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The Cal State Northridge chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity has shut down and handed back their charter on Thursday after the school's own investigation into the death of pledge Armando Villa determined hazing was involved.
CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison made the announcement today, adding, "I will not turn a blind eye to any reports of hazing. Hazing is stupid, senseless, dangerous and against the law in California. It is a vestige of a toxic way of thinking in which it was somehow okay to degrade, humiliate and potentially harm others. It has no place on this or any university campus, in any student club or organization, and it will not be tolerated."
Individual punishments will be handed out to members of the fraternity upon the completion of a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, according to NBC 4 .
The hazing ritual allegedly involved blindfolding and leaving the pledges in the middle of the Angeles National Forest without enough water, their cell phones or their shoes. Villa succumbed to the elements, possibly from heat stroke or heat exhaustion, with his feet found blistered and cut.
According to the LA Times , Villa's parents issued a statement following the announcement from the university, alleging the fraternity has not been forthcoming with details surrounding their son's death. "Some people know what happened out there on the trail. They talk about a fraternity being a brotherhood based on honor, but neither the local chapter, the national parent organization of Pi Kappa Phi, nor any of Armando's so-called brothers have done the honorable thing by telling us what happened to our son," the statement read. "It is shameful behavior and we hope and pray that no other parent ever has to go through what we have suffered through."
