Fraternities

The brothers of Lambda Phi Epsilon at UCLA were excited to find the gray-and-teal apartment complex several blocks from campus. They had no house on Fraternity Row, but the complex could serve as their home base. About a dozen members of the Asian American fraternity moved into eight units in the 600 block of Midvale Avenue before the fall quarter started. In late September, they hosted a housewarming mixer to recruit new members. "Let us show you how Lambdas throw the sickest house parties in town and experience the social life that you can't experience any where else!"

A campus fraternity in Pomona has been suspended while the school investigates claims that a student was burned during an initiation. Cal Poly Pomona announced Wednesday that it suspended the local chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon and nine fraternity members. College spokesman Tim Lynch said the school is investigating an alleged initiation in which 14 students were blindfolded, driven to the high desert in March and placed around a bonfire.

Two fraternity brothers each received a two-year prison term from Circuit Judge Kathleen F. Dekker, who said she wanted to make sure that the sentences under a new felony hazing law served as a deterrent. Florida A&M University students Michael Morton, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, and Jason Harris, 25, of Jacksonville, were led from the Tallahassee courtroom in handcuffs. The students were charged with hazing Marcus Jones, 20, of Decatur, Ga.

Converse Inc. will share sales revenue from shoes bearing the colors and founding dates of black fraternities and sororities to settle a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the Greek organizations, Converse and the groups said. The organizations will drop the lawsuit they filed in Dallas federal court in 2003, and North Andover, Mass.-based Converse will pay them a percentage of revenue on each product sold that bears their trademarks.

Three fraternity brothers accused in a case that tested Florida's law against hazing avoided prison by pleading no contest to a lesser charge in the beating of a prospective member. Each received probation, including 30 days in a sheriff's work camp, after entering the pleas in Tallahassee to misdemeanor hazing. Prosecutors offered the plea deal only after two mistrials on felony hazing charges. Five Florida A&M University fraternity brothers had been tried together.

The family of a college student who died after an alleged fraternity hazing incident two years ago has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the fraternity and UC Irvine. Kenny Luong, 19, suffered fatal head injuries during an August 2005 football game held at a city park to initiate pledges into Lambda Phi Epsilon, a nationwide Asian fraternity.

Chapman University officials violated the constitutional rights of students who were trying to form a Jewish fraternity when they ordered the men not to recruit on campus or wear T-shirts promoting Sigma Alpha Mu, according to a letter the ACLU sent university officials Tuesday. "Chapman, we have a problem," said Hector Villagra, director of the Orange County office of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "These students have free speech rights."

When word came in June 2006 that USC was accepting applications for three new fraternities, it was as if someone had tapped a fresh keg at spring break. Fraternities eager to be the first new one at USC in more than a decade started by mailing packets explaining why they'd be a great fit at the school, and a lucky few were invited to campus to make their pitches. Then, like nervous job applicants, the fraternities started calling. "They were so anxious, asking, 'When will you know?

Four teenagers were hospitalized -- two in intensive care -- after being hit hundreds of times with a plastic paddle as part of a university hazing ritual, Monterey Park police said Friday. Lt. Chris Keller said the students are 18 and 19 years old and appear to be fraternity members at Cal State L.A. Three of them were hospitalized at San Gabriel Valley Medical Center in San Gabriel and the fourth was at Beverly Hospital in Montebello.

A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the hazing trial of five Florida A&M University fraternity members after the jury said it was perplexed by an undefined legal term and unable to reach a verdict. The trial would have been the first to test a new state law that makes hazing a felony if it results in death or "serious bodily injury," but the law does not define the latter term.