UC Irvine fraternity suspended after student's death

NOAH DOMINGO

ASAM NEWS

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE is investigating the death of a freshman student, following the suspension of his fraternity, Los Angeles Times reports.
Noah Domingo, 18, died after an off-campus party early Saturday (Jan. 12). UC Irvine says it cannot release details about Domingo’s death because of the investigation. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, the fraternity to which Domingo belonged and the fraternity hosting the party he attended Friday night, was suspended and ordered to cease all activities immediately.

RELATED: Fraternity hazing death - Asians are the loneliest Americans

The official cause of Domingo’s death is not yet known. The Orange County coroner’s office is conducting an autopsy and preparing a toxicology report to determine the cause of his death. Dale Domingo, Noah’s father, says officials have not told him how his son died.

According to fellow fraternity member Ryan Lee, Domingo attended a party at the house of a fraternity brother on Friday night. Lee left the party, but Domingo stayed. Police found Domingo the next morning, around 9:30 a.m., in a bed in a house in the Turtle Rock Neighborhood.

Friends and family describe the Filipino American student as smart, athletic young man who tended to avoid alcohol and drugs. Paul Schilling, who was Domingo’s high school football coach for four years, said the typical portrayals of fraternity life didn’t seem to fit Domingo.

“Noah wasn’t one of those kids,” Schilling told the Los Angeles Times. “He didn’t have time to be messing around.”

Domingo played both basketball and football. The youngest of three children, he followed his older sister Briana (20) to UC Irvine in the fall. His sister says last week he was working hard to get ahead on his second quarter course work. His dream was to pursue a career in sports medicine for basketball players.

A GoFundMe campaign has been established to offset funeral expenses for the family of Noah Domingo has exceeded its goal of $10,000

The school declined to release further details but Edgar J. Dormitorio, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, wrote in an email sent to all students that it would "closely examine the larger context in which this tragedy occurred and will be working with the Greek community to help ensure that they are engaging in behaviors and practices that are in alignment with university policies and their own values."

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

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Asian American frat gets 2-year suspension for hazing & alcohol violations

The Cal Poly campus in San Luis Obispo.

ASAM NEWS

AUTHORITIES at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo have suspended the campus chapter of the largest Asian American fraternity in the country for two years, reports the campus newspaper, Mustang News.

A university investigation found Lambda Phi Epsilon forced its recruits to do knuckle push ups, late night submersion in the ocean, and consumer large amounts of alcohol. Anonymous sources told the paper the activities left them with bloodied knuckles, broken skin and even scars.

RELATED: Fraternity hazing death - Asians are the loneliest Americans

The Tribune reports the investigation began September 28 after the campus received anonymous complaints of “systematic hazing of new pledges in recent years,” said campus spokesperson Matt Lazier. The school found the complaints to be accurate and said current and former members of the fraternity maintained the tradition of hazing. Lazier said the national chapter of Lambda Phi Epsilon supports the school’s findings and actions.

“It really sucked in the moment, it was the hardest thing ever … but this is something I think everyone knows about. I know the cultural organizations haze way harder than any [Interfraternity Council] fraternity,” a source who claims to have witnessed the hazing told Mustang News.

According to The New York Times, Lambda Phi Epsilon has been connected to two deaths in the last 13 years- one at Cal Poly Pomona and the other at San Francisco State University.
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Fraternity members plead guilty, sentenced to probation for hazing death

NBC

The property where the hazing death of Michael Deng (insert) occurred.

Fourteen former members of an Asian/American fraternity were sentenced to probation Wednesday, (Nov. 29) after pleading guilty to reduced charges in the hazing death of a young man pledging to Pi Delta Psi.

They joined the 15 other young men who plead guilty Tuesday (Nov. 28).

On Tuesday, 17 defendants appeared in Monroe County Court of Common Picas in Stroudsburg, Penn. Tuesday (Nov. 28) to accept responsibility in the tragic death of Chun "Michael" Deng, 19, who died while undergoing one of the fraternity's initiation ceremonies.

As the result of plea bargains, all 29 of them plead guilty to reduced charges and sentenced to  The harshest punishment was meted out to Andy Meng, brother of Rep. Grace Meng. As former president of the fraternity, he received a stiffer sentence of 36 months probation.

“You are better than this,” Judge Margherita Patti-Worthington told the group. "Be individuals and do the right thing going forward. Don’t get caught up in group think.”

Some of the members pleaded guilty to charges including concealing or tampering with evidence. Others admitted to simple assault and lying to police.

Most of the members were sentenced to between 12 and 18 months on probation except for Meng and another defendant. Ka-wing Yuen received 5 years probation, 100 hours of community service and a $100 fine.

The four Pi Delts who pleaded guilty in May to more serious charges will face sentencing next week. Punishment will likely include time behind bars.

Last week, the fraternity was convicted of charges including aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter but acquitted of third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, both felonies.

In a ritual called the "glass ceiling" which was meant to teach the pledges of the bias they would face in society, Deng passed out after running the gauntlet of fraternity brothers who would hit, tackle or trip the pledges. The 2013 hazing of the New York's Baruch College students occurred at a rented  home in the Pocono Mountains, about 100 miles west of New York City.

During the incident, Deng was blindfolded, wore a 30-pound (14-kg) backpack and ran a gauntlet of fraternity members who tackled and knocked him down on the snow-covered ground in December 2013, police said.

The college students waited for more than an hour before driving him to a hospital, authorities said and that delay contributed to his death.

Rather than seeking help for Deng, who remained unconscious, the fraternity brothers reportedly Googled head injury symptoms and researched the cost of an ambulance before determining it would be too expensive. They allegedly called fraternity officers for advice on what to do.

Although deaths from fraternity hazings have occurred at several American colleges, prosecutors and defense lawyers said it was the first U.S. conviction of a fraternity for a death caused by hazing.

UPDATED Nov. 30 to include the second day of sentencing.

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Asian American fraternity on trial for hazing death

Guilty: Clockwise from top left, Kenny Kwan, Charles Lai, Raymond Lam and Sheldon Wong.

ASAM NEWS

A national Asian American fraternity is on trial in the deadly hazing of a pledge in 2013.

Pi Delta Psi is accused of being criminally negligent in the death of Michael Deng who died of brain trauma and the suspected cover up that followed.

“Thirty four, there were 34 members that acted together in the hazing that resulted in the death and cover-up; 29 hours that passed between the time he was brought to the emergency room and his passing,” prosecutor Kimberly Metzger said in opening arguments, according to the Pocono Record. 

“Eighteen, he was 18 when he died. Six pledges (the chapter) has brought to the Poconos since 2010. Four, how many they brought (this time). Two, the hours of delay between (Deng) not getting up and receiving medical attention; and for one dead pledge.”

RELATED: Fraternity hazing death - Asians are the loneliest Americans

The defense attorney, however, pointed the blame at the local chapter.

“Pi Delta Psi has an anti-hazing written policy since 2001,” he said. “The colony didn’t follow the rules. It’s supposed to use the national policy. The pledge educator was over his head and improperly informed.”

New York’s Baruch Colony chapter became inactive, following the death.

WBRE reports several police officers testified in the opening day of the trial.

Fraternity members are also expected to the take the stand. The trial is expected to last one week.

Four of the men who had been charged with murder — Kenny Kwan, 28; Charles Lai, 26; Raymond Lam, 23; and Sheldon Wong, 24 — appeared in court May 14, when they pleaded guilty to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter and hindering apprehension after reaching an agreement with prosecutors. Sentencing for these four men will be on Dec. 4.

(Views from the Edge contributed to this report.)

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