University of Iowa fraternity suspended four years for hazing

IOWA CITY — Just over a year after establishing its first chapter at the University of Iowa, the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity has been suspended from campus for at least four academic years following a November hazing incident involving 57 shirtless men in a basement storage room, many of whom had food splattered on them.

“There was standing liquid covering the floor of the storage room during clean up,” according to police reports documented in a “summary of facts” from the UI Office of Student Accountability, which investigated the November incident.

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UI police observed empty beer cans and men using a squeegee to clean the room in the Alpha Delta Phi house at 703 N. Dubuque St. — where just after midnight Nov. 15, 2024, officers found dozens of pledges and members in various levels of dress.

When officers first entered the basement storage room — having been called to the property on a tripped fire alarm — they found 36 pledge class members lining the perimeter wearing shirts, shorts, shoes and neck ties over their eyes as blindfolds.

“They were all covered with what seemed like food products like ketchup and mustard and alcohol,” according to court documents filed in an arrest from that night, describing the scene as “disturbing.”

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“The scene strongly suggested that the young men were undergoing fraternity hazing,” according to District Associate Judge Jason A. Burns.

A group of 21 active members — mostly shirtless and not blindfolded — were in the center of the room, according to the UI incident summary.

“While police were present at the house, the men who were wearing shirts in the storage room slowly moved into the middle of the room and removed their shirts,” according to the summary. “When police inquired what was happening in the basement, no individual in the room responded. Only after the police asked ‘Who was in charge?’ did a shirtless member respond ‘They are upstairs’.”

A former UI student Joseph Antonio Gaya, 21, was arrested on suspicion of interference with official acts, a simple misdemeanor, after standing in front of officers and blocking the doorway to the roomful of pledges. After finally getting in, an officer asked if anyone was being held against their will, according to documents in Gaya’s court case, which has been set for trial in July.

“In unison, the pledges responded ‘no’,” according to the documents. “When asked if anyone was injured, they again responded in unison ‘no’.”

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The fraternity was placed on interim suspension later that day — a move the fraternity later appealed, casting blame on just two members who had subsequently been kicked out. UI officials denied that appeal and continued their investigation.

“While two active members accept responsibility for the actions of the evening, it is reasonable to believe that multiple other active members were present and involved, due to the quantity of non-pledges present in the storage room,” the UI summary states.

The UI’s Alpha Delta Phi suspension comes amid other fraternity- and sorority-related allegations and investigations on both the UI and Iowa State University campuses this academic year — including Sigma Alpha Epsilon houses at both universities accused of hazing and other misconduct, and one UI fraternity accused of animal abuse.

“On April 7, 2025, several reports were received regarding allegations that pledges have been asked to go into the woods and capture a wild animal,” according to an April 10 letter from the UI Office of Student Accountability to the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.

Iowa City Animal Services responded April 9 to a report of potential animal neglect involving a pet rabbit, according to Iowa City police spokesman Lee Hermiston.

“An animal service officer confirmed the welfare of the animal and advised the owners to obtain a larger enclosure,” Hermiston said. “Upon following up, animal services learned the owners opted to rehome the animal.”

No citations were issued, he said, and the UI opted not to refer the case for sanctioning.

‘Like a food fight’

In addition to its four-year suspension, the UI Alpha Delta Phi chapter must work with UI Fraternity and Sorority Life to craft an agreement with specific terms if it wants to return in 2029.

The chapter started off on the wrong foot in September 2023, when UI Vice President for Student Life Sarah Hansen served its executive director an “official notification and invitation to establish an associate chapter at the University of Iowa” by meeting four guidelines over a two-year probationary period.

“This letter and associate chapter status was the direct result of the University of Iowa learning that the fraternity was establishing a chapter at the university without the invitation or involvement of Fraternity and Sorority Life,” according to the letter.

The first of those four guidelines was to have “no conduct violations for which they are found responsible” during the probationary period — a condition the fraternity failed to meet, according to the campus investigation.

The investigation gave the following account of events on Nov. 14 into Nov. 15, 2024:

The 36 pledge class members were invited to stay at the house during their initiation week to bond, and on the evening of Nov. 14 took an exam for the fraternity. Members confiscated their phones — to keep them from cheating — and then told them to “go to bed” downstairs.

Some pledges were asleep and others awake when two men came in and yelled at the group to wake up and stand up and use their neck ties from initiation as blindfolds. The group then was led to a storage space where some said “food was put on them.”

“Nine pledge class members described the events ‘like a food fight,’ yet all nine indicated they did not throw food or participate in putting food on others,” according to the UI summary. “It is reasonable to believe that in a food fight all participating members would be throwing food. In this case no pledge member participated in throwing food, so it is reasonable to believe it was only executed by active members.”

As officers investigated, some pledges were taken from the house to active member apartments — where they received their wallets, keys and phones.

“It is reasonable to believe there was a coordinated effort to separate pledge class members from emergency personnel immediately following the exit from the basement,” according to the summary, which goes on to describe efforts to obstruct the investigation — like pledge assertions they “did not know who was present in the storage room.”

‘The video was cut off’

At the same time UI officials were investigating Alpha Delta Phi, they also were looking into hazing reports involving the UI Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter — including accusations of lying and obstruction.

“While an interviewed individual stated that members would casually rest and chat among themselves between workout activities, the video received shows members against the wall in a stance of attention,” according to a UI summary. “It is unreasonable that this is a casual stance that all 11 members present would choose to take simultaneously.”

Like with Alpha Delta Phi, the UI Office of Student Accountability received a report Nov. 15 of alleged hazing — with a video showing nearly a dozen members standing at attention while two others at the front of the room gave orders.

“Those who were lined up engaged in push-ups before the video was cut off,” according to the UI incident summary.

Over the course of member interviews, students told investigators they were in the basement for a group workout because the campus rec center didn’t have a large enough room. They said the workout — involving push ups, sit ups and planks — was voluntary and consensual and benches were available for anyone wanting to rest. And that the lights didn’t work down there, so people had to hold flashlights.

But, investigators said, they saw no benches in any of the video evidence and “none of the men performing exercise are dressed in exercise clothing.”

Plus, they noted, “It is unreasonable to believe that the activity still would have moved forward without electricity.”

Finding the organization responsible for both hazing and misconduct on organizational property, the university placed the chapter on disciplinary probation through May 2026.

‘Part of a broader pattern’

Although specifics haven’t been provided, ISU also is investigating its Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter for alleged hazing, misuse of alcohol, misuse of controlled substances and drug paraphernalia and endangerment — placing it on interim suspension due to accusations constituting “a significant and substantial danger.”

The action was based on an allegation the chapter hosted an event Feb. 27 “that involved hazing activities, including but not limited to requiring new members … to consume alcohol.”

“The chapter facilitated and endorsed multiple events involving physical exertion (e.g. push-ups until failure, tripod poses), coerced alcohol consumption, and blindfolding as part of structured pre-initiation rituals,” according to an ISU letter to the chapter. “Chapter events included the illegal possession, provision, and coercive consumption of alcohol by underage individuals, including high-risk consumption that led to vomiting by new members.”

Group messages and witness accounts also indicated chapter members engaged in and facilitated illegal drug use within the chapter house, according to ISU.

“These behaviors were not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern that increased the likelihood of serious harm.”

The university’s investigation of that chapter is ongoing.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com