US Hazing Rituals in Spotlight After Ohio Student Loses Testicle

Ohio police have charged 14 people for taking part in a fraternity hazing incident that left college student Tyler Lawrence with only one testicle after he was beaten with knotted towels.

Lawrence, 19, took part in a series of demeaning initiation acts last year in order to gain entry to a fraternity at Wilmington College, Ohio.

The college student and other "pledges" were blindfolded and beaten with knotted towels. Lawrence was struck so hard in the groin he was forced to go to hospital.

Under US law, hazing is a criminal offence punishable with a maximum of 30 days in jail.

IBTimes UK looks at the worst instances of fraternity hazing, a ritual often involving harassment, abuse or humiliation as a way of initiating a person into a group. Some involve sexual assault, being forced to consume deadly amounts of alcohol or drugs.

1. Elephant walk
Vermont passed an anti-hazing law in 1999 following to an incident at University of Vermont. Members of the hockey team forced freshman players to drink warm beer until they vomited and performed an "Elephant Walk" in which a group of males walks in a straight line, with each person putting one thumb in their mouth and the other thumb inside the anus of the male in front of them.

2. Boob ranking
Alexandra Robbins ran a story on ABC News, reporting on "boob ranking". In this procedure, the sisters forced pledges to strip off their shirts and bras in a cold room, and then line up in order of breast size. The older "sisters" would then make fun of them and humiliate the topless women.

3. Cocaine or dildo: your choice
The Hazing Prevention organisation receives hundreds of emails from victims of sorority and fraternity hazing. One came from a girl who reported that she had to either use a d***o in front of all her "sisters," or take a hit of cocaine.

4. Padding
One girl reported to The Star-Ledger that she was told the beatings would "humble" her and build love and trust between the sorority sisters. However, after seven nights of beatings and being struck a total of 201 times, the pledge went to the hospital because she was no longer able to sit due to the blood clots and welts on her buttocks.

5. Raped by a Sharpie marker
In 2002, seven football players from Methodist College in North Carolina were arrested on hazing charges for restraining a freshman, stripping him of his underwear, writing all over his buttocks and hitting him several times. Antonio Wilkerson then sexually assaulted the freshman athlete with a Sharpie marker.

6. Consuming lethal amounts of alcohol
Adam Marszal and Russell Taylor, two former students at California Polytechnic State University, were sentenced to jail after hazing a freshman who died of alcohol poisoning while pledging Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The 18-year-old died after consuming an excessive amount of alcohol in 90 minutes.

7. Trivial pursuit: choose your object
Alexandra Robbins, author of the book Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities, went undercover for a year and witnessed incidents where the pledge class had to answer trivia questions and drink straight vodka when they got the question wrong. If they answered incorrectly, they were presented with a Sharpie marker pen, a knife, a hammer and dildo, with the threat they would be sexually violated with one of these objects.

8. Boiling water torture
At Tulane University, pledges for Pi Alpha Kappa had boiling water poured over them. Fraternity brothers used boiling water containing pepper spray and a "crab boil" seasoning mixture containing cayenne pepper to pour over their victims' backs. One pledge suffered second and third degree burns to his back, chest, buttocks and genitals.

9. Exercise in excrement
Many hazing rituals involve being forced to drink urine. An incident at Hartwick College caused outrage when pledges of Alpha Chi Ro said they were forced to carry faeces-covered rocks through a forest and do push-ups in a urine-soaked rubbish pit which also contained broken glass and dirty nappies.

10. The drink of death
Pledges of Lambda Phi Epsilon reported having to drink about two gallons of a drink called Death, a mixture of ketchup and Tabasco sauce. The ritual which last for up to five hours, involves vomiting up the drink and then being forced to consume more.