A whistle-blowing student who publicly tarred his Ivy League university for neglecting a “crisis” of rampant fraternity hazing has criminal convictions for disorderly conduct and drug possession, The Daily has learned.
Andrew Lohse, 21, a senior English major at Dartmouth College, landed himself on the national stage after penning an opinion column Jan. 25 in the school newspaper about the prestigious school turning a blind eye to a “culture of physical and psychological abuse.”
But criminal affidavits acquired by The Daily reveal that Lohse pleaded guilty to a cocaine rap and later was fined for throwing a chair at a police officer during a drunken episode on campus.
In the first complaint, on May 13, 2010, Lohse was witnessed huddling over a photo composite of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity alumni to snort cocaine alongside his girlfriend and a fraternity brother.
Lohse pleaded guilty in New Hampshire Circuit Court to charges of unlawful possession and witness tampering. He was fined $2,000 and sentenced to 10 days in jail.
Lohse was in court again Monday to confess to charges relating to an incident that occurred on Oct. 21, during the school’s annual homecoming festivities, during which students run laps around a massive bonfire on the main quad.
According to the arrest complaint, Lohse allowed three friends to go beyond the roped-off area despite warnings from police and threw a chair at a cop. He was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.238.
Lohse pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was ordered to pay a $310 fine, which was suspended for a year if he manages to stay out of trouble.
Lohse’s scathing column in the school’s newspaper admonishing the school for its lapses in protecting students from hazing prompted an uproar on the Hanover, N.H., campus. He detailed his own maltreatment and said he forced Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledges to suffer the same.
The rituals included swimming in a kiddie pool filled with fecal matter and rotten foods, and gulping down so-called “vomit omelets” and bottles of vinegar.
He called out the school’s president, writing “President Jim Yong Kim’s sterling credentials in public health are fundamentally at odds with the pervasive hazing, substance abuse and sexual assault culture that dominates campus social life.”
Asked for a comment about Lohse’s guilty plea for disorderly conduct yesterday, Dartmouth spokesman Justin Anderson said, “This is the first I’m hearing about it.” He said the school would review the matter.
On the accusations of negligence on hazing, Anderson said Lohse has his facts wrong.
“If the allegation is that we didn’t act, that is clearly not the case,” Anderson said.
He said the university and police came to Lohse, but he wanted to remain anonymous and wasn’t entirely cooperative.
Anderson said they couldn’t keep open an investigation without a corroborating witness.
On the tips that Lohse said he supplied, Anderson said none checked out.
In a phone conversation with The Daily, Lohse said he felt no reason to mention in his op-ed columns anything about his legal troubles for intimidating his former fraternity brother — who was playing whistle-blower when Lohse and pals were doing drugs — or explain Monday’s guilty plea for throwing a chair at cop while drunk.
– With Josh Bernstein
MLNestel@thedaily.com
Andrew Lohse, 21, a senior English major at Dartmouth College, landed himself on the national stage after penning an opinion column Jan. 25 in the school newspaper about the prestigious school turning a blind eye to a “culture of physical and psychological abuse.”
But criminal affidavits acquired by The Daily reveal that Lohse pleaded guilty to a cocaine rap and later was fined for throwing a chair at a police officer during a drunken episode on campus.
In the first complaint, on May 13, 2010, Lohse was witnessed huddling over a photo composite of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity alumni to snort cocaine alongside his girlfriend and a fraternity brother.
Lohse pleaded guilty in New Hampshire Circuit Court to charges of unlawful possession and witness tampering. He was fined $2,000 and sentenced to 10 days in jail.
Lohse was in court again Monday to confess to charges relating to an incident that occurred on Oct. 21, during the school’s annual homecoming festivities, during which students run laps around a massive bonfire on the main quad.
According to the arrest complaint, Lohse allowed three friends to go beyond the roped-off area despite warnings from police and threw a chair at a cop. He was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.238.
Lohse pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was ordered to pay a $310 fine, which was suspended for a year if he manages to stay out of trouble.
Lohse’s scathing column in the school’s newspaper admonishing the school for its lapses in protecting students from hazing prompted an uproar on the Hanover, N.H., campus. He detailed his own maltreatment and said he forced Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledges to suffer the same.
The rituals included swimming in a kiddie pool filled with fecal matter and rotten foods, and gulping down so-called “vomit omelets” and bottles of vinegar.
He called out the school’s president, writing “President Jim Yong Kim’s sterling credentials in public health are fundamentally at odds with the pervasive hazing, substance abuse and sexual assault culture that dominates campus social life.”
Asked for a comment about Lohse’s guilty plea for disorderly conduct yesterday, Dartmouth spokesman Justin Anderson said, “This is the first I’m hearing about it.” He said the school would review the matter.
On the accusations of negligence on hazing, Anderson said Lohse has his facts wrong.
“If the allegation is that we didn’t act, that is clearly not the case,” Anderson said.
He said the university and police came to Lohse, but he wanted to remain anonymous and wasn’t entirely cooperative.
Anderson said they couldn’t keep open an investigation without a corroborating witness.
On the tips that Lohse said he supplied, Anderson said none checked out.
In a phone conversation with The Daily, Lohse said he felt no reason to mention in his op-ed columns anything about his legal troubles for intimidating his former fraternity brother — who was playing whistle-blower when Lohse and pals were doing drugs — or explain Monday’s guilty plea for throwing a chair at cop while drunk.
“I don’t have to make any disclaimers,” he said. “It’s totally irrelevant.”
– With Josh Bernstein
MLNestel@thedaily.com
