A Brooklyn mom has filed a $25 million lawsuit against a fraternity at Cornell University, after her son was allegedly kidnapped, drugged, and abandoned by his frat brothers. Marie Lourdes André says her son, George Desdunes, was already a full-fledged member of the fraternity at the time of the incident.
The fraternity Desdunes was part of had previously been monitored by its national organization after campus officials discovered a manual that required new pledges to perform sex acts, buy illegal drugs, among other things.
André says she knows the money won’t bring her son back. “With the death of my son, I find some comfort in knowing that this lawsuit may bring about changes in fraternities that will prevent other families from suffering as I have,” she says.
Check out the full story here and let us know your thoughts.
As parents, how do we monitor this? Pledging takes place largely on college campuses, away from the watchful eye of Mom and Dad. Students are adults by then, and don’t need permission from their parents to join a sorority or fraternity. So what’s a parent to do? Have you (or your kid) ever had to deal with hazing?
Harriet says
Personally I think there’s more going on here than just hazing:nn1) The young man had been a member of the organization since February…WTHockey Sticks are they hazing him for now?n2) Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the first fraternity that was established in the antebellum south. 369 of its 400 members fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.n3) This young, BLACK man was abducted and “hazed” to the point where he died…sounds more like a lynch mob than a hazing to me.n4) Although this happens too often in the ranks of the Black Greek Council, I think it bears more investigation given the fact that it was a predominantly, TRADITIONALLY white fraternity that caused the death of this young man.5) Can’t wait to hear the autopsy results. I’m willing to bet he encountered some type of physical trauma beyond alcohol poisoning…this has the makings of a hate crime written all over it.