In a tragic display of injustice, members of Parsons Mounted Cavalry, a unit within the Corps of Cadets, will not face any criminal charges for recent allegations of hazing. According to the Bryan-College Station Eagle, County Attorney Jim Kuboviak said that “even though he believed hazing occurred, he would leave it to University officials to discipline the students.”
These allegations of hazing included such actions as junior cadets hitting sophomore cadets with axe handles and forcing them to do exercises in excrement and urine. These actions verge on assault, yet the county attorney did not feel the actions were worthy of criminal charges. It is an atrocity to see the justice system allow these perpetrators to go uncharged. Similar actions from a campus fraternity would have unquestionably met swifter and stricter penalties.
And while the county attorney has failed to charge these students, the University should not be so easy on them. These are serious allegations, and Texas A&M must not allow acts of hazing to go unpunished. Hazing must not be allowed to be a part of such honorable groups such as the Corps of Cadets and Parsons Mounted Cavalry. Lt. Gen. John Van Alstyne has thus far been open and candid in addressing Corps issues, and we trust he will work to stamp out hazing.
The students involved in these incidents of hazing must be punished according to their involvement in the act. It is now in the hands of the University to send a strong condemnation of these acts to discourage future incidents of hazing from occurring.