New Twist on Hazing

Pledge May Face Rap for Own Hazing
By Dan Mangan

A Duke University student from Connecticut who was nearly hazed to death at a fraternity has been threatened with arrest - for abetting his own abuse, his lawyer said.

"It's ridiculous," fumed Stephan Seeger, the lawyer for 19-year-old Daniel Klufas, of Easton, Conn.

Klufas, a freshman at the prestigious Durham, NC, school, was pledging at Alpha Delta Phi during the fraternity's April 24 "Hell Night."

Pledges, blindfolded and stripped to their underwear, were brought into a "very cold basement" in an off-campus Durham house, Seeger said.

Fraternity brothers "proceeded to pelt him [Klufas] with various food, sauces and very, very cold water for a prolonged period of time," Seeger said.

Klufas began "shivering uncontrollably... so one of the fraternity brothers decides that he's going to assist Klufas by pouring warm water on him for some time," the lawyer said.

Klufas then went into hypothermic shock and was taken to Duke Hospital by members of the fraternity, Seeger said.

When Klufas later went to Durham cops, Seeger said, the police reminded him of an anti-hazing law, read him his Miranda rights, and told Klufas "that he could be charged... for aiding and abetting his own hazing." Durham police confirmed that they were investigating the hazing but declined to comment further.