Pledges of a Syracuse University fraternity were forced to perform exercises as punishment three times a day for weeks before a pledge nearly lost four fingers to frostbite after performing the exercises outside, according to a Syracuse Police Department report.

The victim, a 20 year-old student and Nu Alpha Phi pledge, said pledges were making so many mistakes and violating the rules of the fraternity so often that they were being disciplined “at least three times a day for the past 22 days or so,” according to the report.

Typically, the victim told police, pledges were punished by being made to perform various physical exercises in the attic of the fraternity house on 739 Ackerman Ave.

In the case that led to at least two pledges experiencing frostbite, the victim and two other pledges were brought to a park at approximately midnight on Sunday, March 1, according to the report. The pledges were required to wear the typical “uniform” which consisted of a hooded sweatshirt, pants, boots and no gloves.

Tae Kim and Jeffrey Yam, Nu Alpha Phi members, instructed the pledges to do pushups, situps, crawling and rolling exercises in the knee-deep snow. The victim said this went on for at least 30 minutes, but he is not sure because they are not allowed to wear watches during pledging, according to the report.

Kim, 20 and Yam, 21, both SU students, have been charged with hazing in the first degree, a Class A misdemeanor, and Nu Alpha Phi was suspended by the university on Monday, March 2. Upon investigating the Nu Alpha Phi house, police obtained a composition notebook which listed some of the rules pledges are to follow. The notebook is currently evidence in the ongoing case.

Both suspects were released on appearance tickets and will appear in court.

The two other pledging members refused to cooperate with the investigation. A Nu Alpha Phi pledge, who was identified as being present at the park, spoke with DPS and was experiencing “swollen and blistered left and right hands,” but told police he preferred not to become involved with any investigation.

The student “insisted that he was at a park on the South Campus with his friend playing in the snow and that they stayed out in the cold for too long,” according to the report.

Published on March 13, 2015 at 3:14 pm

Contact Lydia: lawilson@syr.edu