Earlier this week, The Dartmouth leaked the preliminary draft of a column—published here by Dartblog’s Joseph Asch, whom Gawker linked to—in which former Dartmouth student and Sigma Alpha Epsilon brother Andrew Lohse ’12 alleges to have been brutally hazed during his pledgeship at SAE. According to Asch, Lohse’s column is now circulating among Dartmouth’s Greek community and the school’s administration, both of which are sharpening their letters in response. Here are the money quotes:

Among my many experiences as a fraternity pledge, I was: forced to swim in a kiddie pool full of vomit, urine, fecal matter, semen, and rotten food products;forced to eat an omelet made of vomit; forced to chug cups of vinegar until I was afraid that I would vomit blood like one of my fellow pledges did; forced to inhale nitrous oxide; degraded psychologically on a daily basis; forced to drink beers poured down a fellow pledge’s ass crack; vomited on regularly, and encouraged to vomit on others.

As a pledge, I ceased to be a human being; instead, I became a “whale shit”. In the process, I, my fellow pledges, and all pledges since, have been trained to treat Dartmouth women with about the same respect with which we treated ourselves: none.

Lohse also alleges that Dartmouth’s president has ignored Lohse’s complaints about Dartmouth’s “pervasive hazing, substance abuse, and sexual assault culture” despite his office’s informal acknowledgement of “the endemic physical and psychological abuse culture that occupies the heart of Dartmouth’s Greek-life community”:

The administration is fully aware of what goes in in our basements; I know this because I have had frank conversations with several high-level administrators. This column should not be a surprise to Dr. Kim, since it was with one of his Vice Presidents and one of his Deans with whom I initially met and shared the troubling, graphic story of my experience as a Dartmouth man, replete with pictures, text, video, and dates, times, and places of future acts of hazing. This Vice President vowed that the information I provided him would cross Dr. Kim’s desk, and assured me that something would be done about it. Either it did not, or the administration realized that to act would require a courage they lacked – courage that is required of all college administrations under New Hampshire state law.

It’s going to be a unmitigated clusterfuck in the Upper Valley until next week at least. Oh, but: “It goes without saying,” says Joe Asch, “that one of The D/administration’s tactics will be a direct ad hominem attack on Lohse.” What could Asch be suggesting?!

Well, Lohse is, of course, one of the SAE 3, who were arrested for, variously, possession of cocaine, intoxication, and witness tampering in May 2010.

By the way: it’s puzzling how Asch, of all people, hints that others are preparing attacks on Lohse’s character. According to Asch’s old Dartblog colleague, Phil Aubart—the Army veteran who called Dartmouth Safety and Security, who called Hanover PD, who arrested the SAE 3—Lohse actually spit on Aubart’s person and emptied a beer can over Aubuart’s door, in retaliation for Aubart interrupting a midnight coke-vacuuming session at the SAE house. From the affidavit of fellow brother Charles “Clark” Warthen ’10:

Here’s how Lohse’s brilliant strategy turned out for him: in July 2010, Lohse pleaded no contest to the charge of witness tampering and cocaine possession. Just as planned, no? And we must say that Charles “Clark” Warthen’s theatrical debut as SAE’s Regina George ought to win some kind of award:

Furthermore, “Clark recruits potential Dartmouth students in his shirt-and-khakis tour guide outfit punched up with french cuffs, boots, bowtie and a belt embroidered with Confederate flags.” Guys: you can be a petulant teenager or a walking stereotype, but not both. That’s, like, the first rule of brotherhood.

Anyway, this is exactly the sort of tempest that IvyGate is meant for, so keep an eye out for more posts in the next few days. Judging from the tips we’re receiving, this could generate enough drama to last us through Spring Break. In the meantime: do you know anything about Lohse’s hazing claims? Pictures, movies, emails? Tell us! Anonymity guaranteed.