Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jewish Frat Punished For ‘Pig Roast’ Contest To Have Sex With Heaviest Woman

A historically Jewish fraternity at Cornell University was put on probation for two years after an investigation determined that members competed to have sex with the most women — with the tiebreaker going to the brother who slept with the person weighing the most.

“The contest was referred to as a ‘pig roast,’” Cornell’s Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life wrote in their investigation into Zeta Beta Tau, which took place in January.

“The new members were told not to inform the women of the contest,” the report added. The contest reportedly took place during 2017.

ZBT’s behavior “is abhorrent to me and antithetical to our values as a community. Behavior that degrades and dehumanizes women contributes to a climate and culture of tolerance for sexual violence,” Cornell’s vice president for student and campus life, Ryan Lombardi, said in a statement. “While sanctions have been levied against this fraternity by the Fraternity and Sorority Review Board, the campus community will be watching to see whether the members of ZBT – as individuals and as a group – live up to their public pledge to demonstrate ‘through our actions that this inexcusable behavior will not be tolerated.’”

As part of their punishment, ZBT will have to conduct a full internal review, hire a live-in advisor who reports to the university administration, and participate in at least two events during Cornell’s Sexual Assault Awareness Week, among other requirements.

In a statement on their Facebook page, the chapter claimed that its leadership only found out about the contest in December, and that they were “shocked and appalled” by the allegations.

“The events detailed in [the student newspaper] were neither chapter sanctioned activities, nor ones that brothers were aware of…. The allegations described are contrary to the values that Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity espouses and works in direct conflict with the beliefs and mission of the Kappa Chapter,” they added.

Zeta Beta Tau, founded in 1898, was the world’s first Jewish college fraternity.

Correction, February 8: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Zeta Beta Tau is no longer officially affiliated with Judaism.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.