Pair of Penn State fraternity members charged with assault and hazing
Two Penn State students were charged Friday with assault and hazing after a fellow student alleged new members of their fraternity were hit with wooden paddles and punched in the chest.
Jacob D. Francis, a 23-year-old identified by Ferguson Township police as the dean of Phi Beta Sigma, was accused of assaulting at least one member for months. Investigators were told the alleged assaults resulted in “potential minor bruising.”
Jayson Archer, a 20-year-old identified as the organization’s president, oversaw the alleged hazing, police wrote in a criminal complaint. Defense lawyer Philip M. Masorti declined immediate comment Friday.
No defense lawyer was listed for Francis and an email was not returned.
Phi Beta Sigma has been on an interim suspension since mid-March, university spokesman Wyatt DuBois wrote in an email to the CDT.
“The individual students are restricted from campus except to complete their finals for the semester and then are restricted from campus and participating in all university programs activities beginning May 10,” he wrote.
The investigation began in March after Penn State received an anonymous report that the off-campus fraternity at 130 Farmstead Lane subjected recruits to physical and mental abuse since October. One new member fainted as a result of the alleged hazing.
The report said recruits had to “endure the pain to be a part of the brotherhood” and “bleed, both literally and figuratively, to be accepted.” The person who submitted the report said new members were left humiliated, fearful and broken.
“This has been going on for months, and it has emotionally and physically scarred us. We’ve been made to feel that if we don’t endure this, we’re not worthy of being part of the fraternity,” the report said. “This is not brotherhood it’s abuse. We can’t stay silent any longer. this has to stop please help us!”
One prospective member told investigators new members were either paddled on the buttocks or punched in the chest 10 times if they were unable to provide facts about the organization. They said they sometimes wore extra pants to avoid bruising.
Investigators were also told new members were required to share their location, in part, because they were only allowed to speak with other members. They said the process was “socially isolating,” police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
An additional allegation included new members being forced to participate in workouts run by Francis.
Two other prospective members who were interviewed did not report hazing. They further denied many of the claims, including physical harm or forced physical activity.
But police said multiple paddles seized during a March search and cellphone messages undermined what they told investigators and instead corroborated what was reported to Penn State. There were discussions of physical activity, paddling and location tracking, police wrote.
“If you get seriously hurt during this because the punishments are only going to get harder and the information we have to learn is only going to get harder, then you could put yourself and the fraternity at risk,” one member said in an October message.
Francis and Archer were charged by summons with misdemeanor counts of simple assault and hazing, as well as a summary count of hazing. Each has a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 4.
They’re believed to be the first charged in Centre County under the Timothy J. Piazza Antihazing Law, which went into effect in November 2018. The law was prompted by the February 2017 death of Piazza, a 19-year-old Penn State sophomore engineering student who died of severe head and abdominal injuries after a series of falls inside the now-shuttered Beta Theta Pi house.
Ferguson Township acting police Chief Shawn J. Morrison told the Centre Daily Times this was the first hazing report the department received since the state law went into effect, as well as the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act.
This story was originally published May 2, 2025 at 4:30 PM.