The University of Arizona has suspended Sigma Alpha Epsilon's alcohol activities after hazing allegations were levied against it, but these claims aren't anything new: "Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville accused the fraternity of drugging him last year, Gawker reported Wednesday.
Knoxville was on campus when he screened his movie "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa" and claims that someone laced his drink with ecstasy. The university could not find any evidence to back up the claim.
"Someone dosed me with ecstasy and after that the wheels fell off," Knoxville said in an interview with TMZ in October 2013.
At the time, Knoxville did not reveal what fraternity house he had been at when the alleged drugging occurred, but school officials were able to trace it back to SAE.
But this isn't the first instance of poor behavior on the part of the fraternity and its members. SAE's alcohol ban was also prompted because of allegations that it hosted an unregistered party, providing alcohol to minors and hazed guests. A promise to help stop instances of hazing was pledged by SAE's national chapter earlier this year, according to The Daily Wildcat, UA's school newspaper.
New allegations aside, SAE has violated university policy 12 times in the past eight years.
Johanne Ives, assistant dean of students for fraternity and sorority programs at the university, said the fraternity is trying to operate in the way it wants to without facing any repercussions.
"I would say because they know they already have a mandate from their national organization to be dry [that it is] pretty black-and-white," Ives said. "It's hard I would say for [SAE] to make an argument that they weren't clear on what the policy was."
