The incident took place on Wednesday evening, September 23, at the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity house in Madison. According to LADbible, the police went to the building upon the notice of an unidentified person.
Police teams encountered 30 young people in the basement, most of whom were said to be around 18 years old. It was reported that the young people were covered with food, sauce and various liquids, and some of them had marks on their bodies indicating that they had been physically attacked. It was determined that the basement's thermostat was set to approximately 27 degrees Celsius.
Former members of Alpha Epsilon Pi, the Jewish student fraternity organization founded at New York University in 1913, include well-known names in the US public such as Mark Zuckerberg, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Gene Wilder, Wolf Blitzer and Nobel Prize-winning academics.
TWO SUSPECTS WERE ARRESTED
Madison police evacuated the building, deeming the activity in the basement 'illegal'. Two 20-year-old people, who were at the scene and stated to be the president and vice president of the fraternity, were detained on charges of humiliation, abuse (hazing) and disturbing public order. The two suspects were taken to the Dane County Jail.
The concept of 'hazing' used in university fraternities in the USA refers to subjecting a person to humiliating, abusive or dangerous acts in order to be accepted into the group or to maintain membership.
A COMMON CASE
Cases of 'hazing' are quite common in the USA. In the Allan-Madden study, one of the most comprehensive national studies, 55 percent of college students participating in clubs, teams or student organizations reported being exposed to at least one hazing behavior. For members of social fraternity organizations such as Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), the rate was measured to be approximately 73 percent.
More recent data also shows that the problem continues. A HazingInfo review published in September 2026 identified at least 556 documented cases of hazing at US universities as of July 2025; The number of campuses reporting at least one case is 253, or about 17 percent of the universities studied. Moreover, the real number is likely to be higher, as only 54 percent of universities publish the transparency reports required by the new federal regulation.
ACTIVITIES HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED
On the other hand, following the incident, AEPi International management announced that it had suspended all activities of the Madison branch until the investigation was completed.
AEPi Communications Director Jonathan Pierce stated that members were asked to fully cooperate with the investigation and explained that the findings will form the basis for new decisions that can be taken about the branch and individual members.
Pierce also reported that a cease-and-desist order had been imposed on the Madison branch. Within the scope of the decision, new member meetings, social events, fraternity meetings, charity activities, social media activities and other organizations were banned. Only essential administrative procedures were allowed to continue.
INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN STARTED
The incident is being investigated by both the Madison Police Department and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards.
In her e-mail to students, the University's Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Lori Reesor, said, "There is no place for humiliation and abuse on our campus."
The police report also claimed that the chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi in question was a student organization that was not recognized and accredited by the university.
While the investigation is ongoing, it has not yet been disclosed exactly what practices the 30 young people were subjected to in the basement and how long the incident lasted.
WHAT IS ALPHA EPSILON PI?
Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) is an international Jewish fraternity organization founded at New York University in 1913. The organization defines its mission as “training future leaders of the Jewish community”; Membership is not limited to Jews, but is open to all male students who embrace the values and mission of the organization. Today, it has nearly 100 thousand living graduates and branches in many universities.
AEPi has some fairly high-profile former members on its own publications and on the records of its university branches.
FEATURED MEMBERS
-Mark Zuckerberg—Harvard; Founder of Facebook/Meta,
- Gene Wilder — University of Iowa; actor, director and producer,
-Wolf Blitzer—University at Buffalo; CNN journalist,
-Richard Thaler—Case Western Reserve University; 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics winner,
- H. Robert Horvitz—MIT; 2002 Nobel Prize in Medicine winner,
