One new member was allegedly coerced into "biting the head off a live hamster." The University of Texas at Austin has suspended the Texas Cowboys spirit group from campus for six years following an investigation into alleged hazing during a retreat last fall, the night before a new member was injured in a car accident and later died from his injuries. The university's Office of the Dean of Students handed down the six-year suspension to the registered student organization on Wednesday, along with two years of probation after reinstatement and other sanctions, according to a discipline report obtained by ABC News. The Texas Cowboys, a decades-old honorary men's service and spirit organization at the University of Texas at Austin, known for firing a cannon at home football games, has the option to accept the sanctions, appeal the decision or request a formal hearing before a "university hearing officer," according to the report. "The organization still has an opportunity to appeal, and the case will be judged on its facts," the university's president, Gregory Fenves, said in a statement Thursday. "Let me make clear -- there is no place for hazing at the University of Texas." The Texas Cowboys Alumni Association said its leaders are "reviewing their options and will make a decision shortly on how to proceed." "We are disappointed by the university’s decision today, and are saddened that it may prevent our organization from continuing this legacy of service," the group said in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout the investigation, our entire organization has been completely transparent, engaged and accessible." (New members were subjected to) multiple forms of hazing including physical brutality, physical activity, forced ingestion of unwanted substances, coerced consumption of alcohol and degradation. School officials conducted an investigation and ultimately found, "by a preponderance of evidence," that new members of the Texas Cowboys were subjected to "multiple forms of hazing, including physical brutality, physical activity, forced ingestion of unwanted substances, coerced consumption of alcohol and degradation" during the new member retreat on the night of Sept. 29, 2018, according to the report. The following morning, several Texas Cowboys members were involved in a car accident while driving back to Austin. A new member, Nicholas Cumberland, was injured in the crash and died from his injuries a month later. "His death was a tragedy felt throughout the university community," Fenves said. "More than anything, it was an unimaginable loss for his parents, family and friends." Cumberland's family contacted the University of Texas at Austin in mid-November to raise concerns they had regarding the student organization and the recent off-campus retreat, prompting the investigation. Cumberland, 21, was in the fall semester of his junior year when he joined the Texas Cowboys. His family provided school officials with group text messages obtained from his phone and a shopping list of items new members were apparently instructed to bring to the retreat location, which is referred to as the "ranch," including a live chicken, live hamster, gallons of milk, bottles of hot sauce, large quantities of food, tobacco and copious amounts of alcohol, according to the report. The Cumberland family told school officials several members of the Texas Cowboys informed them of hazing activities that took place at the retreat the night of Sept. 29 and continued into the early morning hours of Sept. 30, the report states. School officials subsequently conducted interviews with dozens of university students who were listed as new and active members of the organization, including three students named by the Cumberland family, according to the report. During the interviews, members stated they were forced or coerced to chug a gallon of milk and consume cat food, spam, hot sauce, minced garlic and whole onions. Members, including several under the legal drinking age, were also forced or coerced to drink alcohol, including "finishing a bag of wine and shotgunning beers," according to the report. Members were allegedly subjected to various physical activities, including playing football and doing the so-called Oklahoma drill during the game, as well as going into the cannon's trailer and being dropped off a distance away from the off-campus retreat site to find their way back together. They additionally said they participated in relay races, barrel rolls, bear crawls and human wheelbarrow races and worked on throwing football passes to hit people with accuracy, according to the report. Members stated they were subjected to degradation, including having chips and mustard poured on their shirts before competing in the relay race, according to the report. One new member was coerced into "biting the head off a live hamster" at the retreat, which members stated has been a tradition of the Texas Cowboys initiation process for years, according to the report. Meanwhile, per the report, active members who were also in fraternities branched off separately during the retreat and engaged in hazing behavior directed at their own fraternity brothers who were new to the Texas Cowboys, including beating them with a wooden stick or a paddle. The Cumberland family told school officials they were informed their son, who was an active member in the Kappa Sigma fraternity chapter at the University of Texas at Austin, was paddled during the Texas Cowboys retreat and still had "significant, specific bruising on his buttocks nearly a month after the retreat and car accident," according to the report. The Texas Cowboys' behavior at the retreat, and at the other specific occasions discovered in the course of this investigation, does in fact meet the institutional definition of hazing. A representative from Kappa Sigma's national headquarters did not respond to ABC News' requests for comment. In October, the Texas Cowboys Alumni Association launched an internal investigation into the student organization that apparently centered around the retreat and the subsequent car accident. The alumni association told officials at the University of Texas at Austin it had reprimanded or expelled several members as a result of the probe, according to the report. The overall plan was to leave the retreat location in the early morning and head back to campus, according to the report, which said several members confirmed they had a sober driver and that none of the members reported being prevented from sleeping during the retreat. The schools says that the conduct detailed in the report flouts university policies barring hazing, harmful behavior and alcohol misconduct. In addition to the six-year suspension and two-year probationary period, the university's Office of the Dean of Students has permanently prohibited the Texas Cowboys from having separate student organization sub-groups and from using live animals for events or other purposes. All incoming new member classes of the Texas Cowboys will be required to complete an alcohol education program through the university and must read the book "The Cowboy's Secret" about Gave Higgins, a University of Texas at Austin student who died at his Texas Cowboys new member retreat in 1995. Each new member will also be required to write a two-page reflection paper on the book that must be approved by the organization's adviser and sent to the university's Office of the Dean of Students, according to the report. "Based on the totality of circumstances, even if the car accident had not occurred, it is important to note that the Texas Cowboys' behavior at the retreat, and at the other specific occasions discovered in the course of this investigation, does in fact meet the institutional definition of hazing," the report stated. "However, as with many accidents, the car accident that led to Nicholas Cumberland's death could have been avoided had there been adequate risk management practices in place, such as providing transportation to all members and choosing a safer location, closer to campus." The Texas Cowboys Alumni Association said the actions of certain student members who violated university policies "did not align with our organization's standards -- and they do not represent the heart and soul of our organization." "However, hazing did not cause the car accident that took Nicky Cumberland’s life," the group added. "The university’s ruling expressly determined that sleep deprivation did not occur at the retreat."<doc-sep>A live chicken A live hamster Large quantities of hot dogs Tobacco, and Copious amounts of alcohol AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) -- The University of Texas has suspended the Texas Cowboys for six years after evidence surfaced of hazing before a student's death.Nicholas Cumberland died on Oct. 30, 2018 from injuries sustained in a rollover car crash after a weekend retreat.According to disciplinary records, the student organization is accused of hazing new members during the retreat, even coaxing one person to bite the head off a live hamster.Cumberland was paddled so hard, he had "significant, specific bruising on his buttocks nearly a month after the Retreat and car accident," records allege.His family furnished chat records from Cumberland's GroupMe account showing a list of items new members were instructed to bring to the retreat, including:A report by the UT-Austin Office of the Dean of Students reveals new members were deprived of sleep during the Sept. 29, 2018 retreat.Cumberland was injured when the pickup truck he and other members were riding in crashed in Lampasas County.Once reinstated, the Texas Cowboys will face a two-year probationary period, the university said Wednesday.ABC13 reached out to the Texas Cowboys and received the following statement:<doc-sep>An investigation by the Texas dean of students office into the death of a new member in a 2018 car accident concluded on Wednesday with a six-year suspension of the Texas Cowboys. The spirit organization, which is responsible for firing “Smokey the Cannon” at athletic events, including football games, will have an opportunity to appeal the suspension, which includes a two-year probationary period if the school reinstates the organization. “New members of the Cowboys were subjected to multiple forms of hazing, including physical brutality, physical activity, forced ingestion of unwanted substances, coerced consumption of alcohol and degradation,” said the school’s report, which was obtained by the Austin American-Statesman. Those actions represented violations of school policy at a time when the state legislature is moving to enact more strict measures to prevent hazing. The cause of the investigation was a late September rollover accident last fall that resulted in the death of a student, Nicholas Cumberland, who was thrown from the pickup truck carrying Cowboys back to Austin from a retreat at a private ranch. In 1995, the drowning death of Gabe Higgins in the Colorado River following hazing involving alcohol resulted in a five-year suspension of the Cowboys. A statement from the organization following the most recent suspension noted its volunteer efforts and cited findings in the report that concluded sleep deprivation did not occur at the retreat prior to the fatal car accident. “Hazing did not cause the car accident that took Nicky Cumberland’s life,” the statement said. “Our organization is committed to learning, growing, and using this tragedy to educate and prepare the next generation of leaders to do better — and to more effectively serve others. However, we cannot accomplish these goals if the Texas Cowboys are no longer permitted to operate as an official student organization. Our leaders are currently reviewing their options and will make a decision shortly on how to proceed.” Cumberland’s father, Shawn, released his own statement expressing his disappointment with the organization. “The Cowboy’s statement is extremely disappointing,” Cumberland said. “It tells us that nothing has changed since Gabe Higgins death. There is no ownership, but rather lack of sincere remorse. The Cowboys alumni does not accept responsibility for the continued culture of hazing and for the deceptive and dangerous system that was put in place to protect and promote hazing. The alumni care only about the preservation of the organization, but not the safety of the individuals.” Whether another student group takes over firing “Smokey the Cannon” is currently unclear, though one suggestion advocates for a women’s organization to assume those responsibilities:<doc-sep>
University of Texas at Austin has suspended the Texas Cowboys for six years and has imposed several sanctions after finding that hazing occurred at the group’s retreat in September and just hours before a car crash that led to a Houston student’s death. The all-male service student organization, responsible for maintaining and firing off “Smokey the Cannon” after the Longhorns score at home football games, subjected several of its members to hazing at its fall 2018 retreat, according to a report issued Wednesday by the university’s Office of the Dean of Students. The report said the hazing included “physical brutality, physical activity, forced ingestion of unwanted substances, coerced consumption of alcohol, and degradation”— all which violates university policy. Cowboys members also allowed underage students to drink alcohol, violations of both university policy and state law. It wasn’t the Cowboys first violation for hazing. In 1995, the Cowboys were suspended after a pledge drowned at a retreat. They returned to campus in 2000. “The facts of the 1995 and current case are so similar it is clear that the Texas Cowboys are adept at passing on traditions, but not lessons,” the report stated. Neither William Furst, the president of the Texas Cowboys, nor its alumni association immediately responded to requests for comment. Many of the findings corroborated with reports from Shawn and Sylvia Cumberland, the parents of Nicky Cumberland, a former UT student and new Cowboy member who died in October after injuries sustained from the accident the morning after the retreat. After the parents met in November with the university, alleging that their son was hazed and the student driving the car was sleep deprived, the school launched the investigation. Shawn Cumberland later sent a letter calling for reform of university hazing policies and the Cowboys operations. Similar recommendations are listed in the universities sanctions and disciplinary actions that the Cowboys must follow before they can be reinstated as early as Spring 2025.. During their six-year suspension, the university bans any other version of the group and an adviser must be present and approve all off-campus events. They also permanently prohibit the use of the cannon’s trailer to transport members, the use of live animals and the confiscation of cell phones or other devices used for communication at organization events. Chartered buses must also be used for all members attending off-campus events, according to the report. Prior to reinstatement, which will be followed by two years of probation, the university also requires the organization to do the following: Put in place a risk management position on their executive committee and submit a risk management plan to the Dean of Students. Create a presentation detailing the hazing events that occurred in 2018 and 1995, to be delivered to new members. Require new members to read and write a two-page reflection paper about “The Cowboy’s Secret,” a book about 19-year-old Texas Cowboy pledge Gabe Higgins, who drowned at an initiation retreat in 1995. Higgins’ blood alcohol level was found to be 0.21 percent, more than twice the legal limit. Papers must be approved by an adviser and submitted to the dean. Require new members to complete a university-organized alcohol education program. At least one student from the new class must report key points covered during the program. UT-Austin Pres. Gregory L. Fenves said in a statement that “there is no place for hazing at UT” and offered his condolences to Nicky’s family. “The mission of this university — to educate, learn, discover and serve — can only be accomplished in an environment where we respect each other. Where we look after our neighbors, peers and friends,” Fenves said. Shawn Cumberland, who called for reforms to the Cowboys and the university’s hazing policies, said the suspension is fair. “There’s got to be some real changes,” he said, so students do not repeat the same behavior. “The memory comes back when the alumni creep it back in,” he said. “But we can’t repeat the past.” The university interviewed nearly 100 students in the investigation, most of whom were active Cowboys members last fall. Several students told the university that they experienced or witnessed hazing at the fall retreat and during previous semesters, which included strenuous physical activity, relay and drinking races, paddling, and animal cruelty. At the retreat, the report stated, students alleged that new members were paddled and were “forced or coerced to ingest unwanted substances,” which ranged from chugging a gallon of milk to eating cat food, hot sauce or whole onions.