Benjamin Jaxon Lovelace was looking to make friends when he pledged a fraternity at the College of Charleston during his freshman year. Instead, he wound up anxious and alone, so terrified of his new brothers at the Iota Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Chi he left school just weeks before last year’s Spring semester ended.
Those are the allegations in a lawsuit filed this week by Lovelace and his family who call the college and the fraternity negligent. They’re suing for $10 million dollars in compensatory and punitive damages claiming Lovelace not only suffered mentally and physically, he lost tuition money and a scholarship.
The suit says Lovelace was repeatedly beaten, forced to drink until he vomited and threatened by fraternity members who warned, “loose lips sink ships”.
In one alleged incident, the brothers threw dish soap, sriracha, alcohol and beer cans at pledges. Lovelace was struck in the eye which became “swollen, bloody and black.” Another time, Lovelace says fraternity members took video of him after he was forced to chug alcohol and could no longer stand up.
In a statement, the College of Charleston says that while the school cannot comment on the specifics of pending litigation, it “does not condone any form of hazing by another student or student organization.”
The statement goes on to say the college initiated an investigation into allegations of hazing in February of 2023, the same time period in which Lovelace says he was abused. The school says the investigation was conducted in cooperation with the fraternity’s national headquarters and resulted in a cease-and-desist order against the chapter as well as other disciplinary action.
It’s estimated more than half of college students involved in sports or clubs have experienced hazing and 105 have died from hazing-related incidents since 2000.
