Frat guys slapped
with fine over Brokeback hazing

Four fraternity members at the University of Vermont in Burlington were slapped with $1,000 fines for allegedly making pledges wear Brokeback Mountain-style cowboy clothes while enduring homophobic slurs, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The penalties, part of Vermon't anti-hazing law, stem from a March 2 Brokeback Mountain party at the Phi Gamma Delta house where potential fraternity members endured homophobic-tinged hazing.

The fines were ordered by the university after the Chittenden County state's attorney's office decided the matter did not warrant criminal charges.

"I feel that the case would be better dealt with in context of a university judicial review," said deputy state's attorney Ed Sutton. "It was clear there were actions that could be offensive to some people, but there was no intention by anyone to be hurtful."

The four men who were fined--Scoutt Curley II, Eric Freedman, Bill Holohan IV, and Geoffrey Robinson--were singled out because they are officers of Phi Gamma Delta. (The Advocate)