Hazing Deaths
Hazing is defined as the “imposition of strenuous and often humiliating tasks as part of rigorous physical training and initiation. Hazing exists on almost all college campuses, in varying degrees. It often used during the “pledge week” of fraternities, the first few weeks that freshmen are in the Fraternity, where they are getting familiar with their other members, and everything about Greek Life, and becoming full members of their group. Hazing rituals can range from harmless pranks to torture, including tests of information, verbal harassment, threats, personal services for other members, and even forced consumption of drugs or alcohol. Hazing is an extremely dangerous practice that actually results in many deaths, including the ones we learned about in class, with at least 40 deaths, and many more injuries, in the past 10 years due to hazing activity. And hazing is not the terrifying exception- it is the norm. 88% of fraternity members admit to being hazed.
Many hazing deaths occur due to alcohol intoxication. In one case, in February 2017, a Pledge, Tim Piazza, was coerced to drink an entire bottle of vodka by one of his fellow Frat brothers, after a full day of other hazing. Him, along with other freshmen pledges, entered the Fraternity house and began drinking in the basement, while being watched by the older brothers. When they came back up, there was a camera installed in the living room, capturing Tim’s last moments alive. Someone had to help Tim to the sofa, from which he got up, stumbled to the stairs, and fell down. The rest of the night, the other men poured liquid on him, slapped him in the face, and tried other methods to wake him up. One of the men that was there said he might need medical help, and he was ridiculed. At 10am the next morning, they found him at the bottom of the basement steps for the second time- this time covered in blood, stiff, and barely breathing. For 45 minutes, they tried to dress him, wiped his face, and cleaned up the party. One mans phone had searches saying, “falling asleep after head injury” and “cold extremities in drunk people”- showing they knew that something was wrong. Yet, they didn’t call 911 until around 11 am, a whole 12 hours after he had fallen down the stairs and gone unconscious. Piazza died the next morning while in surgery for a ruptured spleen and intense intestinal bleeding, with a .36 BAC.
This story is very similar to the one in which a fraternity pledge, Matthew Carrington, died after drinking too much water during a hazing event, and his fraternity brothers didn’t call 911 until it was too late. It seems like a regular occurrence, not calling 911 due to fear of getting in trouble, or fear of being too dramatic. In both cases, a life could have been saved if the boys could have gotten help. Both groups of boys who were doing Hazing were in the wrong- one was hazing, and one group was hazing and drinking- illegal activities. But a charge for underage drinking or hazing is a lot better than a charge for murder or torture. It is selfish to risk the lives of their friends to protect themselves, but it is hard when everyone around you is not reacting to something because it is a normal human instinct to conform to how everyone around you is acting.
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