Northwestern Sorority Hazing Led To IN Teen's Suicide: Lawsuit

CHICAGO — The mother of the late Northwestern University sophomore and basketball player Jordan Hankins, of Indianapolis, who took her own life in 2017 filed suit Tuesday against her sorority. Nearly two years to the day after her daughter was found dead in her dorm room, Felicia Hankins filed a complaint in federal court in Chicago against Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, its Northwestern and Evanston chapters, its former regional director and eight of its members.

Hankins, 19, was found unresponsive in her dorm room in the school's Foster Walker complex on the afternoon of Jan. 9, 2017. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office ruled her death a suicide from hanging. She was a standout basketball player and member of the National Honor Society at Lawrence North High School and had been studying biological science at Northwestern.

"Jordan was a remarkably dynamic young woman. This is a devastating loss for our basketball family," said Joe McKeown, Northwestern women's basketball head coach. "She brought an unwavering intensity and commitment to everything in her life. We will miss her enormously."

All eight Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members named in the 11-count complaint were "advised that the hazing was triggering Hankins' PTSD, severe depression and anxiety, she was mentally unstable, and she explicitly expressed she was suicidal and had a plan to commit suicide," according to the suit. It said the sorority and the named members should have foreseen that Hankins would take her own life.

The executive and deputy directors of the Chicago-based sorority did not respond to a request for comment on the suit Wednesday.

Northwestern Director of Media Relations Jon Yates declined to answer questions regarding when or why Alpha Kappa Alpha was suspended from the university, saying only it "has been and continues to be suspended."

But according to the Daily Northwestern, the sorority was suspended in May 2016 – months before the hazing alleged in the lawsuit. The university's director of fraternities and sororities told the Daily AKA has not been permitted to organize events or recruit new members during the suspension and is due to be reinstated in fall 2019.

According to the lawsuit, Hankins took part in an initiation event in October 2016 to become a member of the sorority along with 10 other women, some of whom had been subjected to past hazing from Alpha Kappa Alpha. After a Nov. 20, 2016 campus introduction show on Northwestern's campus, Hankins was told she must agree to a post-initiation pledging process.

"While post-initiation pledging, Jordan Hankins was subjected to physical abuse including paddling, verbal abuse, mental abuse, financial exploitation, sleep deprivation, items being thrown and dumped on her, and other forms of hazing intended to humiliate and demean her," according to the suit. Hankins told members of the sorority the hazing had triggered suicidal thoughts, it said.

"Eventually the hazing got the best of Jordan Hankins and on January 9, 2017, Jordan Hankins was found hanging in her dorm room," according to her mother's complaint.

The sorority knew or should have known "initiation rituals and hazing causing physical injury, mental anguish, humiliation and embarrassment...can cause severe depression and/or be fatal," it said.

Jordan Hankins (Photo credit: Northwestern Athletics)

According to the complaint, AKA has faced lawsuits and suspensions at numerous universities due to its "hazing culture," despite putting tougher anti-hazing policies in place 20 years ago.

AKA was named in a California suit that claimed two women drowned after being led blindfolded into the ocean wearing sweatpants and tennis shoes in 2002. That led to a one-year moratorium for the sorority recruiting new undergraduate members, according to Hankins' lawsuit.

In 2013, two women filed a lawsuit against the sorority in Washington, D.C. with further accusations of hazing by its members, the complaint said.

In February 2018, a dozen students at the University of Pittsburgh reported hazing at the sorority, accusing its member of punching, kicking, paddling, slapping and forcing pledges to eat rotten food, which led to a 10-year suspension at the university.

In April 2018, a Georgia chapter of the sorority in Georgia was accusedof running a prostitution ring involving its faculty adviser,"pimping out" its pledges to raise money.

Hankins' wrongful death suit includes counts of negligence, negligent supervision, negligent entrustment, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A lawyer for Hankins has also not responded to a request for comment.

Former university spokesman Alan Cubbage said there was no sign of "any danger or threat to other members of the Northwestern community" in a statement released immediately after Hankins' death.

"At times like this, it is common for people to try and find a reason or a cause. Many times, we look to ourselves and question whether we could have done something more to prevent this from happening," said Patricia Telles-Irvin, Northwestern's vice president for student affairs in a statement after Hankins' death was ruled a suicide. "While it is human nature to look for answers, the most important things we can do are to remember Jordan's life, the tremendous impact she had on her family and friends, and take care of each other as a community."

Earlier: Northwestern Basketball Player's Death Ruled a Suicide

For confidential assistance, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, text "Talk" to 741741 or click here.

Top photo: Jordan Hankins (Courtesy Northwestern Athletics)