ORLANDO — A University of Central Florida fraternity has been temporarily suspended after a member was accused of holding a gun barrel to the head of a blindfolded pledge, school documents released this week show.
As pledges lay on the floor blindfolded, an Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity brother leading them "took out a rifle and racked it," an anonymous student complained in a Feb. 9 email to the University of Central Florida Police Department.
"One of the blindfolded pledges made a comment about it not being real," he wrote.
The member then placed the barrel up to the pledge's head and asked him if he thought it was real now, the email said.
"Racking" is the pumping action that loads and unloads a shell into a shotgun.
The email didn't say whether the gun was real or if it was loaded.
The student who alerted authorities appeared to be in the same fraternity and heard about the alleged incident secondhand.
"It was reported to the brothers for the case to be reviewed within our fraternity to see what action to take," the student wrote. "I'm sure they won't report this outside of the fraternity. I don't believe that any fraternity on campus should be involved with any kind of firearms and would like this issue to be handled accordingly."
The school's police department forwarded the student's email to the university. UCF suspended the fraternity until further notice but allowed it to continue holding chapter meetings with school staff monitoring, according to a Feb. 16 letter sent to the fraternity.
Members of the fraternity could not be reached for comment.
Alpha Epsilon Pi, which says it promotes leadership in the Jewish community, was the second Greek Life organization suspended last month at UCF.
The school also temporarily suspended Mu Sigma Upsilon while it investigated hazing accusations after one its pledges was allegedly told she could not socialize with anyone outside the sorority during the six-week pledging process, documents show.
"This whole process just does not feel right to me . and we felt the need to make someone aware of what was going on," the pledge's boyfriend wrote in a Feb. 13 email to the university.
The woman decided not to join the sorority and was also upset her dues were not refunded, the boyfriend's email said.
The complaint was forwarded to the student conduct office, which is investigating the allegations, according to a Feb. 24 letter.
Officials with the sorority could not be reached.
Last month, Rollins College in Winter Park announced it was temporarily suspending all six fraternities, a move which affects 313 students. Greek Week, a time for celebration and activities, was also canceled in March for Rollins sororities and fraternities.
A college spokeswoman said there had been problems throughout the semester at the fraternities but declined to elaborate.
Police documents show at least one Rollins student was taken to the hospital after an altercation with three other students who were members of a different fraternity.
©2017 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)
