TCU butt branding isn’t being taken sitting down

by Joanna Cattanach of Chick Talk Dallas

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Amon "Chance" Carter is paying for his part in the stupid stunt in a very painful and public way.

If you're going to brand someone at TCU, you might as well use the real thing.

Why Amon Carter IV (you may recognize the family name) consented to being branded on the buttock a few weeks ago is beyond me. The TCU frat boy, a sophomore who goes by “Chance,” was in Breckenridge, Colo., where Delta Delta Delta and Kappa Sigma brothers and sisters rented a home. And Carter let his frat brothers take a hot coat hanger to his flesh.

“I just feel like I was really taken advantage of; I trusted my fraternity brothers,” Carter told the TCU Daily Skiff. “They branded me multiple times with a coat hanger that they had to repeatedly go back and put in the fire to heat up.”

Pictures clearly show -- parts of his backside were blurred out on WFAA -- the fun drunken brother bonding branding moment went too far. Chance has second and third degree burns on his backside. And he will require multiple laser treatments to repair the damage.

Chance told the Daily Skiff he doesn’t feel he should be punished and he’s not sure if he’ll remain at TCU. ”This is a crime,” Sheila Johnson, the granddaughter of Amon G. Carter, the legendary publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and a close cousin to Chance, told WFAA. “This is not hazing.”

I agree, but hazing is just as illegal and wrong. Another student recorded the incident with the intention of posting the video online. WFAA’s Jim Douglas reported, "Chance Carter’s mother said the parents of other students showed her the video to prove the branding was consensual. But she says her son had defensive wounds from struggling.”

OK. What was that conversation like for Chance’s mother? Seriously. “Oh, Mrs. Carter. See. He likes it. He likes his flesh burning. He’s not squirming in pain. He’s wiggling in joy. Let’s not get our kids kicked out of school or the frat and sorority in trouble. Remember brotherhood and sisterhood?” Puh-lease. That’s disgusting that another parent would even consider trying to justify the branding.

The Carter family wants someone to be held accountable, but Breckenridge police say charges haven’t been filed because they aren’t sure a crime actually occurred -- the kid said yes. But (no pun intended) the TCU Interfraternity Council is investigating the incident. And hopefully these bad behaving Horned Frogs will be punished.

Chance is paying for his part in the stupid stunt in a very painful and public -- do you really want a closeup of your buttock on local TV? -- way. And he’s not taking this incident sitting down.

”Somewhere, somebody has to say this is not OK,” Chance told WFAA. “My family doesn’t think it’s OK, and I am angry.” And sore.

Pegasus News Content partner - Chick Talk Dallas