Violence erupted Monday night when a fraternity member was hit over the head with a beer bottle while celebrating LSU fraternity bids.
Construction management student and Alpha Gamma Rho brother Brandon Roy was assaulted on the unofficial boys’ bid night — a much-anticipated LSU Greek tradition commonly accompanied by fights and drunken stupor.
Though fraternity members received their official bids Sunday, many celebrate at bars Monday.
Tuesday, the LSU Greek community circulated photos of Roy ­­— arms limp at his sides, turning the crisp white sheets of an emergency room crimson as his blood flooded the tiled floor.
“It’s boys being boys,” Roy said.
The resulting gash sent him to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where he received stitches before returning to New Orleans to recuperate with family.
In a Facebook message obtained by The Daily Reveille, Theta Xi brother Brian Norman, Jr. wrote, “…these pictures showed up in a GroupMe that I’m in with guys from a bunch of different chapters as well as guys that are on [Interfraternity Council] exec,” Norman wrote. “They know it was a Theta Xi.”
Tuesday night Norman said he was not present during the altercation and did not know who injured Roy.
Alpha Gamma Rho, Theta Xi and Interfraternity Council president Brian Rees do not know anything about the incident, said Interfraternity Council Vice President of Public Relations Jayce Genco, formerly a news reporter for The Daily Reveille.
Mass communication sophomore Drew White, a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, said violence between fraternities happens on boys’ bid night.
“It just sucks because you’re out with your buddies looking for a good time and then fraternity rivalries get in the way and you see your pledge brothers just get beat senseless to the point where they’re unconscious,” White said.
White said his pledge brother was beat unconscious by bouncers and members of another fraternity on bid night after being asked to leave.
“I mean, I had buddies there was just blood everywhere it seemed like,” White said. “There were brawls breaking out like all over the place.”
Roy hopes to return to campus Wednesday but is determined to not let the social media rumble surrounding his injury shake him.
“I’m not really letting it bother me,” Roy said.