behavior which runs contrary to our institutional values and violates our policies. We take all such allegations seriously, will thoroughly investigate each and take disciplinary action when appropriate."
The lawsuit describes Ides’ outlook prior to joining the fraternity as confident, well-adjusted, and engaged and attentive to his educational goals. The fraternity members’ harassing behavior and threatening communications continued even after Ide’s hospitalization, his being diagnosed with PTSD and his removal from the pledge class.
The Ide family is asking for a jury trial and actual and punitive damages. The plaintiffs also seek preliminary and permanent injunctions to stop the fraternity-member defendants “from continuing their cyber-attacks,” plus compensation for legal costs and “further relief as this court may deem just and proper.”
The lawsuit was filed in the wake of several recent large payouts over allegations of hazing activities, according to Miller & Zois LLC. These include an Oklahoma case involving the Kingfisher High School football program that resulted a $5 million settlement over charges of sexual assault and physical violence; a $10 million payout over a fatality during pledge week drinking requirements at Bowling Green State University in Ohio; and a $6.1 million verdict against Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Louisiana State University over a pledge’s fatal ethanol intoxication in 2023.