PULLMAN, Wash. – A student at Washington State University has come forward with details on the hazing allegations against the fraternity Gamma Iota Omicron.
Isaias Hernandez pledged Gamma Iota Omicron because he appreciated their initial message and priorities, which emphasized academic excellence, community service, and involvement at WSU.
“I really liked what their initial message stood for,” Hernandez said.
However, Hernandez stated that behind closed doors the fraternity did not live up to these ideals.
“It felt very much like it was just a face,” Hernandez added.
Isaias Hernandez also said that he faced discrimination due to his autism spectrum disorder.
At the start of the initiation process, Hernandez informed the fraternity about his condition and mentioned that he had accommodations approved through WSU, including a memory aid accommodation.
Despite this, Hernandez claimed that these aids were not honored.
“I’m not going to name names, but there were individuals who were pulling me to the side and then kind of name calling,” Hernandez said. “There was an individual who used the R-word.”
Hernandez also described an incident where he was blindfolded and left in the woods outside of Pullman.
He said he and other initiates had to walk a quarter of a mile in winter conditions, blindfolded, to a location that Hernandez still does not know.
“My brothers at the time were under-prepared for that type of weather,” Hernandez said.
Following this experience, Hernandez stated that he and other initiates faced regular verbal abuse after nearly every task for the fraternity. He said this abuse led him to adjust his behavior to avoid being yelled at.
Gamma Iota Omicron has released a statement via Instagram addressing the allegations.
The statement reads in part, “We are resolute in our commitment to rebuilding the community’s trust through transparency, accountability, and sustained improvement. Gamma Iota Omicron remains committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and principled community for all.”
Hernandez also said that he hopes the fraternities lack of recognition until Jan 1, 2026 will give the fraternity time to review their actions.
“I’m just hoping that the members take this as an opportunity to learn to do better and be more accommodating and to actually practice what they preach,” he said.
Based on new details, Non Stop Local reached out for an additional comment.
Executive President of Gamma Iota Omicron Inc. Alumni Association said:
“During all of our processes, we offer students reasonable accommodations including the reasonable use of memory aids, alternate formats of learning the New Member Education Process, and providing individual New Member Education classes if requested. While Fraternities are private clubs and exempt from many aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Gamma Iota Omicron has always worked to accommodate the needs of our potential new members and active members of the organization. We never discourage anyone from seeking university accommodations but the university only provides those for academic settings and not Greek Life. We have worked with students that underwent our New Member Education Process to ensure we could accommodate them.
We also refute that any member was using slurs against anyone in our new member education process as we have zero tolerance for the use of slurs and they go against the mission and values of the organization. This was not something that came to light during the university community standards investigation and if a student feels slurs and discriminatory actions were used against them, we encourage them to file a report with the Center for Community Standards and we will continue collaborating with the Center for Community Standards and the university in good faith as we have been during this entire process.”
Non Stop Local also reached out to WSU for comment, they pointed to the Transparency report.
