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https://twitter.com/AAdelsonABC36Eastern Kentucky University administrators say the Rugby team paddled a freshman so hard, they found blood in his room.
The team does not dispute the accusations, but they say what happened is not hazing.
"You can choose to sign your name on it with, or without saying you'd like to, saying you'd like to take a smack from it," said Tyler Farrell, a 5-year member of the EKU rugby team.
Farrell calls the paddling a voluntary post-game activity with a nicknamed 2x4.
"Betsy's her name. It's a piece of wood. The report that we got said there is something sharp on the end, which there's not. It's just a piece of wood. My name's on there, and I never took a smack from it. I said I'm not doing that," said Farrell.
The University defines hazing as any intentional, or reckless act on, or off campus that produces physical, emotional, or mental pain. The University's hazing policy clearly states consent is never a defense for hazing.
"If people want to do that, I don't feel it's anybody's right to say that they can't, and then twist it around and call that hazing, because somebody said alright I want to sign that, and I want you to give me a smack with it, and the other guy saying ok," said Farrell.
Farrell says the team has 24 members. He says they all deny ever being hazed, and they all deny seeing anyone else being hazed. He says the two year suspension will kill the team, and the team will appeal the punishment.
