Two leaders of an underground University of Wisconsin-Madison fraternity were arrested and charged with hazing after dozens of pledges were found injured, shirtless and covered in condiments in a sweltering basement.
The Madison Police Department said Thursday it received an anonymous tip about an event in the basement of an off-campus chapter house.
Alpha Epsilon Pi was kicked off campus as a recognized chapter in 2015, but the organization maintained a presence at the Madison home.
Police say about 30 pledges, most of whom were 18, were found partially clothed in a filthy basement around 8:20 p.m. on Wednesday.
The apparent hazing victims were “covered in food, condiments, and other liquids” and “had visible injuries consistent with being physically assaulted.” The thermostat was set to 81 degrees, making the basement hot and humid, police said.
Brayden Klein and Samuel Vane, both 20, were charged with hazing and disorderly conduct. Madison police are still investigating the matter.
Klein and Vane each posted $400 bail around 1 a.m. on Thursday morning and were released from the Dane County Jail, officials confirmed. It was not immediately clear when they must appear in court to face the charges.
Klein and Vane could not immediately be reached by NBC News for comment.
The university said in a statement that while it stopped recognizing Alpha Epsilon Pi about a decade ago, the national organization has continued to recognize the Madison chapter, allowing it to exist in the community.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison said in a statement that it will investigate students “implicated in the incident.”
Alpha Epsilon Pi was founded as a Jewish fraternity in 1913.
The national organization’s website lists a Madison, Wisconsin, chapter called “Pi,” but it does not cite an affiliation with the university.
In a statement, the national fraternity said it is taking the allegations “extremely seriously” and said it would “cooperate fully with the authorities investigating this matter.”
“Any member found responsible for criminal conduct in this matter will be expelled from AEPi, and we will support prosecution to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement said. “We will also work with the university in hopes that they will take action against individual perpetrators for violation of the student code of conduct.”
“Hazing is a betrayal of everything our fraternity stands for ... Anyone who engages in hazing forfeits the privilege of being an AEPi brother,” the statement continued.
Anti-hazing advocates say underground chapters present a unique risk for hazing incidents because they are not monitored by officials at their college or university.
There have been almost 130 hazing-related deaths with an average of five per year in the U.S. since 2000, according to HazingInfo.org, a research and advocacy website that tracks incidents.
