Sorority sisters charged with hazing

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Six members of a sorority at Rutgers University in New Jersey have been charged with aggravated assault for allegedly paddling pledges.

The Sigma Gamma Rho chapter at New Jersey's state university has been suspended by both Rutgers and the sorority's parent organization while the case is investigated, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported.

One of the three pledges to Sigma Gamma Rho told the Star-Ledger the paddling was done at a university-owned student apartment building in New Brunswick and at private homes in Newark and West Orange.

The young woman, who did not want her name used, said she and the other pledges were told the paddling was designed to "humble" them and to teach them to rely on others. She said they were specifically told the paddling was not hazing, which is banned under both the sorority's and university's rules.

"At the end, we were supposed to be helping each other," she said.

The student said after several evenings of paddling she was in such pain she could not even lie down. Her family took her to a hospital.

She said she had hoped to join the sorority, a group for black women founded in 1922, because of its tradition of service.