September 5, 2005
Apparent Hazing Death at Asian American Fraternity
As reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, police are investigating a death of a young Asian American student, Kenny Luong, who was participating in a fraternity-related football game involving California Polytechnic University Pomona and U.C. Irvine students. Witnesses describe that the activity was “a hazing disguised as a football game.” Luong apparently died from massive head injuries.
Simple hazing is a misdemeanor, said Police Lt. Jeff Love. But if hazing leads to a death, those responsible could face felony manslaughter or homicide charges, he said. “Given the fact that it was part of a pledging activity, we wanted to make sure,” he said, adding that detectives were interviewing players and spectators Tuesday.
Luong and the other pledges attended California Polytechnic University, Pomona, where they wanted to start a Lambda Phi Epsilon chapter, Love said. The would-be fraternity members decided to scrap those plans, Dai said. The UC Irvine chapter has been placed on “interim emergency suspension,” said university spokesman Jim Cohen.
Pretty tragic news. My sympathies go out to Kenny’s family and friends. At the same time, I am rather disgusted to see another incident in which Asian American fraternity members apparently acted with the same level of ignorance, stupidity, carelessness, and utter disregard for human dignity and safety that we normally associate with White fraternities.
It just goes to show that the power of someone’s social and organizational environment can override whatever good sense is supposedly associated with being Asian.
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Suggested reference: Le, C.N. . "Apparent Hazing Death at Asian American Fraternity" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <http://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2005/09/apparent-hazing-death-at-asian-american-fraternity/> ().
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