The national Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity argued Friday morning that two former ASU pledges breached a contract by failing to report a three-month hazing ritual, in which they were subjected to waterboarding and the forced consumption of spicy cheeseballs.
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The alleged hazing began the same evening one brother signed the document.
In oral arguments at the Maricopa County Superior Courthouse Friday morning, the former pledges’ attorney, Andrew Petersen, asked the Superior Court Judge Quintin Cushner to dismiss that claim, arguing that the contract violates Arizona’s anti-hazing law and cannot “retroactively” shift liability onto victims for past conduct.
“A contract isn’t valid and enforceable if it’s contrary to a criminal statute,” plaintiff’s attorney Andrew Petersen argued. “This type of indemnity or ‘see or hear no evil’ policy is absolutely contrary to public policy, and it’s void.”
The national fraternity’s attorney, Jamie Glasser, argued that by signing the agreements, the pledges promised not to submit to hazing and to report any violations “in a specific way” to headquarters. But “nothing was reported. Not that Spring and not that Fall when they signed the second agreement,” he said.
Cushner has taken the arguments under advisement, but has yet to rule. The fraternity is seeking lawsuit-related damages under its counterclaim.
In January, the former SAE pledges, Devin Stevens and Spencer Brajevic, filed a 76-page complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court against SAE’s chapter at ASU and the national organizations, accusing it of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and more.
The lawsuit contains a myriad of claims about what Stevens and Brajevic said was a three-month hazing ritual for pledges hoping to join SAE at the start of 2024. The two students say SAE brothers beat them with wooden paddles, compelled them to buy drugs and alcohol for frat members, required them to complete rigorous physical exercises, forced them to eat “extremely spicy cheeseballs” with little water, and binge drink and consume cocaine, ketamine, and mushrooms while completing excessive exercise and memory tests.
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On January 28, 2024, Brajevic signed a “Scope of Association” document agreeing not to submit to hazing and report any alleged hazing to the Fraternity Service Center, according to court documents. That same evening, three-month hazing officially begins on “Bid Night,” according to the lawsuit. Pledges were locked in a dark basement, forced to consume alcohol and whipped on their bare buttocks with belts. The next day, Stevens signed his agreement.
The document states that the signee recognizes their membership with the fraternity is “at all times voluntary and consensual.” It lists a series of activities that “all outside” of the fraternity’s scope. Any “act that constitutes hazing” and “participating in or submitting to hazing in any form” are on that list.
“The member agrees not to submit to hazing,” the contract reads. “The member will not allow himself or anyone else to be hazed by any person. The member agrees to report to the Fraternity Service Center any activities that could potentially constitute hazing of any person associated with SAE.”
Arizona criminalized hazing in 2022. Former Gov. Doug Ducey signed “Jack’s Law” in honor of 19-year-old Jack Culolias. The ASU fraternity pledge drowned in Tempe Town Lake in 2012 after a night of binge drinking at an SAE pledge hazing event.
Both Brajevic and Stevens signed the “Scope of Association” contract again months after the three-month hazing ritual. During those three months, the two men were forced to complete daily 5 a.m. workouts that landed Stevens in the emergency room, buy alcohol, vapes, marijuana, and cocaine for other members, tread water in a pool with ice bags tied to their feet, and fight one another.
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