A college fraternity at the University of Arizona has been suspended after new members were allegedly plied with alcohol and forced to swallow live goldfish.
College officials informed the university’s Sigma Tau Gamma chapter by letter earlier in September that it was under investigation for multiple alleged violations of the student code of conduct, including “endangering, threatening, or causing physical harm” to members of the campus community.
It is the latest in a series of recent campus hazing cases across the US, which have included the discovery of dozens of partly clothed young men locked in the basement of a fraternity house at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they were covered in food as part of a pledging ritual.
Meanwhile, in New York, prosecutors said on Monday that they had reopened a 2024 investigation into the alleged drugging and gang-rape of a female student by seven members of Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity.
The alleged hazing of new recruits to the Arizona fraternity took place in the fall semester of 2025, according to the letter to the chapter from Jasmin Hayes, the university’s senior student rights and responsibilities coordinator.
“New members of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity were subjected to hazing,” Hayes wrote.
“Specifically, new members were forced to consume large quantities of alcohol and live goldfish. Additionally, new members were subjected to screaming, degradation, and threats from active members.”
The chapter is banned from all activities except essential business meetings while the university’s investigation concludes, Hayes wrote. A repeat violation or attempt to contact or interfere with witnesses could result in more severe consequences, she warned.
A separate University of Arizona fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, was placed on probation for 12 months and fined $4,000, for breaches of the student code of conduct relating to hazing, Tucson’s KOLD news station reported in May.
In all, six University of Arizona fraternity chapters have been investigated for hazing in 2026, the outlet reported. Among the allegations are forced alcohol and drug use – and incidents of violence and intimidation resulting in hospitalizations.
The Guardian has contacted Sigma Tau Gamma for comment. On its national website, the fraternity promotes virtues including “integrity”, “excellence” and “citizenship”.
In 2020, the Pennsylvania State University and Sigma Tau Gamma’s board of directors announced jointly that they had permanently closed its Alpha Psi chapter for hazing offenses, including providing alcohol to minors.
“Hazing has no place in Sigma Tau Gamma,” the fraternity said in a statement at the time.
