• Hazing Deaths Database:
  • Blog
  • Storytelling
  • Bio
  • High School Sexual Hazing Incidents
  • Campus Speaker: Hazing & Binge Drinking
  • Hank Nuwer: selected media coverage
  • World Hazing Incidents
  • “Hazing,” “Sons of the Dawn,” “Legend of Jesse Owens”

Hank Nuwer's Hazing Scholarship Site

Follow me on Social Media

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Farber: University of Washington deaths

December 29, 2008 By Hank Nuwer Leave a Comment

Posted On:  July 9, 2008  by  The Farber Law Group
University of Washington looks at death and injury falls at fraternities and dorms

Nick Perry, The Seattle Times higher education reporter, wrote today in The Times about the history of falls resulting in severe injury and death at University of Washington’s dorms and fraternities. Perry sites Seattle Police reports that record at least 11 tragic accidents in the past 25 years and of these falls, 6 resulted in death and 5 resulted in severe injuries including broken backs and necks.

We cited on this blog two falls at UW fraternities. In June, Kevin MacDonald was killed after he fell from his third story fraternity bedroom window. Erik Anderson filed a lawsuit after his fall in 2005 resulted in serious injuries.

There have been several common denominators in these tragic falls. All of the students have been male and between the ages of 18 and 21. Many of them had used alcohol before their fall, but not all of them were intoxicated. Others have fallen but were not seriously hurt.

A lot of people want to place the bulk of the blame on the young men that were injured or killed due to the fact that many of them had been drinking prior to their accidents. UW vice provost for student life, Eric Godfrey and the UW police chief, Ray Wittmier, are looking past the blame game and hope to bring in safety experts and alumni to look at the safety of the fraternity buildings. Many of the fraternity houses date back to the 20s and 30s. While fraternities are private institutions, perhaps the UW can exert some influence and help enact some safety policies. Some changes that should be made immediately are:

* Requiring screens on windows
* Not allowing the positioning of bunk beds in front of windows
* Installing windows that do not open out
* Making sure that the number of students occupying each bedroom is appropriate
* The University also needs continue dialogue with the Greek houses about safety and drinking.

Chronology of Accidents

• June 2008 – Kevin MacDonald, 21, died at Alpha Sigma Phi
• May 2008 – 20 year old, serious injuries after fall from the roof of Phi Kappa Psi
• April 2005 – Erik Anderson, 19, fell 45 feet at Delta Upsilon
• May 2002 – Brett Jensen, 19, died at Pi Kappa Phi
• March 2001 – Greg Gilbert, 18, died at McMahon Hall
• October 1996 – Billy Price, 19, broke his neck in fall at Alpha Delta Phi
• December 198 – Bryan Foisy, 19, died at McMahon Hall
• September 1987 – Brian Lopez, 18, died at Beta Theta Pi
• May 1986 – Thomas White Jr., 19, died at Alpha Delta Phi
• January 1986 – Erik Heimbigner, 20, seriously hurt at Sigma Alpha Epsilon
• December 1985 – Chad Houck, 18, serious injuries after fall at Haggett Hall dorm

This information was brought to you by Washington Injury Attorney, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured due to the negligence of others. We also represent families who are entitled to bring a wrongful death action when someones negligence caused the death of a family member. While these cases are difficult to negotiate through the court system, The Farber Law Group has more than 30 years experience in handling wrongful death cases.

Filed Under: Hazing News

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Inquiries

Hank Nuwer

Correspondence: Hank Nuwer at Hnuwer@hanknuwer.com   Phone number upon request.  Available presentations USA, … Email to book a date.

Sons of the Dawn

Sons of the Dawn: A Basque Odyssey: Hank's novel is for teens 11-18 but also meant to be enjoyed by … Read More

Hazing Deaths Database:

… Read More

Thank you, AFA

New scholarship from Brazil: Hazing at the university and gender violence: a literature integrative review

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7213/psicolargum.39.103.AO02 Trotes na universidade e violência de gênero: uma revisão integrativa de literatura Hazing at the university and gender violence: a literature integrative review   Novatadas en la universidad y violencia de género: una revisión integradora de la literatura Adriane Roso https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7471-133X Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), adriane.roso@ufsm.br Janine Gudolle de Souza https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6477-4190 […]

A Poland-Union City Love story.

Here is the link. Hank   My wife Gosia earned her Green Card in October 2019. She gave eight-weeks’ notice at her chief accountant job in Poland and shipped what she could to Indiana. “Wait, how did a fellow from Indiana meet a Polish lass,” you may ask? I persuaded Gosia in June of 2015 […]

No charges in Cornell hazing death

New York Post

Archives


Hank Nuwer's Hazing Scholarship Site is proudly powered by WordPress