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Matthew Carrington sat in the cold basement, soaked and shivering, surrounded by his peers.

He had ingested gallons upon gallons of water that night in a pledge initiation ritual for his fraternity, Chi Tau.

He was dead the next morning.

Carrington was a victim of an alleged case of hazing at Cal State Chico University. Four students have been charged with manslaughter, along with eight charged with hazing, in the wake of Carrington’s death on Feb. 2 due to “water intoxication.” As Chico’s university community continues to mourn while the trial for the involved fraternity members is pending, the city is witnessing its first case ever of students being charged with hazing.

Hazing is a misdemeanor under the California Education Code, punishable by a maximum year in jail and $5,000 fine.

But barring extreme circumstances such as a death or mutilation, incidents of hazing are infrequently litigated, forcing the university to deal with the problem internally, attorneys and university officials say.

UCLA has been fortunate enough not to have a comparable incident resulting in death, at least for as long as Joan Brown, associate director of the Center for Student Programming, has been here. She said it is hard to know how prevalent hazing is at UCLA, and that the CSP’s main role is educating and trying to prevent incidents like Chico’s before they happen.

“My guess is it’s not a big problem (at UCLA); doesn’t mean it’s not going on,” Brown said. “I wish I could say ‘no’ absolutely with certainty. I can’t.”

Several UCLA houses have been sanctioned in recent years for incidents related to hazing. The most severe penalty was imposed on fraternity Sigma Chi in fall 2003, when the fraternity’s university recognition was revoked after members admitted to UCLA officials that they had participated in hazing activities. It was reinstated this year.

At least two other organizations, fraternity Zeta Beta Tau and sorority Pi Beta Phi, have been penalized with hazing-related stipulations in their sanctions in the past year, according to documents obtained by The Bruin. ZBT, which was on probation of recognition through the end of this quarter, was instructed to “Develop a workshop ... on the impact and implications of alcohol and hazing” and Pi Beta Phi members were told to “sign a non-hazing agreement” and “ensure that hazing is not part of the (pledge education) program,” among other conditions.

The last time an incident allegedly involving hazing at UCLA was sent to the courts was in 2001, when student Robert Burgess sued fraternity Sigma Pi after he crashed his car while driving drunk. He said fraternity members forced him to drink large quantities of alcohol and gave him the keys. The status of that case is unknown.

Frank Mateljan, a spokesman in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, which handles misdemeanor cases, said he could find no hazing charges in the office’s records. He said it is likely that someone accused of hazing would be brought up on other charges related to the incident, such as battery.

The District Attorney’s office did not return a phone call requesting information on cases of hazing.

Carrington’s was the second death for Chico State in five years, after Adrian Heideman died of alcohol poisoning while pledging fraternity Pi Kappa Phi in 2000. In that case, three students were convicted of furnishing alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor, and served 30 days in jail.

But officials say it is often difficult to even get the name of a victim or suspect to give to police, which forces universities to deal with hazing allegations internally.

“Most misdemeanor crimes, there isn’t much the D.A. can do if there’s no victim. That doesn’t mean we don’t talk with them, but the reality is their hands get tied very quickly,” said Rick Rees, associate director of Chico’s Student Activities Center. Rees said parents will often call to complain about their child being hazed, but will refuse to give names or will tell the university not to tell anyone else, which makes it impossible to bring charges.

Brown said at UCLA, it is “pretty rare” that students who have been hazed will give names of individuals who hazed them, saying organizations often “close ranks” and stand together as a unit when confronted with situations.

“Are you going to get a brother or sister suspended from their academic career?” Brown asked rhetorically.

Mike Ramsey, the Butte County district attorney who is prosecuting the Chico case, said the county filed hazing charges for the first time in county history because the charge seemed appropriate given the circumstances of the case.

Ramsey said the county was close to filing a hazing charge last year when a student suffering from hypothermia complained of having to sit in a pool of ice water for five hours, but he later became uncooperative in giving police information as to who was involved.

That same student is now one of the charged defendants in the Carrington case.

“We don’t have defendants, we don’t have suspects to question, we don’t have suspects to charge” when students refuse to give information, Ramsey said.

Lack of awareness about hazing is another reason why many hazing cases don’t make it to criminal charges, said Douglas Fierberg, a lawyer based in Washington, D.C.

“I think it’s a larger problem than the public generally understands,” he said.

Fierberg is currently involved in hazing cases across the country, and is representing Carrington’s parents in a separate civil suit. He has also experienced difficulty getting information about specific incidents as a result of pacts made within the memberships of Greek organizations.

“In many cases, the individuals have lied to the police, lied to the public, lied to the families about what was going on,” he said.

“It is extremely difficult to break through that oath of loyalty and secrecy.”

Chris Hatfield, president of UCLA’s Interfraternity Council, said all Greek organizations must deal with hazing in some way because it happens within the system as a whole.

“I think no matter what Greek house you’re in, it’s an issue, whether or not it happens” in that house, Hatfield said.

IFC’s main role is to educate in an attempt to prevent events before they happen, he said. The council, the student governing body for the fraternity system, participates little in the penalty process, which is left up to the university.

“The fact that these things are on CNN ... just shows how much one incident can affect the Greek community,” Hatfield said.

Rees said the entire Chico Greek system has moved to non-alcoholic social events until the end of the semester, and a campus-wide task force has been formed to give Chico’s president a report on Greek life and student safety.

Brown echoed Hatfield’s emphasis on preventative education, and using penalties as a teaching tool.

“The purpose of discipline in an educational setting is what? Education,” Brown said. “We want to make people understand that you are accountable for your actions.”

Ramsey said he hopes people take notice of those being charged with hazing in the Carrington case.

“Hopefully, we’ll send a message that is very clear, that hazing is no juvenile prank. It has criminal consequences,” Ramsey said.