{"id":28420,"date":"2026-08-05T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28420"},"modified":"2026-08-05T10:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:00:25","slug":"2-indiana-u-pledges-are-sent-to-hospital-after-sadistic-hazing-ritual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28420","title":{"rendered":"\u00a02 Indiana U. pledges are sent to hospital after sadistic hazing ritual"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2Fcrop-40195458.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Seven Indiana University frat bros brutally hazed pledges with hours of sadistic physical workouts \u2014 sending two to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n<p>The seven students from the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity allegedly hazed more than two dozen pledges in the fraternity\u2019s \u201cchapter room\u201d in October 2025, according to court records <a href=\"https:\/\/fox59.com\/news\/indycrime\/7-students-charged-in-iu-hazing-incident-that-led-to-fraternity-suspension\/\">obtained by CBS4. <\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Seven Indiana University frat members were hit with felony charges for hazing dozens of pledges with hours of grueling workouts, leading to two hospitalizations. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The wannabes were lined up in an empty room with only a metal trough containing ice water, and instructed to perform strenuous exercises for roughly three hours, court documents said.<\/p>\n<p>The brutal workouts included \u201cbrother squats,\u201d in which the pledges would lock arms and perform squats simultaneously until exhaustion, the outlet reported. <\/p>\n<p>The pledges were also allegedly forced to do push-ups, planks and leg lifts, with some then required to plunge into the ice bath and recite the fraternity\u2019s creed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wthr.com\/article\/news\/crime\/7-iu-fraternity-members-facing-felony-charges-alleged-hazing-incident\/531-2c3de792-629b-4c87-b7a2-19ee739fcd69\">WTHR reported.<\/a><\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Two of the pledges were taken to the hospital after complaining of difficulty walking and thigh pain. One of them developed dark urine, court documents detailed.<\/p>\n<p>Both pledges ended up hospitalized for multiple days with rhabdomyolysis, a condition where damaged muscle tissue breaks down and dangerously releases proteins and electrolytes into the bloodstream.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Two pledges developed the life-threatening condition rhabdomyolysis from the alleged hazing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The condition can lead to kidney failure and is life-threatening if not treated quickly, according to the Cleveland Clinic. <\/p>\n<p>One of the pledges also told investigators that Phi Kappa Psi President Arjunkumar Patel sent him messages instructing him to lie about his injuries and tell doctors his condition was from working out at the gym, court documents said. <\/p>\n<p>The frat president then told the pledge to delete his messages, prosecutors alleged. <\/p>\n<p>Patel has been hit with felony charges for hazing and obstruction of justice. Fraternity members Joseph Moon, Noah Kucera, Logan Conforti, Casey Clarke, Ryan Donohue and Kaptur Nowaczyk were all charged with two counts of felony hazing, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>The crew of pledges and fraternity members said Moon, of Elkhart, allegedly oversaw the hazing ritual and decided what grueling activities the pledges should partake in, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p>Nowacyk, Donahue, Clarke, Conforti and Kucera\u00a0\u2014 known as Phi Kappa Psi\u2019s \u201cMember Education Committee\u201d \u2014 were present for the degrading workout session. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Indiana University\u2019s Phi Kappa Psi chapter was placed on a cease-and-desist in late October, suspending all organization activities.  <span class=\"credit\">Education Images\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Patel was at another event, supervising it from the \u201coutside,\u201d the outlet said.<\/p>\n<p>Indiana University\u2019s Phi Kappa Psi chapter was placed on a cease-and-desist in late October, suspending all organization activities. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Office of Student Life holds all fraternities and sororities to high standards of safety, accountability and respectful experiences for every member,\u201d Lamar Hylton, vice chancellor for student life at Indiana University Bloomington, told the outlet.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cThe allegations made in the charges announced by the Monroe County Prosecutor\u2019s Office are inconsistent with Indiana University\u2019s values and expectations of student conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A level 6 felony, which all seven members are charged with, carries a maximum sentence of 2.5 years behind bars. <\/p>\n<p>The seven fraternity brothers have been summoned to appear in court for an initial hearing on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven Indiana University frat bros brutally hazed pledges with hours of sadistic physical workouts \u2014 sending two to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The seven students from the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity allegedly hazed more than two dozen pledges in the fraternity\u2019s \u201cchapter room\u201d in October 2025, according to court records obtained by CBS4. Seven&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/crop-40195458.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}