National Fraternity To Sue Rutgers Students After Alleged Hazing Incident

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The president and CEO of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity says the organization is planning to sue Rutgers University students who were involved in a hazing incident in the fall of 2025. Two students were electrocuted during the incident in October.

Gordy Heminger, Alpha Sigma Phi president and CEO, said the organization intends to seek monetary damages from every student involved, either directly or indirectly, in the alleged hazing that occurred Oct. 15, 2025, when two teen boys were electrocuted in the frat house basement.

All the Rutgers college students involved that night will receive a notice of intent to pursue legal action, a spokesman for Alpha Sigma Phi said Monday. The lawsuit will be filed in New Jersey sometime in 2026.

A 19-year-old from Matawan suffered a serious electric shock after he came in contact with exposed electric wires in the basement of the frat house, which used to be located at 106 College Avenue before it was shut down.

Rutgers Police received a 911 call shortly after midnight on Oct. 15. When officers arrived, they found the other fraternity members loading the unconscious, unresponsive Matawan teen into a private car. He was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where he was hospitalized in critical condition. The teen recovered and was released from the hospital. A second teen also suffered a shock from the exposed wires, but he was not injured as seriously.

Heminger has said the Rutgers frat members were involved in hazing that night. "The hazing involved a line-up and at some point water became involved," he said in October, immediately after it happened.

"The October 2025 hazing incident at Rutgers was a betrayal of our values and the antithesis of brotherhood. That’s why we immediately closed the chapter, recommended these students be evicted from the fraternity house and have fully cooperated with both the criminal and university investigations," Heminger said Monday morning. "Now we're going further. Alpha Sigma Phi has retained counsel and intends to pursue civil damages against every individual directly or indirectly involved in this heinous act."

After the incident, Rutgers suspended the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and put them on a disciplinary probation. Alpha Sigma Phi national headquarters then shut down the Rutgers chapter entirely.

"This represents one of the most significant legal actions taken by a national fraternity because the members of the former chapter deliberately violated our guidelines on hazing and amnesty reporting, despite receiving training less than a month prior," said Heminger. “Brotherhood is both a sacred honor and a solemn responsibility ... Those who fail to adhere to safety standards directly violate the contractual terms of membership in our organization. In this case and others like it, Alpha Sigma Phi reserves the right to seek civil remedies to the damage such recklessness inflicts upon our fraternity, our members and our broader communities. We continue praying for the victim’s full recovery and have absolute faith that the criminal justice system and Rutgers University conduct process will deliver total accountability for those responsible."

The Middlesex County Prosecutor's office investigated the incident and to date, no criminal charges have been filed against anyone involved.

Alpha Sigma Phi said it hired the Cincinnati-based law firm of Manley Burke.

However, parents of the frat brothers argued the house was not well maintained, and that there were exposed, live electric wires throughout the house.

After it was shut down, the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity house was also condemned by the New Brunswick Building Department. Parents of another boy in the frat house told Patch they had been reporting problems since the college students first moved in last August, including water and raw sewage leaking onto their son's bed from an upstairs bathroom, and provided photos of holes in the ceiling, basement and in the frat house walls.

The fraternity house has been cited for numerous code violations in the last five years, including 50 violations last May during a regular inspection by the state, Patch previously reported.

Alpha Sigma Phi is one of America's largest men’s collegiate fraternities, with more than 80,000 members still alive today.

All of Patch's coverage of the alleged hazing at Alpha Sigma Phi, where two members were electrocuted:

Rutgers Student In Critical Condition After Serious Injury (Oct. 17)

Hazing Or Unsafe House? Rutgers Fraternity Suspended, Probe Goes On Into Student's Injury (Oct. 20)

Update On Rutgers Student Electrocuted At Fraternity House (Oct. 23)

Raw Sewage, Dead Mice, Holes In Walls At Frat House Where NJ Teen Was Electrocuted [Photos] (Oct. 24)