FAU fraternity chapter accused of 'extreme hazing' in student's lawsuit

Angie DiMichele, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jul 29, 2026

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A Florida Atlantic University student has filed a lawsuit against the Delta Tau Delta Iota Nu chapter, alleging he was forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and injured his hand at an off-campus house in November.

The lawsuit complaint, filed earlier this month, seeks more than $50,000 in damages and asserts student Tyler Decowski was left with permanent injuries as a result of the fraternity’s “extreme hazing process” that he was subjected to while a prospective member in the fall semester of 2025.

Defendants are Delta Tau Delta Fraternity Inc., Delta Tau Delta Operations LLC and three individual members of the fraternity — the chapter president, Decowski’s assigned “big brother” and a John Doe referred to only as “Prometheus,” who was the chapter’s pledge master.

Delta Tau Delta’s Central Office and FAU’s current chapter president did not respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday afternoon. Spokespersons for Florida Atlantic University did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Decowski was offered a bid to join the chapter in September 2025, and over the following months, he and about 20 other pledges were “made to participate in humiliating pranks and dangerous activities, meant to produce mental and physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment and ridicule,” the complaint alleged.

“These activities included being blindfolded and forced to squat for extended periods, 4:00 AM workouts at Spanish River Park, being placed in hot garages, cleaning fraternity members’ houses, acting as sober drivers, and surrendering meal swipes to fraternity members,” Decowski’s attorney Todd Fronrath wrote in the complaint.

On Nov. 5, 2025, Decowski received a text from a member of leadership that he and other pledges were to go to an off-campus house in Boca Raton to find out their “big brothers,” the complaint said. Decowski and other pledges were blindfolded and taken to the home in Boca Raton that evening.

Each hopeful member was given a Four Loko and forced to chug, the complaint said, before a smaller group of pledges, including Decowski, were again blindfolded and taken to another off-campus house in Delray Beach.

At the Delray Beach house while still blindfolded, pledges were made to finish three-fifths bottles of high-proof 99 Bananas schnapps in under 10 minutes, according to the complaint, causing some to vomit.

Decowski was allegedly “told in no uncertain terms that if he did not drink the entire bottle, he would be dropped by the fraternity and denied a bid,” his attorney wrote.

After finishing half of that bottle, he was told to chug one or two beers given by leadership members. Decowski, who younger than 21, has no memory of the rest of the night, the lawsuit said.

While “extremely inebriated,” Decowski “threw his hands around” and his right hand went through either a window or glass table, injuring him, according to the complaint. Fraternity members put him in a car, and the chapter president drove him to a hospital and left him there.

There are no photos or videos from that night; pledges were made to turn in their phones before the event, the complaint said.

“Tyler Decowski mistakenly believed that joining Delta Tau Delta would give him lifetime relationships that would benefit him personally and professionally,” Fronrath wrote in the complaint. “He was a team player who believed that the camaraderie would lead to becoming a brother. Ultimately, the only ‘lifetime’ rewards he received from pledging Delta Tau Delta were permanent injuries.”

The defendants in the lawsuit have not yet filed their responses to the allegations.

FAU’s fraternity and sorority life website shows Iota Nu is suspended through December 2026.

The university’s “Campus Hazing Transparency Report” shows that there was an incident in Fall 2025 with the chapter summarized as: “Behaviors meeting the definition of Hazing, and alcohol events not aligning with university expectations and guidelines, Policies and/or Regulations.” The fraternity chapter and the incident are listed under the report’s “mutual agreement” section, which is for “recognized student groups that resolve hazing allegations through an alternative resolution process.”

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