Colleges are suspending Greek life. Don’t expect the ban to last.

by KALHAN ROSENBLATT

Not any more.

This year alone, the deaths of four pledges in alcohol-related incidents and various hazing infractions have led to the closing down of some or all Greek life activities on several college campuses and the filing of criminal charges against more than two dozen students.

10 LSU fraternity brothers were charged in the death of a pledge after a hazing activity called ‘bible study’

During a night of fraternity pledge activities in September, Maxwell Gruver, an 18-year-old freshman at Louisiana State University, participated in a hazing activity in which he had to drink alcohol when he answered a question incorrectly, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing arrest warrants.

The following day, he was taken to the hospital and declared dead.

Ten current or former students at LSU have now been charged in his death, The Times reported on Wednesday. One student, Matthew Alexander Naquin, 19, was charged with negligent homicide.

The arrest warrants detail yet another story of fraternity hazing in which a pledge event where new recruits are told to drink excessively has fatal consequences.

Gruver’s fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, has an alcohol-free-housing policy, NBC News reported. On September 13, however, pledges arrived to compete in alcohol-related activities.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/lsu-fraternity-brothers-charged-after-pledge-death-2017-10

by Abby Jackson

Police issue warrants for 10 frat members after LSU student’s death

(CNN)Police at Louisiana State University have issued arrest warrants for 10 Phi Delta Theta members as they investigate whether a fraternity hazing led to the death of a freshman student.

Maxwell Gruver, a fraternity pledge from Roswell, Georgia, died last month.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office ruled Gruver’s death accidental and said it was caused by “acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration.”

At the time of his death, Gruver’s blood alcohol level was 0.495%, Coroner William “Beau” Clark said. In Louisiana, anyone under 21 with a blood alcohol level of 0.02% or above is considered intoxicated.

The ten members for whom police issued warrants are charged with hazing. One faces an additional charge of negligent homicide.

The hazing incident

The night before Gruver died, he was called to the Phi Delta Theta house to participate in “Bible Study,” according to interviews conducted by LSU police that were detailed in arrest warrants for two people present at the fraternity on the night of the alleged hazing.

Hazing, booze topics in Penn State frat pledge death hearing

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — A judge on Monday heard about worried texts from members of a Penn State fraternity and defense questions about whether a pledge had been drinking voluntarily before he died in February.

The preliminary hearing for the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and 16 of its members, accused in the death of 19-year-old pledge Tim Piazza, continued for a second day and was scheduled to resume Tuesday with the continued cross-examination of the lead detective.

So far, the only witness has been State College Police Detective Dave Scicchitano, who discussed text messages that showed fraternity members voicing concerns about having engaged in hazing the night Piazza suffered severe head and abdominal injuries.

Scicchitano told the judge that fraternity member Gary DiBileo texted another member to say: “It’s not the fact that he drank. He drank because we hazed him too. Main word being hazed.”

A defense attorney pressed Scicchitano about whether Piazza, of Lebanon, New Jersey, had been drinking voluntarily as he consumed a dangerous amount of alcohol.

Help was not summoned until the next morning, after Piazza had lost consciousness on the couch of the fraternity chapter house in State College. Piazza later died at a hospital.

8 charged with manslaughter in fraternity hazing death at Penn State

Jim and Evelyn Piazza stand by as Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller, left, announces the results of an investigation into the death of their son Timothy Piazza, seen in photo at right, a Penn State University fraternity pledge, during a press conference Friday, May 5, 2017, in Bellefonte, Pa. Timothy Piazza had toxic levels of alcohol in his body and was badly injured in a series of falls, authorities said Friday in announcing criminal charges against members of the organization and the frat itself. (Photo: Abby Drey, Centre Daily Times via AP)

Galileo Mondol, shown in 2016, is suing the city of Somerville for more than $1 million

Former Somerville athletes say hazing went undetected before assault

– Boston Globe by Dina Rudick/Globe Staff

Somerville’s mayor and school officials have insisted for nearly four years that they did all they could to prevent members of the high school soccer team from indecently assaulting three teammates during a city-run summer sports camp in the Berkshires. They described the incident, which involved the crude use of a broomstick, as an isolated crime.

But three former captains of the Somerville High School soccer team and at least five other players who attended the 2013 camp have testified under oath that the broomstick assault was preceded that weekend by numerous incidents of sexualized misconduct that purportedly went undetected by Somerville coaches and chaperones who were responsible for supervising the student-athletes.

The two juveniles who pleaded guilty to the assaults and served 13 months in youth detention facilities also gave sworn statements that they were victims of hazing or sexual misconduct at Somerville’s sports camp the previous summer. Click here to read entire article

High school coaches ‘on notice’ after Hamilton hazing incident

Ex-Hamilton High School coach Steve Belles talked with Brad Cesmat about hazing, the criminal investigation and his future in coaching. Sports360AZ

In July 2016, eight Paradise Valley football players were dismissed from the team after a hazing incident at its summer camp in El Cajon, Calif.

The incident prompted administrators in the Paradise Valley Unified School District to contemplate the no-hazing policy spelled out in the district’s parent-student handbook. Is that enough, they wondered? Or is there more we can do to not only discourage hazing but eliminate it?

The result of those conversations: a video featuring coaches and athletes that will be rolled out prior to the 2017-18 school year.

“The idea was, ‘What if we did a video and we give students in the video an opportunity to explain what hazing is and more importantly, explain what to do if you see if, if you think it is happening,’ ” said Drew Davis, director of student services for the district. Read entire article here

Central Michigan student with peanut allergy hazed with peanut butter

Authorities are investigating a Central Michigan University hazing incident in which a member of an off-campus fraternity smeared peanut butter on the face of a student with a peanut allergy while he was passed out, according to the victim’s mother and the university.

“He could have been killed,” Teresa Seely, the mother of now-former-CMU student Andrew Seely, wrote in a Facebook post this morning. Read more…

Dumbest Hazing Stories of 2016

Why do we allow others to do these things to us? Say NO2Hazing!

Hazing: it’s fun, harmless, and kind of useful… until it gets physically dangerous, or gross, or creepy and sexual. Here’s TFM’s top hazing stories of 2016. Click here to read more: more

Texas Rangers Sexual Assault Case Proves Hazing Must Stop

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we’re talking about another hazing story in sports. And yet, the nature of the allegations surrounding some Texas Rangers’ prospects are so disturbing, that it’s hard not to be shocked.

Eight Rangers’ prospects were questioned by police, and at least four are expected to be charged after a video surfaced of the players sexually assaulting an underage teammate as part of a hazing ritual, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.

Read more by Chris Cwik at Big League Stew