TCU pledges ordered to take 15 drinks of vodka, eat expired guacamole, warrant says

Two freshmen pledges were ordered to take 10 to 15 drinks of vodka and eat expired guacamole during a hazing incident at TCU, according to an arrest warrant.

One pledge ultimately blacked out, while the second was left intoxicated in his dorm room, according to the warrant.

Two TCU students, both 19, have been arrested and face hazing charges, according to jail records and the arrest warrant obtained by the Star-Telegram on Wednesday.

One arrested student remains at TCU while the other is a former student, according to TCU officials.

University officials are conducting an investigation, and Kappa Sigma was the only fraternity implicated in the incident.

“National headquarters and Texas Christian University have suspended all activity by Kappa Sigma until the investigation is complete,” said TCU spokeswoman Holly Ellman in an email Wednesday.

It was at least the third reported hazing incident at the university since 2016. In December 2017, the Delta Tau Delta fraternity chapter at TCU was suspended for hazing, according to the fraternity’s national office.

In 2016, the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity at TCU was shut down after reports of drug dealing and possession of guns surfaced.

The warrant gave this brief account of the reported hazing incident:

One of the students who was arrested lived at the TCU Kappa Sigma chapter house, and the other lived at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house.

The pledges were ordered to the Kappa Sigma fraternity house on Sept. 3 and told to bring a “handle” of Tito’s vodka. A “handle” refers to a 1.75 liter bottle of vodka. The order was sent by a text message from a cell phone owned by one of the suspects.

The pledges arrived shortly after 4 p.m. on Sept. 3 with a bottle of vodka.

The freshmen were directed to the suspect’s room on the second floor

One of the arrested students called one pledge into a bathroom, handed him a beer and told him to drink the beer as fast as possible.

After that, the student emptied a bottle of decorative sprinkles, and the pledges were ordered to sort them. If they failed to complete the task in a timely manner, they were forced to drink vodka. The older students yelled at the pledges as they tried to sort the sprinkles and ordered them to drink vodka.

The pledges were ordered to drink from the bottle of vodka between 10 to 15 times. The older students made them drink as long as they were counting, according to the warrant.

Both pledges were forced to eat expired guacamole.

One pledge was later found unconscious in a suspect’s room and another Kappa Sigma member believed that pledge had died. Members called an ambulance and the pledge was taken to a hospital.

That pledge “only remembers waking up in the hospital,” according to the warrant. His blood alcohol level was found to be at a potentially lethal concentration.

The second pledge was walked to his dorm room and left intoxicated.

The pledges were being hazed because they wanted to become formal members of Kappa Sigma fraternity, according to the warrant.

This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 3:52 PM with the headline "TCU pledges ordered to take 15 drinks of vodka, eat expired guacamole, warrant says."