A 19-year-old UMass Amherst freshman was arraigned on felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault charges this week, accused of grabbing a fellow student by the neck outside a fraternity house that the university had already suspended. Grady Culhane pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Eastern Hampshire District Court and was released on personal recognizance, with conditions barring him from campus and from contact with the alleged victim.
Culhane was arraigned Oct. 27 on one felony count of strangulation or suffocation and one misdemeanor count of assault and battery, according to The Daily Collegian. He signed pretrial conditions requiring him to stay away from the UMass campus and the alleged victim, and he is due back in court for a pretrial session on Jan. 8. As MassLive reports, Culhane is represented by Northampton defense attorney Molly Ryan Strehorn, who declined to comment when reached by phone.
The allegations stem from an incident Amherst Police were called to investigate at the Theta Chi house at 496 North Pleasant St. on Oct. 23. Per MassLive's account of the statement of facts, the alleged victim, an 18-year-old student, said Culhane came up behind her, wrapped his forearm around her neck, and dragged her away from the house. She told police she felt unable to breathe and thought she would die before falling to the ground on her stomach, and said she tried to call for help but could not speak. Witness statements cited by the Collegian allege the attack impaired her ability to breathe for an estimated 30 seconds to one minute.
Injuries and Aftermath Described in Court Filings
Court documents say the alleged victim was photographed with red marks on her neck, chest and part of her shoulder. Per the same account, she reported a headache from hitting her head on the ground, soreness in her knee, coughing, anxiety, hyperventilation, difficulty speaking and pain when swallowing. She also told Amherst Police she had experienced ongoing headaches since her head struck the ground, according to MassLive.
According to MassLive's reporting, Culhane, a 175-pound freshman and member of the UMass roller hockey team, told others he had been working security at the party and saw several students jumping the fence to get in. He told roommates he chased down and grabbed people who were jumping the fence, and said he let them go once he realized one was female. Court documents say he allegedly yelled, “Get the (expletive) outta here (expletive)!” during the confrontation, and that he left the fraternity house afterward for his parents' residence in Bedford. He reportedly was not responding to his fraternity brothers and told a roommate he had seen TikTok and YikYak posts naming him in connection with the incident, per court documents cited by MassLive.
Amherst Police dispatch logs separately documented a report that a woman was grabbed by the neck and strangled at a fraternity near campus that Friday, according to Western Mass News. The Amherst Police Department is investigating the incident, MassLive reports.
A Fraternity Already Suspended by UMass
Theta Chi is not recognized by the university and was suspended in 2025, Western Mass News reports. Under UMass policy, the station notes, suspended student organizations must operate completely separately from the institution and may not advertise on campus or host events or programs at UMass. A UMass spokesperson told MassLive that Theta Chi is unaffiliated with the university but said the specifics of the chapter's suspension could not be disclosed under FERPA.
Theta Chi said the local chapter is cooperating with law enforcement and its investigation, and that the International Fraternity has also initiated its own investigation, per the station's report. The Amherst chapter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MassLive, nor did a spokesperson for the international organization. The chapter has previously described its values as centered on responsibility for community safety and well-being, and characterized its brotherhood as built on respect, accountability and looking out for one another; in September 2026 it posted that it was deeply troubled by news of an alleged gang rape at Cornell University, according to MassLive.
Protests and a Petition Follow the Allegations
About 50 UMass students marched from Berkshire Dining Commons to the Theta Chi fraternity house on Oct. 26 following the reported assault, according to the Collegian. The demonstration echoes a far larger one from 2021, when at least 300 people gathered outside the same fraternity amid allegations of sexual assault, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Two protesters were arrested that year on charges including disorderly conduct, inciting a riot and failure to disperse from a riot, the Gazette reported, and a petition at the time garnered thousands of signatures.
The Gazette also reported that UMass had placed Theta Chi on interim suspension in February 2021 pending an investigation, directing the chapter to cease all chapter-related functions after reports that members may have hosted large gatherings in late January of that year. The national Theta Chi organization disputed that account at the time, saying surveillance video confirmed no gathering occurred at the chapter house during the weekend in question.
What UMass's Conduct Code Allows
Separate from the criminal case, UMass's own Code of Student Conduct gives the university latitude to act regardless of how the court case unfolds. The code states that the university reserves the right to take disciplinary action based on student conduct regardless of location, and that student groups, their members and other students may be held collectively or individually responsible for violations. It also allows conduct proceedings to run before, simultaneously with or after related criminal or civil cases, judged under a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, with sanctions ranging from reprimand and probation to suspension and expulsion.
