Hazing students may be expelled

By Nicole Ziegler Dizon

May 12, 2003 | A suburban high school on Monday suspended several students involved in a brutal off-campus hazing melee and will recommend that the students be expelled.

Principal Michael Riggle of Glenbrook North High School said he took the steps after the district's counsel advised him that the school had broader powers to discipline students for the videotaped incident than he had thought.

The 10-day suspensions are the longest the school can mete out, Riggle said. He said it would be up to the district to decide whether to expel the students, which would ban them from campus and from school-sponsored activities, including prom and graduation.

"We have never tolerated actions of this nature within our school or by our students within the community, nor will we now or in the future," Riggle said.

Riggle declined to say how many students were suspended, citing the privacy of educational records.

The school's investigation found that the students violated laws on hazing and assault, Riggle said. The investigation also found the students violated the school's hazing policy and the Illinois school code.

Authorities have said criminal charges in the videotaped incident are likely.

Girls from the school were beaten and showered with mud, feces and garbage by older girls on May 4 at a Cook County Forest Preserve park. Five girls were injured seriously enough to send them to the hospital.

The incident is an embarrassment to the school in the well-to-do Chicago suburb of Northbrook. The video has received international attention on television.

Steve Mayberry, a spokesman for the Cook County Forest Preserve Police, said investigators spent the weekend interviewing students and parents. Interviews were continuing Monday, with charges expected sometime this week.

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