The victim of a Nov. 22 hazing incident involving several Corps members and Corps Commander John Huffman, has been identified and reportedly received stitches as a result of the incident.
A concerned parent who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed the victim’s identity as Brad Barrick, a junior forest science major and member of company F-2. The parent said several members of outfit F-2 told him Barrick was injured in the incident.
“(Those involved) had him taped up in the Quad, and Brad called out for help,” said the parent. “I think he was trying to get his buddies to come out and help him.”
The parent, who spoke to members in the outfit over the Thanksgiving break, said that women in the area called University police.
“A couple of girls called the campus police, and they took (Barrick) up to one of the rooms in the dorm,” the parent said. “(The cadets) were freaking out because they were going to get caught because the police were on their way.”
Barrick’s captors injured his finger when they heard the police and tried to cut the tape from him, the parent said.
“His finger looked like it had been halfway taken off,” the parent said. “(Barrick went to the) ER and got eight stitches.”
Brandy Ness, an employee in the Emergency Room at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bryan confirmed that a patient named Brad Barrick was admitted the night of Nov. 22.
“I think the seniors were just trying to protect themselves,” the parent said. “It was E-walk night … they were trying to keep the juniors from coming after them and it went too far.”
Officer Kirk Jones of the University Police Department filed a formal report in response to the case and listed the offense as hazing by assault.
University student rule 24.3.3 defines hazing as “any act that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student.”
Rule 24.3.3 states that acts previously defined as “traditions” were not a justifiable reason for participation in such acts. The rule also dictates that consent to the hazing by the victim was not a defense either.
“I was dispatched to suspicious activity that occurred between Dorm 2 and Dorm 4,” Jones said in the report. “The reporting party advised that she observed several subjects taping another subject with duct tape and carried that subject horizontally at waist level in the area.”
Jones said the incident occurred at 9:35 p.m. on Nov. 22 and that UPD will seek an arrest warrant for hazing at a later date.
The Commandant’s Office, A&M administrators and members of the Corps, including Huffman, have all declined comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
“What concerns me is that the leadership of the Corps has come out so strongly against hazing but they’re actually as culpable as anyone else,” the parent said.
The parent said that Elephant Walk was the time of year when juniors symbolically take over the Corps, and lead formation that morning, while seniors sleep in.
“One of their traditions is that the juniors are free to get payback on the seniors that day,” he said. “The seniors were making sure that Brad was not going to do that. I think the plan was to go beyond that but when the police came and they all retired to their rooms and it put a stop to things.”
Charles Glover, the public relations officer for the Corps, said hazing is not tolerated in the Corps.
“Leadership in the Corps is strongly against any action that would endanger a cadet’s mental or physical health and we have strong faith that the investigation and/or judicial proceedings will sort out any facts and if any actions need to be taken they will be from that point on,” Glover said.
The parent said Barrick was counseled to cover the incident up.
“I know that …one of the parents told Brad to say that it happened at home over Thanksgiving,” he said. “It concerns me when the truth isn’t told … they were trying to cover things up.”
Braddick declined to comment.
The parent said he was speaking out because he felt the cadets would not say anything out of fear of retribution from the Corps.
“The Aggie Code of Honor is just a core value at A&M and is something I’ve carried with me throughout my life and to see an institution not stand by that is very disturbing to me,” he said. “People shouldn’t be afraid of telling the truth. The truth is what it is.”