15 Oct 2nd-Oct 8th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | pays dues. She is suing for negligence, inten- tional infliction of emotional distress and defamation of character, as well as punitive and compensatory damages. The woman’s lawyers declined to comment on the lawsuit. New Times attempted to contact the individual defen- dants but did not hear back from most of them, though the lawyer for the brother who allegedly recorded the video said he denies the allegations and looks forward to clearing his name in court. The ASU chapter of SAE directed New Times to reach out to the national fraternity, but the national SAE organization did not respond to a request for comment. Last month, New Times also stopped by SAE’s fraternity house in ASU’s Greek Leadership Village, but nobody answered the door. Downplayed and ignored According to the lawsuit, the brother who allegedly filmed the nonconsensual video first showed it to other fraternity members roughly a year later during a fall trip to Lake Havasu City. But the video wasn’t shared widely among members until the following spring, after which the woman learned of its existence. After learning about the video, the woman said she began to investigate its origin. She spoke to a few fraternity brothers, though she said she was stymied by the fraternity’s code of silence, which the lawsuit refers to as “Brother’s Keep.” She also notified the then-president of the chapter, though the lawsuit claims that she was met with indifference and hostility. The chapter president “downplayed” the situation and stated he thought the video “appeared consensual” and opined that the woman “did not appear to ‘care’ about the video or ‘care’ about a lot of things that were happening to her when the video was filmed,” the suit says. Other members of the chapter’s executive board, who are also named as defendants, were also aware of the video but “took no mean- ingful actions to assist the Plaintiff or to notify the requisite authorities.” The woman also notified the national fraternity and ASU about the alleged hazing ritual. It is not clear if she received a response from the national SAE organiza- tion. ASU spokesperson Jerry Gonzales told New Times in an email that the complaint “remains an ongoing investigation.” It was only after she notified the school, the suit says, that the chapter president and the fraternity began to take the issue seri- ously. However, the suit claims, they first engaged in a “conspiracy to cover up the incident,” “destroy evidence” and “intimi- date the Plaintiff and other fraternity members with direct knowledge of the incident.” The woman claims the fraternity suspended the brother who took the video, but in name only. Per the suit, he was still allowed to live in fraternity housing and participate in frat events. Additionally, the woman claims, the suspended brother, the chapter president and members of the executive board trashed her reputation with others, refer- ring to her as a “whore,” “slut” and “good for nothing.” The woman is suing those fraternity members for defamation of character. Due to the ordeal, the woman says, she’s been unable to sleep, has lost weight and has noticed her hair starting to fall out. She dealt with educational setbacks and mental anguish as a result, and has suffered “repu- tational and financial damage,” as she’s continued to pay dues to a sorority that she avoids due to embarrassment. She also says her sorority — which she doesn’t identify, but which is likely also located in the Greek Leadership Village — fines her for missing events. A sordid history This isn’t the first time an SAE chapter has drawn scrutiny for sharing noncon- sensual nude photos of female students. In 2015, SAE’s chapter at the University of California San Diego got in trouble for similar behavior in a scandal that came to be known as “Rush Boobs.” The chapter forced pledges to obtain topless pictures of women with “Rush ΣAE” written on their chests for the purpose of distributing them on social media and messaging apps. The lawsuit also references the 2015 documentary “The Hunting Ground,” which examined sexual violence on college campuses. The documentary focused in part on SAE chapters, which on some campuses were colloquially referred to as standing for “Sexual Assault Expected.” The ASU chapter of SAE also has a troubled history. In 2012, a 19-year-old SAE fraternity pledge, Jack Culolias, drowned in the Salt River after binge drinking at a pledge event. A few months later, another frater- nity member was dumped at a hospital with a note after a tequila-drinking contest that nearly killed him. The 20-year-old student had a blood-alcohol level of 0.47, nearly five times over the legal limit. The two high-profile incidents resulted in ASU expelling the chapter from the university by revoking its univer- sity recognition in 2013. That same year, Rolling Stone magazine named the chapter the “most out-of-control” frater- nity in the U.S. In 2014, Culolias’ mother sued the national SAE organization for the wrongful death of her son, ultimately settling. That year, the national fraternity instituted a hazing ban. In 2022, Gov. Doug Ducey signed “Jack’s Law” in honor of the late SAE pledge, making it a crime in Arizona to haze. After a brief hiatus from campus, ASU’s SAE chapter returned to the Greek Leadership Village in 2019. Do you have information to share about this story? Contact the reporter at morgan. [email protected] or on Signal at 623-295-9472. ‘Sex-Crazed’ Frat from p 12
