In Other News, College Kids Drink

Two Penn students were convicted yesterday of simple assault and harassment for hazing a pledge at their fraternity. Both Kelechi Okenerke and Lionel Anderson-Perez were sentenced to nine months probation.

The pledge testified that he and three others were slapped across their backs. He also said he later had a rubber band snapped so hard against his wrist is scarred.

Okenerke testified in his own defense, and said he was merely trying to take a vested interest in his pledge’s slipping grades:

Okenerke testified that he was not present for the October 2005 hazing. The rubber-band episode occurred earlier, in his room in the fraternity house, when he was chastising his protege for letting his grades slip, he said.

“I had a vested interest in him,” Okenerke testified. [...]

Okenerke, of Voorhees, N.J., is on academic probation but attending classes at the Ivy League school.

Academic probation? Maybe he needed to self-inflict some of those rubber band scars on himself.

Penn Students Convicted For Roles In Fraternity Hazing [NBC 10]

Quickies: Suing For A Pretty Penny

• A Penn student is suing the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity for injuries he said he sustained in a hazing incident. He allegedly was repeatedly punched repeatedly in the thighs. And, of course, the student’s father brings up t”his: “For a black fraternal organization to treat black aspirants the way African-Americans were mistreated and abused during slavery, and to do it in the name of fraternity, is obscene.” I see. [Daily News]

• The head of the Northwood Civic Association, Northeast Philly, began a recent meeting with this line: “We’re part of Frankford, but we don’t have to look at Frankford.” Uhh, dude, you live in the Northeast. Nobody wants to look at you. [Northeast Times]

• Clearly, the Southampton Free Library is piggybacking off the popularity of The Real World’s Svetlana Shusterman. They’re going to be offering books in Russian. [Bucks County Courier Times]

• Forbes released its most expensive zip codes of the last year, and Stone Harbor clocks in at No. 48. Oh, Avalon’s going to feel even more second-rate now. [Forbes]

• In Columbus, Ohio, a half-dime was sold for $1.3 million. That better be some good shit. [AP/CNN.com]