New FAMU ΚΑΨ chapter president must provide the strong leadership that Torey didn’t

Back when Torey Alston was the president of the Alpha Xi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, a number of his fraternity brothers created a national embarrassment for FAMU by making the stupid decision to haze an aspirant.

That led to a seven-year chapter suspension that just ended this summer. On Saturday, Alpha Xi introduced 25 new members.  

The new FAMU ΚΑΨ president must now provide the type of strong leadership that Torey failed to give the chapter during his days as a student.

Former FAMU student Marcus Jones, who attempted to join Alpha Xi while Torey was the chapter president, was paddled with wooden canes and punched during unauthorized rituals.

Jones did not directly accuse Torey of participating in the hazing. But he did mention Torey’s name in an account of the early stage of the pledging process that he told the St. Petersburg Times. Jones' accusations suggest that Torey knew of the chapter’s activities and turned a deaf ear.

The regional ΚΑΨ office sent attorney Linnus Finney to investigate when it learned about Jones’ allegations. Jones later filed hazing charges against five FAMU Kappas: Brian Bowman, Cory Gray, Marcus Hughes, Michael Morton, and Jason Harris.

According to the Associated Press, Torey said he talked with most of the then-alleged hazers about the incident before Finney’s investigation but did request any detailed information.

“Alston said he also spoke to most of the defendants as a prelude to Finney's investigation and the four accused of hitting Jones acknowledged ‘physical contact’ took place, but he did not ask them for details,” an AP article stated.

If Torey had tried to get as many details as possible and then turned them over to the police, it might have helped the criminal investigation go much faster.

The FAMUan also printed a disturbing account of comments it said Torey made about the case in 2006.

According to The FAMUan, “Torey Alston, 22, a graduate business administration student from Fort Lauderdale and the president of the Alpha Xi chapter during the time of hazing allegations, said he feels that this whole case may have possibly been an attack on the chapter. The Leon County Sheriff's Department and the FAMU Police Department never talked to Alpha Xi's leadership about what took place, Alston said.”

The Leon County Sheriff’s Department and FAMU Department of Public Safety did not attack Alpha Xi by helping Jones press charges. The quality of their investigations was proven by the outcome of the case. Bowman, Gray, and Hughes pled no contest to misdemeanor hazing and received probation. Morton and Harris pled no contest to felony hazing and were sentenced to time served (two years).

The new Alpha Xi Chapter president should distance himself from Torey’s poor example. The FAMU Kappas need real leadership to prevent the type of hazing that took place during Torey’s presidency from ever happening again.