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CNN Live At Daybreak
Prominent African-American Sorority Being Sued
Aired September 26, 2002 - 05:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A prominent African-American sorority is being sued by the family of a pledge who died earlier this month. The family is charging the sorority with hazing.
CNN's Anne McDermott reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNE MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The water was cold and the waves were high when two young women died in this dark sea near Los Angeles. One of them, Kristin High, was a college senior who wanted to become a lawyer. She also wanted to become a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the famed black sorority, and her family thinks that's what killed her, a hazing incident gone very, very wrong.
Her mother feels she's not getting any answers from the sorority or anyone else.
PATRICIA STRONG-FARGAS, KRISTIN HIGH'S MOTHER: I am outraged that your organization appears to be engaged in a cover-up.
MCDERMOTT: So they filed suit against Alpha Kappa Alpha, which features its anti-hazing policy prominently on its Web site. A spokesmen said they are cooperating with the police. And the police say the case remains open, but they've seen no evidence of hazing. They call it an accident.
But try telling that to Kristin High's father, the 2-year-old son she's left behind or the man she was to marry.
HOLMAN ARTHURS, KRISTIN HIGH'S FIANCE: She was to be my wife and these women of Alpha Kappa Alpha, they took that away from me.
MCDERMOTT: When this newspaper columnist first heard of the drownings, she immediately thought of hazing, having been hazed herself by another sorority back when she was in school. Why would an intelligent young woman go through this?
SANDY BANKS, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": I think that when you want something badly enough, you'll sometimes suspend your own good judgment to get it.
MCDERMOTT: Besides, Alpha Kappa Alpha claims the likes of Toni Morrison and Rosa Parks and Maya Angelou. Perhaps Kristin Highs simply wanted to be part of that. But now all the family wants is, well, it's simple, says their lawyer.
ANGELA REDDOCK, FAMILY ATTORNEY: To find out exactly what happened the night of September 9.
MCDERMOTT: That and to stop it from ever happening again.
ARTHURS: You can have your fraternity, you can have your sorority, you can have your secret handshake but you just can't kill people.
MCDERMOTT: Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 26, 2002 - 05:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A prominent African-American sorority is being sued by the family of a pledge who died earlier this month. The family is charging the sorority with hazing.
CNN's Anne McDermott reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNE MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The water was cold and the waves were high when two young women died in this dark sea near Los Angeles. One of them, Kristin High, was a college senior who wanted to become a lawyer. She also wanted to become a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the famed black sorority, and her family thinks that's what killed her, a hazing incident gone very, very wrong.
Her mother feels she's not getting any answers from the sorority or anyone else.
PATRICIA STRONG-FARGAS, KRISTIN HIGH'S MOTHER: I am outraged that your organization appears to be engaged in a cover-up.
MCDERMOTT: So they filed suit against Alpha Kappa Alpha, which features its anti-hazing policy prominently on its Web site. A spokesmen said they are cooperating with the police. And the police say the case remains open, but they've seen no evidence of hazing. They call it an accident.
But try telling that to Kristin High's father, the 2-year-old son she's left behind or the man she was to marry.
HOLMAN ARTHURS, KRISTIN HIGH'S FIANCE: She was to be my wife and these women of Alpha Kappa Alpha, they took that away from me.
MCDERMOTT: When this newspaper columnist first heard of the drownings, she immediately thought of hazing, having been hazed herself by another sorority back when she was in school. Why would an intelligent young woman go through this?
SANDY BANKS, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": I think that when you want something badly enough, you'll sometimes suspend your own good judgment to get it.
MCDERMOTT: Besides, Alpha Kappa Alpha claims the likes of Toni Morrison and Rosa Parks and Maya Angelou. Perhaps Kristin Highs simply wanted to be part of that. But now all the family wants is, well, it's simple, says their lawyer.
ANGELA REDDOCK, FAMILY ATTORNEY: To find out exactly what happened the night of September 9.
MCDERMOTT: That and to stop it from ever happening again.
ARTHURS: You can have your fraternity, you can have your sorority, you can have your secret handshake but you just can't kill people.
MCDERMOTT: Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
