This story was originally produced by the Valley News. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Hanover police have issued arrest warrants for three individuals accused in an alleged hazing incident earlier this fall at Dartmouth College.
Dartmouth has suspended the fraternity — Omega Psi Phi — where the hazing is alleged to have occurred. The suspension remains in effect pending the outcome of an investigation by Hanover police.
Q. Jones, a Dartmouth senior and first-team All-Ivy League running back on the school’s football team, was issued a summons by Hanover police on Nov. 19 to appear in Lebanon District Court at a future date. He is charged with a single misdemeanor count of student hazing, according to state court records released by Hanover police.
(Jones’ legal first name is Alexisius, according to the arrest warrant).
Arrest warrants remain outstanding for Milan Williams, a 2009 Dartmouth graduate and former running back on the football team, and Gregory Dominique, who has no known affiliation with the college. Both also have been charged with student hazing, a misdemeanor.
The arrest warrants do not include details about the allegations, but police were required to demonstrate probable cause to a judge in order to have them approved.
“Our investigation involved one victim coming forward about being hazed,” Hanover Police Lt. Michael Schibuola said in an email on Monday to the Valley News. More information will be made public once the investigation concludes, he added.
Omega Psi Phi is at least the third Greek organization to be suspended at Dartmouth this year, following the suspensions of a fraternity and sorority after the July drowning death of a 20-year-old sophomore in the Connecticut River after a party where alcohol was served.
Omega Psi Phi does not have a house on campus, but members are “offered housing in senior apartments,” Dartmouth spokesperson Jana Barnello said Monday.
The fraternity was reestablished at Dartmouth just in 2023 after being inactive for 31 years
“Upon learning of these serious allegations, Dartmouth immediately alerted the Hanover Police Department,” she added.
Under the Dartmouth suspension policy, a Greek organization is prohibited from hosting events, recruiting new members or collecting dues.
“Any student or organization found to have violated Dartmouth policies is held accountable. Due to federal law, we cannot comment on individual disciplinary cases or outcomes,” she said.
Omega Psi Phi, founded in 1911 at Howard University located in Washington, D.C., with the help of a faculty who himself was a Dartmouth Graduate, has an anti-hazing policy and even a “hazing hotline” for people to call to report infractions or abuses.
The fraternity “has a zero-tolerance policy that strictly prohibits and expressly denounces the practice of hazing in any form before, during and after the membership intake process,” Omega Psi Phi states on its website, including “paddling in any form.”
Omega Psi Phi did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Tuesday.
Jones, of Fountain, Colo., a senior who played in the season’s final game against Brown four days after his arrest, did not respond to a message sent via social media for comment on Monday.
A profile of Jones on the athletic department website reported that he had enough credits to graduate early.
Reached by phone on Monday, Williams said he learned about the arrest warrant “not that long ago” and declined to comment on the charge.
“I don’t want to say anything. I’d rather not,” said Williams, who works as a graphics producer at Fox Sports and middle school social studies teacher in Los Angeles.
Hanover police released the arrest warrants, which are dated Nov. 4, last week in response to a Valley News public records request.
They came the same month that two Dartmouth students and a sorority were criminally charged with furnishing alcohol to the student who drowned in the river in July.
On Nov. 21, Dartmouth announced that it has begun undertaking new initiatives focused on mental health and encouraging responsible behavior on campus.
Among those initiatives are hiring a director of Greek Life and Student Societies and reviewing the Alcohol Management Program “to ensure it is effective and reflects the reality of today’s student experiences,” the college said in unveiling the plan.
The Valley News has reached out to the national office of Omega Psi Phi for comment.
